Cougars Eliminated From Morris County Tournament

RANDOLPH — Chatham senior Chris Conroy has been one of the Chatham boys' basketball team's guiding forces throughout the season. The captain been the team's scoring leader in most of its games.

Conroy hit a shot with a few seconds left in the third quarter of Saturday's Morris County Tournament semifinal game against Delbarton that brought Chatham within four. But the team's fortunes often rise and fall with Conroy's play, and that basket proved to be Conroy's last of the game.

He fouled out soon afterward, and the sixth-seeded Cougars were eliminated from the tournament, losing to No. 2 seed Delbarton, 62-56, at the County College of Morris.

The Green Wave struck first in the match-up as junior Dean Brierley hit back-to-back field goals. After a Chatham basket, Delbarton extended its lead with a 7-0 run.  The Green Wave closed the quarter out with two uncontested three-point shots. One of them was right at the buzzer.

"We didn't go out and contest shooters early enough in the game," said Chatham Head Coach Todd Ervin. "They started making shots and that got them the lead. They played great and made big shots."

Delbarton maintained an eight-point lead through the second quarter and went into the half leading 29-21.  With solid all-around defense, the Green Wave managed to hold Chatham's leading scorers—Conroy and sophomore Jonathan Berntsen—to only seven points in the half.

"We were able to go out there and grind for 32 minutes," said Brierley. "It was a very solid performance and a good team effort.  We had a lot of turnovers, but were able to overcome them."

Chatham came out strong in the third quarter by driving to the basket and hitting its high percentage shots. In doing so, the Cougars also managed to draw several fouls in the period, scoring 11 of their 18 points on free throws. The Cougars went on to outscore the Green Wave 18-14 in the quarter.

But the combination of Delbarton's Brierley and senior Thomas Killian were too much for the Cougars to contain in the fourth quarter. The two combined for 17 points in the period, matching Chatham's 17 fourth-quarter points. Killian ended the night with 24 points and Brierley finished with 22.

On the other side of the ball, Chatham spread around the scoring with seven different players contributing six or more points. Berntsen led the Cougars with 13, while Adam Parisella contributed 10 and junior Brian Ballard had eight.

"They are a very tough team," said Brierley. "They are streaky at times and made runs. They played very good defense, but we were able to overcome that. We just tried to limit their perimeter shots with good defense."

Despite an exit from the Morris County Tournament, Chatham still has a good amount of basketball left in its season.

"We got a game Monday and then states are the following week, so we still have a lot to look forward to," Ervin said.

The team will face Governor Livingston on the road at 7 p.m. Monday.