Lancers Stun Minutemen in Overtime

Newark Academy came to Livingston Friday night looking to grab its eighth victory of the season and continue to move up the ladder in the county.

But the Lancers boys basketball team was not going to let that happen.

In the second half, Livingston moved the game into overtime and then took over, handing the Minutemen a stunning 57-51 defeat. Livingston outscored Newark Academy in the extra session 9-3.

"That is a great team that we played and we knew that we had to have a good game," said Livingston head coach David Cohen.

The Livingston plan was to use a motion offense that would control the game. For the most part it worked, except for the third quarter where Newark Academy dominated the game.

"We were just making the extra passes," said Cohen.

Lancers junior forward Sam White scored four of the Livingston nine points in overtime, with all of them coming at the free throw line. But it was his play under the boards that contributed significantly to the victory. He had eight rebounds for the game.

"He is a relentless worker and he does a lot that does now show up on the box score," said Cohen whose team raised its record to .500 at 3-3.  Newark Academy dropped its mark to 7-2.

It was the combination of White and Lancers Dan Abrahams, who had nine rebounds,  and the Minutemen's foul trouble that helped Livingston.

"We didn't make the foul shots and didn't get the rebounds," said Newark Academy head coach Jim Stoeckel about the difference in the game.

Junior captain Matt Fung led the Lancers with 14 points while sophomore guard Sam Abam added 11 points to go along with White's 10.

On the other side, the Minutemen guard Zaire Williams kept Newark Academy in the game with 19 points especially in the overtime period. Fourteen of Williams points came in the second half and the overtime. Jordan Jett added 10 points to the Newark Academy cause.

With the Lancers ahead 52-50 with 23 seconds remaining in the overtime period, Fung missed a free throw and there was White flying in to grab the offensive rebound and then was immediately fouled.

White hit one of the two free throws to raise the Livingston lead 53-50. The Lancers forward grabbed another rebound after Newark Academy's Kumar Ghafoor missed a free throw shot on the other end. White was fouled immediately and then proceeded to hit both free throws for a 55-50 lead with 18 seconds remaining that clinched it for the Lancers.

The turning point of the game might have come late in the third quarter.

After Livingston's style dominated in the first half, Newark Academy finally started to hit its shots from the field.

The Lancers 25-18 lead at halftime could have spun the other way, as the Minutemen were hot from the outside and gained a 35-26 lead after a Williams bucket.

It appeared that favored Newark Academy was going to run away  with the game at that time.

But Livingston's offense got into gear and two of the Minutemen's starters gained four fouls — center Matt Gravesande and forward Brian McHugh— in the last minutes of the third quarter.

"I think we could have pressured them more if we didn't have so much foul trouble," said Stoeckel.

In turn, Livingston cut the Newark Academy lead to five, 35-30, with a pair of free throws from Alex Kalmus heading into the fourth quarter.

The Lancers finally caught up to the Minutemen in the second half after Sam Abam drained a three pointer from the left corner to give Livingston a 42-41 lead with four minutes remaining in regulation.

Both teams went back and forth before Fung hit a pair of pressure shot free throws with 11.2 seconds to tie the game at 48 and send it into overtime.