South Brunswick Boys Basketball Takes Shot at County's Best

The South Brunswick High boys basketball team's four-game winning streak in 2011 came to an end on Jan. 13, but it took one heck of an opponent to accomplish that trick.

A 12-1 squad from St. Joe's defeated South Brunswick, 52-40.

"They are the number one team in the county," South Brunswick Coach Joe Hoehman said. "We were happy we were competitive with them. We're confident we can be competitive with everyone."

The two teams came in tied for first place in the Red Division. St. Joe's is now 6-1 and South Brunswick is 5-2.

South Brunswick played hard in that game, but its was outscored a little in every quarter. It trailed 10-9 after the the first, 23-18 at the half and 39-31 going into the final eight minutes of play.

"We lost this game on the offensive boards," said Hoehman, who knew St. Joe's 6' 7" and 6' 5" players would create a matchup problem. "They had 27 offensive rebounds."

Kory Sanders delivered another solid offensive game for South Brunswick, leading the team with 15 points. Chris Bourne scored 11 points and Mike Green tossed in nine points.

South Brunswick had run its win streak to four games with wins against Carteret and Perth Amboy.

On Jan. 8 at home, South Brunswick defeated Carteret, 67-53, for its easiest win of the new year.

"We played pretty well," Hoehman said. "We got off to a good start. Our defense was phenomenal in the first half and caused a lot of turnovers."

South Brunswick had a very balanced attack in this game with six players scoring at least nine players. Mike Green (13 points), Kory Sanders (12 points), Danny Strickland (11 points) and Sean Keenan (10 points) all scored in double figures. TJ Taylor and Chris Bourne added nine points each.

South Brunswick pulled off its third thrilling win of the season on Jan. 11 when it defeated Perth Amboy, 56-55.

Mike Green connected on two free throws with 10 seconds to play to put South Brunswick up 56-52.

"We just wanted to make sure not to foul anyone," Hoehman said. "The ball went out of bounds against us with four seconds to play. We gave up a three-pointer at the buzzer, but it was kind of a meaningless shot."

Kory Sanders delivered a huge game for South Brunswick, connecting on four three pointers and finishing with a total of 26 points. Sanders made seven of nine shots from the field and connected on eight of 10 from the foul line.

"He shot the ball really well," Hoehman said. "They came out in a two-three zone and we were able to get Kory some good looks."

 Mike Green made two three-pointers and finished with eight points. TJ Taylor scored nine points and Chris Bourne tossed in seven points.

South Brunswick will be at Old Bridge on Jan 18 for a 7 p.m. start. South Brunswick will be home to face JP Stevens on Jan 20 in a 7 p.m. start.