Down 14, Pioneers Streak to the Finish to Beat Roselle

After playing listless basketball for nearly three quarters last night, the No. 11 seeded Pioneers abruptly exploded to erase all of the damage their poor play had created. 

When all was said and done, New Providence had also erased No. 14 Roselle from the UCIAC tournament.

The Pioneers went on a 26-4 run spanning 10 minutes to stun Roselle, 50-46. The Rams led 36-22 with three minutes left in the third, but had only one field goal during New Providence's comeback stretch. 

“They’re tough, they’re tough, really can’t say much more than that,” New Providence coach Art Cattano said of his team.

With the victory, the Pioneers move on to the second round of the UCIAC tournament. The team will play the winner of today’s game pitting No. 6 Rahway against No. 19 Arthur L. Johnson.

“It’s definitely a big win,” senior center Jack Cole said, one of . “We played [Roselle] twice during the regular season, lost one, won the other; they were both close games so it’s nice to play a tough opponent and show what we can do.”

The trio of Cole, Justin Singer and Vinny Fuschetto keyed New Providence's comeback by combining to score 23 of its 26 points during the game-turning run.

Cole finished with 15 points, leaving him 11 shy of 1,000 for his career, while Singer added 13 and Fuschetto had 10.

Cattano credited the comeback to an increased intensity on defense, as Fuschetto got the ball rolling with two steals that he turned into points. 

“[Fuschetto] provides energy for the team,” Cole said.  “He comes back to the huddle, he’s screaming, he’s into it, we all get into it, we rally around that, and he’s able to inspire us all to play much harder.”

After Singer hit a floater in the lane, Fuschetto followed with another fast break off of an outlet pass, and New Providence had chipped the lead down to five going into the fourth. 

The Pioneers carried their momentum into the final period, as Cole began the quarter by posting up and scoring to cut it to 38-35.  Then, Singer took a pass on the right wing, squared up and launched what would become the only made 3-pointer of the game for New Providence.  It tied the game at 38 with 6:12 left, and Roselle called a timeout to stop the bleeding. 

The momentary stoppage didn’t help the reeling Rams regain their composure, as they promptly turned it over.  Cole then gave the Pioneers their first lead since the first quarter with a pull-up jumper from right inside the arc.

The Pioneers would never relinquish that lead, as Cole rejected three consecutive Roselle shots on the next possession, then hit a two-point runner that made it 42-38.

The Rams hit their first field goal in over eight minutes with 2:42 left to play.

Fuschetto capped off what he had started by driving, twisting his body and floating a shot over a Roselle defender for two, then feeding Justin Singer off of a steal; Singer’s baseline floater made it 46-40.  Dave Barletta followed with two free throws to cap the run and make it an eight point lead with a minute left. 

“We started off pretty slow, but then in the second half Jack [Cole] came to play, he started scoring a little more, he was more of a shot-blocker, played better defense and we just came out with the victory,” Fuschetto said.

Roselle had put the Pioneers in the hole by creating points off of turnovers and shooting well from the outside.  The Rams outscored the Pioneers 16-7 in the second quarter, using a late 10-1 run to stretch a one-point lead into a 26-16 lead at the half.

“[At halftime], we knew we [had] played poorly so we felt like we could get back in the game,” Cole said.  “We didn’t feel like they were outplaying us, we just felt like we were blowing the game ourselves.”

The Pioneers showed no signs early in the third that they were ready to bust out.  With New Providence only hitting three field goals over the first five minutes, the Rams were able to push their lead up to 14 before the Pioneers suddenly righted their sinking ship.

The date for the Pioneers’ second-round game has not been announced yet.