Minutemen Down Linden For Second Time

A packed house at Linden High was treated to another memorable matchup between traditional rivals and next door neighbors as the Tigers, ranked #11 in the ReportIt Top 25, hosted #10 Elizabeth, with the Minutemen coming away with a 62-55 win in the Union County Game Of The Week, Presented by Wheelie Good Pierogi

After a series of misses to star the contest, Siraj Abdellah hit a triple to get Elizabeth up 3-0. Nas Robinson was fouled going to the rim on the next possession and hit both FT to get Linden on the board about 90 seconds into the contest. After some good defense forced a turnover, Jojo Torres went to the rim hard and got fouled, giving EHS a chance to extend their lead. He split the shots to make it 4-2 Elizabeth early on. A nifty Nas Robinson floater tied the score at 4 on Linden’s next trip as the teams settled into the game.

London Carson was fouled going to the rim and hit both, giving the Minutemen 6-4 lead at the midway mark of the opening stanza. A Torres pull up made it 10-4 in favor of Elizabeth as the quarter approached its two minute mark. The Minutemen played suffocating defense and were able to frustrate the Tigers into long possessions and contested shots. Torres hit a step back three to extend the lead to 13-6. Linden answered as the quarte neared its end with a pair of Te'Quan Thomas freethrows to cut the lead to 13-8, but Elizabeth answered to lead 16-8 after a quarter.

A Carson triple to start the second make it 19-8 and put Linden on the ropes. After back to back Minutemen buckets, their lead extended to 24-11 and Coach Drejaj called time to bring his team under control. The lid remained on the rim for Linden throughout much of the second and they trailed 26-12 midway through the quarter. A Martin Drejaj jumper cut the deficit to 12 but a strip and slam by Carson pushed it back to 28-14. Jalil Turner weaved his way to the rim to make it 28-16, but London Carson hit an ice-in-his-veins triple to send EHS to the lockers up 31-16.

Burnam got Linden started on the comeback trail in the third with a triple to cut it to 31-19, but Torres dropped another triple extend the EHS lead to 34-19. Robinson split a pair for Linden, but Abdellah followed it up with another three to make it 37-20.Another triple pushed the lead to 40-20, leaving Linden to chase the game.

Back to Back Butler buckets and a Turner jumper brought Linden some life as they cut the lead to 40-29 midway through the third. A Robinson steal and layup brought it to single digits at 40-31. The teams traded buckets but Linden kept clawing their way back into the game as the third drew to a close. Butler’s third +1 of the quarter dropped it to 44-36. A Jayden Johnson triple swung the pendulum back to double digits and the freshman followed it up with two freethrows to restore a 12 point lead. A Nas Robinson basket cut the lead to 50-41 with seconds left, but Carson got fouled and split a pair to hold a 10 point lead at 51-41 after 3.

Cam McRae added a bucket for Elizabeth to push it past ten at 53-41 a minute into the fourth. Robinson cancelled it out with a triple, his 1,000th point of his LHS career. Linden kept clawing away, with Robinson cutting the lead to 55-49 midway through the fourth. Try as they could, Linden couldn't bring it all the way back--They got as close as four points with a minute to play, but Carson came up big on the free throw line and blocked a shot inside the last thirty seconds to seal the win for Elizabeth.