After Slow Start, Bridgewater-Raritan Overtakes Cranford

The Bridgewater-Raritan boys varsity basketball team played host to the Cranford Cougars Thursday in the last regular season game for the Panthers. 

With Cranford coming in 4-15, the game looked like a warm-up for the upcoming North Jersey Section 2, Group IV NJSIAA tournament next week.

Bridgewater started slow, with shots off the mark and the defense not making its stops. Coach Gene McAteer was concerned about how his team came out. 

"Sometimes it seems we just let our guard down," he said. "It might be a sign of our maturity [with two seniors on the squad]."

The Panthers scored just four points in the opening period with two each from Justin Leeds and Sal Vitello, while Cranford came out strong scoring 12 points with five points coming from Sean Trotter and the remainder from three other contibutors.

McAteer made a change in the second period, putting junior varsity players on the floor, and was pleased with the result. 

"Iwas proud of how our JV guys came in and gave us a lift," he said. "I think it was an eye opener for some of the players to get a lot more varsity minutes." 

In that second quarter, Bridgewater outscored Cranford, 12-11, with points coming from Vitello, Joe Leotta, Leeds and Isiah Solomon. 

"There wasn't much talk of basketball adjustments at halftime, it was a little bit of attitude and effort adjustments," McAteer said. 

And it appeared to have an impact. 

The Panthers came out strong and, just three minutes into the third period, the team took the lead and never relinquished it.  Captain Andrew Ortelli scored four different times from the three-point range, and Vitello and Leeds scored two points each. 

Outscoring Cranford 16-3 in the third, it looked like the tide had turned. 

But Cranford had not given up, as six points from Trotter and six more from Reginald Green helped bring the team back.

Still, Bridgewater held on with scoring from Vitello, with six in the period and 12 for the game; Leeds, with six in the period and 12 for the game; and Ortelli, who added four points for the game high of 16 points.

McAteer said he is looking forward to the state tournament. 

"We definitely proved we can be a dangerous team, but have we shown we can relax and let out guard down," he said.

Bridgewater is now 14-11 on the season. 

Bridgewater plays Franklin Monday a 4 p.m. at Franklin for the first round of the state tournament.