Thanks to a gritty defensive effort and a number of clutch shots, the Cranford boys' varsity basketball team defeated visiting Governor Livingston 45-42 in the season opener for both teams at Cranford's Martin Gymnasium.
One of the heroes was junior guard Sean Trotter, who calmly buried a crucial three-pointer from the left wing to break a 42-all tie with 28 seconds remaining in the contest.
It's a situation he loves to be in.
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"I caught the ball, I was open, I took the shot," said Trotter. "I mean, anyone in that situation would have taken it. It's just the first game, but I think we played a pretty good game overall. It was a good win."
"Trotter's a gamer," said Cranford's fourth-year head coach Ryan Huber. "There's nobody more competitive in this school right now than Sean Trotter. He'd go out and play another 32 minutes if I told him to in the parking lot. He loves to compete and if the game's on the line, I feel confident with the ball in his hands."
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After Trotter buried his trey, it was all about defense after G.L. called time out with 8.9 seconds left in the game. What was on the team's mind in the huddle?
"I was thinking, we have to play some good defense, because that was a great shot," said guard Kendall Greer. "We had to play some defense, we had to shut them down. We knew they're a good team, last year they were really good, they had a lot of their players back. We knew who we had to shut down, we knew what we had to do on offense and defense. We worked well as a team, we had good chemistry."
"We told them, we're up three, we have a foul to give, so if you hear us, take a foul, just make sure it's not intentional," said Huber. "Then one thing we don't want to do is foul the jump shooter. We told them to extend because we're up three. A two-point layup or a two-point jump shot isn't going to take the lead away from us."
Greer, the team's shooting guard, led the way for the Cougars with 20 points, including 13 in the first half. Cranford held a 25-17 lead after the first two periods, but couldn't shake the pesky Highlanders, who eventually fought back to even the score with under a minute to play.
"Kendall's really worked on his game," said Huber. "He's a gym rat. He's here all the time, wants to play, wants to get better, he's improved his shot tremendously. You know, today it was him, we have a number of guys who can shoot like that. He stepped and up and really led us as a senior."
Greer also had five rebounds, while teammate Will Green cleaned up under the boards with a game-high seven rebounds to go along with his seven points.
"I just try as hard as I can, got opportunities, took them, I felt really confident out there, we looked good as a team," said Green.
And while the outcome was in their favor, Huber knew going in that this one might be a nailbiter, right to the final buzzer.
"They returned four kids who played a lot last year," said Huber. "They have two tremendous shooters in Rob Ingerbretsen and Mike Riley, and every time it seemed like we would pull ahead, they hit that big three to keep them in the game. Late in the game, they hit back-to-back shots that brought it from a seven-point game to a one-point game. But I challenged our kids, and we stepped up when we needed to."
Cranford is now 1-0 and will be back in the gym this weekend to prepare for Rahway, another tough county opponent. But passing a big test early in the season can certainly lead to even more success down the road.
"To get this win, it's great for us, it's great momentum for our kids," said Huber. "We have a tough one going into Rahway on Tuesday, but I told the kids enjoy it, we're back at work 11:00 tomorrow morning."
