Win Fifth Straight Game In Another Impressive Showing
By Mike Ready
ABERDEEN TWP. – The Matawan Huskies (6-1, 2-0) won their fifth straight game and remained in sole possession of first place in the Shore Conference Class B North division after soundly beating Howell Township High School, 70-37, Wednesday night at Matawan.
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The Huskies, ranked No.6 in the Shore Sports Network top 10 and No.10 in the Asbury Park Press top ten trailed 8-5 before reeling off nine straight points to close out the first quarter with a 14-8 lead.
From there it was all Huskies, as they out-scored the Rebels 22-6 in the second quarter to take a 36-14 halftime lead and they never looked back. Nine players scored for the Huskies in the game, including four in double figures.
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Junior guard and last season’s team Most Valuable Player, Jason Dunne, led the Huskies with eight first half points, including three, three-point baskets. He also grabbed five rebounds in the half, including three off the offensive glass. Dunne finished with 14 points in leading the Huskies in scoring.
“After a big win like Monday’s win against Long Branch we needed to focus on Howell,” Dunne said. “We emphasized in practice to go hard no matter who we’re playing and avoid let downs; we did a good job of that tonight.”
“We only lost one senior from last season’s team and most of us have been playing together since we were eight,” Dunne added. “We have great team chemistry. Last year we went through a lot of adversity but we also had some big wins which we built on.”
“Last year we went through a lot of growing pains,” head coach Tom Stead said. “These are good kids; they listen, are very coachable and work very hard in practice. Every practice is intense; when they lace them up and step on the floor they’re ready to play. They tasted a little success last season and are in a different position this year. There’s no sneaking up on anyone this season, we better be ready to play.”
Matawan’s trio of guards all had solid all-around performances Wednesday night combining for 50 percent of the Huskies scoring. Junior guard Joe Piscopo netted 10 points, including two three-pointers. He also dished out six assists, hauled down four boards and had five steals. “Piscopo is the guy who makes us go,” said Stead.
Senior guard Chris Tawiah – who had a career high 26 points against Long Branch Monday night – added ten points, five rebounds and one blocked shot.
“These three guards made over 150 three’s last season,” Stead said. “The focus is always on Dunne and Piscopo, but Tawiah is right there with them. Anyone of them is capable of putting up 25 on any giving night.”
Senior forward Nick Tompkins led the Huskies with seven rebounds to go along with 11 points and two steals. The versatile Tompkins uses his size and strength to his advantage to position himself in the paint and under the basket at both ends of the floor.
Matawan’s two other senior forwards contributed as well with starter Austen Planes adding eight points and Dritin Gyjrigi scoring five points, grabbing six boards (two offensive) and blocking one shot.
“Austin is a solid role player for us,” Stead said. “He can score, but we rely on him for his defense and rebounding. Gyrigi struggled early on but has really picked up his game and we’ll be counting on him down the stretch. With these two guys and Tompkins I think we can have a pretty strong inside game.”
Piscopo’s second three-pointer at 5:14 of the third quarter put the Huskies up by 31 points and the lead never dipped under the thirty-point mark the rest of the game.
Junior forward Matt Esposito (five points, two steals), sophomore forward Mergim Gyjrigi (four points, one rebound, a block and one steal) and junior guard Nick Smith (three points) all came off the bench and contributed quality minutes.
“I still don’t know if we’ve scratched the surface yet,” Stead said. “We need to fix a couple things that are fixable. We’re shooting the ball well, playing good defense, and rebounding but I would like to see our inside guys score a little more and get better at the foul line.”
“They know they can play and beat just about anybody,” Stead added. “They’ve matured quite a bit and their confidence is showing on the court. These kids love each other, love playing with each other, trust each other and believe in each other. I can walk away from practice for an hour and they would get done what we set out to get done; they’re a special group.”
“Our chemistry is perfect; we love each other,” Dunne said. “We come to practice every day with enthusiasm, there’s no joking around until we accomplish what we need to. Coach Stead gets on our backs but sometimes we need someone in our face to wake us up and we love him for that. It’s all work, we have unfinished goals and we need home tournament games to help us accomplish our goals.”
“But we can’t get ahead of ourselves,” Dunne added. “We’ve got to take it one game at a time. Win or lose we have to look at the positives and negatives, watch film and get back to work in practice.”
Matawan is looking to win its first state sectional title in school history. In their last trip to the sectional finals in 1995, coach Stead beat them when he was the head coach at Holmdel.
