MH - HP Boys Hoops

Morris Hills 74, Hanover Park 59

Friday, January 12, 2007

First year Coach Joe Ansaldi and his Scarlet Knights entered the Hanover Park Gymnasium knowing what they had to do in tonight’s game. The goal was to play as well as possible and walk away with in win. Some may have thought that the Scarlet Knights were looking to answer critics who had the Hornets ranked above the high scoring Knights. But the Knights had one goal in mind and one goal only, to win the next game … This Game. The Fans entered knowing to expect from scoreboard lighters Adam Katz and Steve Frankowski. After the first quarter of play, the packed crowd may have had visions of overtime and a last second shot for victory.

Both teams put up 15 points in the opening frame. Both Frankowski (two 3’s) and Katz (four 2’s) lead their team in points at the end of the first. The Scarlet Knights opened with an early lead, but a Frankowski three tied the game at 8. Hanover Junior, Phil Gatti gave the Hornets their first lead at 10-8. Justin Doniloski answered with a three as the lead continued to flip, this time back to Morris Hills 11-10. Phil Gatti hit both free throws to put the Hornets on top 12-11. Katz added two buckets, the second with about 1:20 left in the first, giving visiting Knights a 3 point lead at 15-12 off of a steal and easy lay-up. Frankowski answered with a trip with just 0:42 on the clock, knotting the game at 15.

This teeter-totter battle would continue as the game moved deeper into the second. Fankowski hit a two and was then answered by Doniloski to tie it at 17. Doniloski and Katz hit two bucket to up the lead to 21-17. Katz complete the three point play on his bucket to increase the lead to 5. Matt Schellenhammer nailed a three to cut the lead to 22-20. Andrew Zelnick scored his first basket of the game and gave the Knights a 28-21 lead with 4:38 left in the second. A Katz three in the final minute increased the lead to 38-30.

Both teams came out and used a bit of “in the face” defense to slow down the scoring. Morris Hills was able intercept a handful of fast breaks and quick passes, thus preventing the Hornets from making a strong effort of closing in on the lead. Both teams who were hot early on fell hit a cold steak. The Knights went 3-14 from inside the arc and 2-7 from deep. Despite those lower than normal numbers, the Scarlet Knights were able to outscore the Hornets by 9 in the third. Hanover was also cold. The Hornets were 2-10 on Field Goals and 0-2 from behind the arc.

The Hornets would not go lightly and fought back in the fourth quarter, but could not manage to get within single digits. Frankowski threw in 14 points in the fourth and Shellenhammer added seven, combining for 21 of the 22 Hornets’ 4^th Quarter points. Morris was 11 of 16 from the charity stripe in the closing frame and as able to hold off the fast paced Hornets. This quality win up’d the Knights to 1-1 in a solid four game stretch (Chatham, @ Hanover Park, Weequahic & Mendham). The Knight host Weequahic on Tuesday and Morris County’s #1 Minutemen on Friday. Hanover travels to West Essex on Tuesday and then host Parsippany on Friday.

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Score by quarter	1	2	3	4	Final
Morris Hills (7-2)	15	23	16	19	73
Hanover Park (4-5)	15	15	7	22	59

Morris Hills Statistics

Player	2’s	3’s	1’s	PF	PTS
#4 Doniloski, Justin	7-12	3-6	3-6	4	26
#3 Katz, Adam	8-14	1-4	4-5	3	23
#11 Dudek, Doug	2-9	1-3	7-7	4	14
#5 Zelnick, Andrew	2-3	0-0	0-1	0	4
#44 Marotta, Matt	1-3	0-0	2-2	2	4
#10 Kellner, Dan	1-5	0-2	0-0	1	2
#21 Fortuna, Junior	0-0	0-0	0-0	3	0
#22 Reeves, Tom	0-2	0-0	0-2	0	0
#15 O'Shea, Shane	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	0
Total	20-54	5-15	16-23	17	73
Scarlet Knights’ %	.370	.333	.696

Hanover Park Statistics

Player	2’s	3’s	1’s	PF	PTS
#5 Frankowski, Steve	4-8	5-7	4-4	4	27
#2 Shellenhammer, Matt	0-3	2-9	7-12	3	13
#3 Gatti, Phil	2-5	0-0	4-6	0	8
#43 Baruka, Greg	3-8	0-0	0-0	1	6
#33 Pristell, Greg	1-3	0-2	1-2	4	3
#4 Dirocco, Joe	1-4	0-1	0-0	5	2
#13 Roytvarf, Eric	0-1	0-1	0-0	1	0
#12 Watkins, Randy	0-0	0-1	0-0	1	0
#23 Seminerio, S	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0
#1 Walsh, A	0-0	0-0	0-0	2	0
Total	11-32	7-21	16-23	21	59
Hornets’ Shot %	.344	.333	.696

Technical fouls: Hanover Park - 2