Cougars Start Slow, Finish Strong

The Chatham Cougars boys' basketball team won a tight battle Friday night against the Pequannock Township High School Panthers.

The game ended with a final score of 62-53, but the road to victory was not an easy one.

"We're undersized," Coach Todd Ervin said at the end of the game. "Every game is a battle."

But he praised his team.

"The players played very well to beat them," Ervin said.

From the game's outset, the Panthers took a slight lead, but the Cougars were in tight pursuit. Tommy Sackmann was the driving force behind the Panthers' lead, landing two three pointers the middle of the first quarter, but the Cougars' Adam Kovonuk scored three times in a row, dominating the last part of the period.

The Cougars rallied in the second quarter, and Casey Gill made a foul shot to tie the game at 20-20 with 5:24 left on the clock. From then on, fouls seemed to be the name of the game as the Panthers repeatedly fouled Chris Conroy, enabling the Cougars to end the half with a one-point lead. The score at halftime was 30-29.

As the third quarter began, the Cougars quickly fell behind. Pequannock went on an 8-2 run to open the quarter. after which Ervin called a timeout to calm down his Cougars. After that, the tune of the game changed significantly.

Gill sunk a quick basket, and Kovonuk made two straight three-pointers. The Panthers seemed stuck, only managing to score two more rebound shots throughout the remainder of the quarter. With 30 seconds left in the quarter, the intensity in the crowd grew; a refrain of "Olé, Olé" came from the Chatham student section of the stands.

The score at the end of the third quarter was 42-41.

The last quarter was the most drawn out. The Cougars continued on their path towards victory, slowly edging their lead forward, mostly by sinking a series of foul shots. With 48 seconds remaining, Pequannock's frustration boiled over when Joe Vedovino was called for a technical foul.

The game ended with a rebuttal by the Panthers' Jordan Tabakman as he tightened the game with a three-pointer in the final minute. However, there simply wasn't enough time left on the clock, and the game soon ended.

Asked about the comeback in the second half of the game, Coach Ervin said his team "got a couple outside shots, and got a lead. We play well with a lead."

He said Kovonuk "is a very good shooter."

"We try to give him the shots, because if he gets them, he can make them," Ervin said.

Gill also said that the whole team had contributed to the win, and that in the end, the Panthers "couldn't lock [the Cougars] out."

Both the Coach and Gill however, said the team had a tough week ahead. Its next game is at home against Parsippany on Tuesday at 7pm, and it will face Madison and Mendham later in the week.

Gill reiterated the Friday night game had "started out shaky," but said he and the rest of the team are ready for the upcoming games.