Sports
South Brunswick Boys Basketball Edged in Playoff Opener
East Brunswick escapes with 61-58 basketball win.
Despite the records of the two squads, there really isn't much separating the South Brunswick and East Brunswick boys basketball teams once they step on the court.
Unfortunately for South Brunswick, the separation was just enough for East Brunswick to escape with a 61-58 win in the opening game of the Central Jersey Group IV Tournament on Monday.
"Even though we are the 15th seed playing at the second seed, this year we (were) 1-1 versus the Bears (in the regular season)," South Brunswick Coach Joe Hoehman said.
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South Brunswick finished the season at 11-12. East Brunswick improved to 21-4 and is still active in the playoffs.
East Brunswick is probably fortunate not to have been handed at least one more loss by South Brunswick.
Find out what's happening in South Brunswickwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
South Brunswick won at East Brunswick, 45-42, on Jan. 6. South Brunswick was also leading the game on Feb. 5 by nine points in the fourth quarter before East Brunswick put together a late rally and ended up winning 59-53 in overtime.
This past Monday, South Brunswick was the team rallying late.
East Brunswick took a 16-10 lead after a quarter, 32-24 at the half and 46-34 going into the final eight minutes.
Despite being down by double digits going into the fourth quarter, South Brunswick was ultimately able to get this down to a one-possession game. Three-pointers by Mike Green (18 points) and Sean Keenan (12 points) closed the gap to 59-58 in the final seconds. After a pair of East Brunswick free throws, however, South Brunswick didn't have much time to set up its potential tying three-pointer.
South Brunswick final win came on Feb. 24 when it defeated Hopewell, 51-38, in a regular season game.
TJ Taylor (15 points) and Mike Green (14 points) both scored in double figures for South Brunswick.
This allowed South Brunswick to take a little momentum into its game with East Brunswick.
Hoehman noted the playoff opener was "really anyone's game." And for the third time this season, South Brunswick proved it matched up quite nicely against a very talented East Brunswick team.
