Newark Tech Trips Up Morris Catholic

GSBR Loves seeing top teams play each other early in the season. It’s the “Iron Sharpens Iron” mentality. The Morris Catholic-Newark Tech season opener in Denville certainly met all the criteria on paper for a battle of teams with high potential and expectations for this season.

The opening quarter was a helter-skelter affair with both teams working to get out in transition and get baskets. Tech used this to their advantage, along with active hands on defense, to create turnovers and land themselves in the drivers seat after one, leading 23-14. Marcus Bragg paced Tech in the opening quarter with a pair of triples and finished the opening stanza with 10 points.  

Morris Catholic went on a run in the four minutes of the second quarter to bring themselves to within 29-28 at the 3:14 mark after a Mattia Bacchelli three, forcing Newark Tech to call time. The timeout provided little relief as the Crusaders kept forging forward and eventually took the lead late in the half after a thunderous dunk by 6’5” junior Austin Workman. The Crusaders were able to ride that wave into halftime with a 36-33 lead.

The teams settled into a more half-court centric offensive style in the third quarter as both coaches made halftime adjustments. The scoring also slowed and the game was tied at 40 with 2:20 to play in the quarter after Malcolm Bragg split a pair of free throws.  The teams traded threes by Malcolm Bragg and Bacchelli with Morris Catholic holding a 48-46 lead after three.

Newark Tech took a 55-48 lead after a 9-0 run to begin the fourth before Nicholson hit a floater to break things down for Morris, but they trailed 55-50 with 5:40 to play. Workman earned a trip to the stripe and hit both shots to make it a one possession game as the contest ticked under 5:00 to play. 

On the Crusaders next trip up the floor off a missed putback, Bacchelli nailed a three from the wing to tie the game at 55-55 as the fourth quarter turned the halfway mark. Workman restored the Cruasders advantage after another thunderous dunk.

Not to be outdone, Newark Tech responded to take a 60-59 lead and survived a late flurry from MC to walk out of Denville with a 70-65 victory to open the season.

JD Core Training Player Of The Game

Rodney Tullis, Newark Tech

While the Terriers had a balanced attack, it was Tullis who led the way with an impressive 22 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Malcolm Bragg added 19 in the victory.

Cristian Nicholson had a strong fourth quarter and finished the game with 17 to lead the Crusaders.