The East Brunswick High School boys’ basketball team chalked up a victory that the Bears admitted they really needed.
That crucial victory came on Dec. 27 when East Brunswick made a call to its rival, North Brunswick Township High School, and came away on top of a 65-59 result.
The triumph moved the Bears to 2-2 on the the season, while North Brunswick dropped to 1-1.
Junior small forward Xavier Fitzgerald, who scored 11 points in the victory for East Brunswick, revealed that the Bears were anxious to gain a victory after losing two of their first three games this season.
“I think it’s really big, especially since we had a rough start to the season,” Fitzgerald said about the result. “So with this win, it really sets in our heads that we can accomplish the goals that we set in the beginning of the season.”
East Brunswick erased a 26-24 deficit to North Brunswick at halftime with a 41-33 effort in the second half.
Joe Sampson led the Bears with 14 points, while Mitchell Pingry contributed to the victory with 12 points.
East Brunswick coach Mark Motusesky credited his team’s bench for stepping up.
“I think our bench helped us big time,” he said. “We got in big-time foul trouble. I think we had four or five guys that had at least four fouls. So guys came in and gave us some big minutes off the bench. Our bench has been better than ever so far, so that really helped.”
Leading the bench play for the Bears were Jesse Perel, who scored four points, and Christian Kuan, who had three points. Both efforts were season highs.
Fitzgerald gave credit to East Brunswick’s commitment to moving the ball around.
“I think we were just playing unselfishly,” he said. “We were moving the ball a lot more than we did in the first few games, which made scoring easier. We played good defense today too.”
East Brunswick came to North Brunswick after falling to Perth Amboy High School, 56-43, on Dec. 21.
“It can only help us,” Motusesky said about the victory over North Brunswick. “We were doubting ourselves because every game we’ve been in was close, and we haven’t been able to finish it. Today, we did that, which is certainly a good thing.”
East Brunswick had opened the season with a 59-52 loss on Dec. 15 against Saint Joseph High School of Metuchen. The Bears defeated John P. Stevens High School, 38-37, on Dec. 19.
The Bears played at home against Bishop George Ahr High School on Dec. 29 and traveled to Old Bridge High School on Jan. 2. The Bears will visit South Brunswick High School on Jan. 4 for a game at 6 p.m.
North Brunswick coach Ed Breheney praised his team’s play on defense in the defeat.
“I like that we were able to come back after giving up 17 points in the first quarter,” said Breheney, whose team trailed by a score of 17-9 after one quarter. “We were able to get back in it in the second quarter. One of our goals is to always hold teams to single digits in a quarter. We were able to do that in the second quarter, so that was a good sign.
“We were also able to force them to go into a 1-3-1 zone against us in the second half. We just have to do a better job of scoring against that 1-3-1 zone.”
North Brunswick was paced by senior Avery Claggett, who connected for 20 points, and senior Jordan Salisbury, who scored scored 13 points.
“The captains stepped up today,” Salisbury said. “We played hard and fought back in the end. However, we played lackadaisical in the first and third quarters, and that was the difference.”
Salisbury stressed that North Brunswick needs to be more confident in order for the Raiders to reach an intensity level needed to win.
“Going forward, we need to improve on our intensity,” he said. “We need to improve on our confidence. Players one through 12, everybody has to play confident, and everybody needs to be ready to contribute.”
The Raiders played at home against New Brunswick High School on Jan. 2 and will host Edison High School on Jan. 4 at 7 p.m.
