Hoopsters Clinch Tie For Conference Championship

At the beginning of the season, the Cranford boys' varsity basketball team set their sights on their first conference championship since 1970. Last night, they clinched at least a tie for the title after defeating Arthur L. Johnson 85-60 at Martin Gymnasium in Cranford.

And while there was a lot to celebrate afterwards, the job is not done yet.

"We only clinched a tie," said head coach Ryan Huber. "We don't want a tie. We want to win it outright. It's more for the kids than for any of us. We challenged the kids."

It was also senior night. The big crowd honored the elder statesmen on the basketball team, so it was fitting that Kendall Grier and Will Green led the charge with 24 and 18 points respectively.

"It's always good to come out with a victory on senior night," said Will Green. "It's another conference win. We're tied for it, but we want to win it and put a banner on the wall, so every victory is important."

"We wanted to be mentally prepared and physically prepared," said senior Kendall Grier. "We've been having good practices lately, it's been real fun, so this means a lot."

"Senior night is always a big night especially since it tied us for the conference lead," said senior Greg Goode. "It was a rough season last year. It's been a lot of hard work to get where we are now. It mostly comes in practice. We give all our efforts in practice to get better."

The Cougars controlled the first half of the game, leading 18-13 after the first quarter and 38-24 at halftime. But the Crusaders fought back in the third, outscoring the Cougars 26-19 before the home side put the visitors away with a 28-10 fourth quarter.

"We didn't play a full 32 minutes," Huber said. "We let them get back into the game at the end of the third quarter, but we challenged them in the fourth quarter, they stepped up, we played well and put them away late in the fourth quarter."

The Cougars have two games left to win the conference outright, with Hillside and Governor Livingston standing in their way.

Cranford defeated Hillside earlier in the season but they know that it won't be easy to take down the Comets on Friday night.

"It's going to be a tough job going down there and getting a win," said Huber. "I think we'll be ready. We're going to go there and play Cranford basketball and come out of there with a victory."

"It's going to be a close game," said Goode, who had six points in the win. "It was a close game last time and we're going to have to bring our "A" game if we're going to win."

"I'm happy with our team," said senior guard Nick Pace. "I'm happy with how we've been playing. We've been playing hard all year. We've been listening to our coaches and following what we're supposed to do."

Outside of the conference, there's a lot to look forward to for the Cougars, who were recently seeded sixth in the upcoming county tournament. They drew Rahway next Wednesday, February 17, who they've beaten twice already this season. The game will take place at 6 p.m.

If they advance, they will most likely face Linden, who drew the third-seed. The quarterfinal will take place Saturday February 20 at 12 p.m. Both games will be played at Roselle Catholic High School.

"I'm not too happy because we could wind up seeing Rahway four times with the state tournament," said Huber. "Beating any team three times is tough, I know Linden was here looking at us today, so we're going to have to prepare well for Rahway and if we get by them, we'll then set our sights on the quarterfinal game."

"I had a good feeling that we were going to do pretty good," said Grier, "But I didn't know it was going to be like this. I'm glad it is. I'm having fun."