Hoops Season Tips Off Tonight for Governor Livingston Boys Team

The Governor Livingston Highlanders' boys basketball team hosted a tri-scrimmage on Tuesday, December 14, welcoming Edison and Cranford High Schools into their gym.

Cranford was a last minute addition to the tri-scrimmage after their scrimmage against Rahway was cancelled due to scheduling conflicts. Highlanders' coach Steve Petruzelli extended the offer for the Cougars to join the scrimmage.

Despite minor injuries causing seniors Gavin Farrow and Brendan DiLandro to sit out the scrimmage, the Highlanders performed well, winning three out of the four periods in which they participated, including an 11-0 shutout of Edison in one of the ten-minute periods.

"One of the things (we looked to do) was just to continue to improve, but we gave a few other guys a chance," said Petruzelli. "(The injuries) put Reid Harrison, a sophomore, in a lead position where he had to run the team. It gave a few other players minutes that they hadn't had before."

Petruzelli hopes to get Farrow and DiLandro back into the starting line-up and keep them there for a tough season ahead, which starts tonight at Scotch Plains-Fanwood at 7:00 p.m.

"We're good, but everybody else in our league, I think, is extremely tough," said Petruzelli. "We get what I believe would be the preseason favorite in Scotch Plains on Friday. We have a good team; we have size, we have guards, we have kids that can knock down shots, but we're no better than anyone else in the league. Every league game is going to be a dogfight."

In addition, the Highlanders have non-league games against opponents such as Plainfield and Linden. Neither game forecasts to be an easy task for Governor Livingston.

"The county's always been a great basketball county, and right now its extremely deep," said Petruzelli.

Nonetheless, solid fundamentals and play on all sides of the ball are the key for Petruzelli's team, who are striving to find consistency in order to make quality play a regular occurrence.

"We've continued to execute, run our stuff well and share the ball well," said Petruzelli. "We defend very well; we're very happy with the way we're defending. We didn't run any zone today; we played all man-to-man, but we're very happy."

"Our challenge today was to stay consistent," Petruzelli continued. "We think we're executing and running our things very well, we're defending very well, and at this point it's a matter of being able to come out each and every night and play that way."