Jr. Warriors Snap Slump with 81-Point Burst

The Jr. Warriors 8^th grade district basketball team snapped a two-game losing streak with an impressive 81-23 victory against the overmatched Morris Suns.

The Jr. Warriors held their opponents to 14 first half points and just 9 in the second half as they smothered their opponents with their full court press. The Warriors received contributions from the entire roster as Anthony Marino and Mark Ball with 17 and 15 points, respectively, led the barrage. They were followed by Anthony Argiro who added 14 points, Justin LaCapra with 10 and Patrick Meyers with 9.

The Jr. Warriors were coming off consecutive losses for only the second time all season as they fell to Roselle, 67-61, and the Radiant Suns, 42-32. Against Roselle, the Warriors were led by Warren’s Adam Goldstein who had a career high 16 points in the loss. He was followed by Long Hill’s Eddie Poggi with 13 points and Justin LaCapra’s 10 points.  The Warriors were only 3 of 12 from the charity stripe which proved to be the difference in the game. Against the Radiant Suns, the Jr. Warriors led 18-15 at the half, but came out cold in the 2^nd half and only scored 14 points while giving up 27 points in the half. Eddie Poggi dropped a season high 14 points followed by Evan Meyer’s 7 points and Lucas Hackett’s 5 points in the loss.

The Warriors followed up their victory over the Morris Suns with another impressive performance against North Brunswick. Employing their signature full court trapping defense, the Jr. Warriors held their opponents to single digits in the first half en route to a 30 point victory, 57-27. Mark Ball led the way with 17 points followed by Anthony Marino’s 11 points. Anthony Argiro chipped in 7 points, Pat Meyers dropped in 6 points, while Logan Bailey and Lucas Hackett added 5 points each. Evan Meyers, Adam Goldstein and Jon Catania finished the scoring with 2 points apiece.

 The Jr. Warriors dropped a disappointing 36-23 decision to the Jersey City Boys Club to end the week. The loss left the Warriors record at 20-8 in the winter season (41-14 overall) and anxious to get back on the court to get the taste of the bad loss out of their mouths.

Submitted by Jeff Goldstein.