Chatham Defense Key in Win Over Governor Livingston

Sometimes in sports, a team can be successful even when it doesn't play its A-game.

The Cougars varsity basketball team proved that Monday night, defeating the Governor Livingston, 35-29, during a sloppy game at Governor Livingston High School.

"Overall it was a good effort, but we'll need to start playing a little better than that," said Head Coach Todd Ervin. "We played well enough defensively to win."

Each team scored under 11 points in the first and third quarter combined. This was a combination of poor shooting and too many turnovers, but both teams also played solid defense.

"We played well defensively and offensively we were a little sloppy and had too many turnovers," said senior Chris Conroy. "We need to not settle for bad shots and work the ball around a little more."

The score was tied at 22 at halftime and it was not until a few minutes into the fourth quarter that the Cougars separated themselves from the Highlanders. Senior Kevin Giannattasio hit a jump shot to give Chatham a 25-23 lead. Chatham then continued on a 10-0 run with a mix of field goals and three-pointers from various players.

"Offensively, no one stood out, and we did enough to win, but defensively, it was a good group effort," said sophomore Jonathan Berntsen.

The Cougars had a balanced scoring effort—seven players with three or more points. Conroy led the team with eight points, while junior Brendan Damodaran contributed six. On the other side of the ball, junior Kevin Ferguson scored 12 points and Rob Ingebretsen had 10.

The 14-10 Cougars will next take on the 2-19 Parsippany Hills Vikings at home Thursday at 7 p.m. Prior to the game there will be a "Senior Night" ceremony that will honor Chatham's seniors.

"We have senior night on Thursday and we want to get a win to get some momentum going into our state game on Tuesday," said Conroy.