Boys basketball: Plainfield beaten by Phillipsburg
PLAINFIELD- Plainfield High School boys basketball coach Michael Gordon spent more than a few minutes with his players Saturday after a 74-42 non-conference loss to Phillipsburg.
Gordon pointed out shortcomings the club suffered that need repairing. He might have mentioned the Stateliners got too many shots on second or third attempts, or that some Stateliners baskets came off odd-man breaks after turnovers.
“That’s a solid team (Phillipsburg) -- teams call we are gonna answer,” said Gordon, referring to scheduling games outside of the Union County Conference. “We don’t duck anyone.”
The Cardinals (3-9) suffered their fifth straight loss. Phillipsburg (6-5) won its second straight since ending a four-game skid. The Stateliners were coming off a 71-69 double-overtime win over Watchung Hills Thursday night in a Skyland Conference Raritan Division game.
The Stateliners kept the momentum against the Cardinals. They lead 17-9 after one quarter and 38-20 at halftime. The lead ballooned to 52-33 after the third quarter and the Liners finished by outscoring Plainfield 22-9 in the fourth with a couple of dunks thrown in.
Juniors Ameer Herran and Andrew Martin scored 18 points each and sophomore Matthew Scerbo Jr. hit for 17. Junior center Jayveon Jackson scored eight points and made several clean, short passes for assists
“Coming into today our main focus was sharing the ball. I think we are at our best when everyone touches the ball,” said P’Burg coach Todd Sigafoos, whose team returns to division play with a game at Hillsborough Tuesday and a home game vs. Ridge Thursday. “Our guards are very athletic and can get in the lane and able to get nice easy looks to our bigs when they’re flashing down through. We made some very good tough finishes.”
Senior guard Kanye Brown paced the Cardinals with a game-high 24 points. He scored all 11 Cardinal second quarter points. He is the only varsity returner from last year’s team that went 8-14.
“We are just rebuilding, it’s rough,” said Gordon. “We have moments where we look like a solid basketball team, and we have moments where we look like a young basketball team which we are.
“They are being coached throughout the game, they are playing hard, physically we gotta get stronger and mentally we have to get tougher,” added the coach.
The tough opponents continue Monday morning at New Brunswick High School when Plainfield meets St. Thomas Aquinas (12-1) at 11:30 a.m. as part of the Martin Luther King Classic.
“We are trying to work through it and getting the guys experience,” said Gordon. “Once we get experience, we are gonna be a good basketball team, we are coming.”
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Boys basketball: Plainfield beaten by Phillipsburg
