Monroe, NJ- The legendary post season run by the Piscataway Chiefs Men’s Basketball team came to an end in the Greater Middlesex Conference County Finals against the No. 9 Saint Joseph Falcons on Friday, February 20th, as the Chiefs were handed their worst loss of the season, a score of 91-61.
How it happened
The Chiefs were able to hold their own in the first quarter with it ending 17-13 Falcons. However, St. Joseph opened up the second quarter with a dangerous 6-0 run in one minute with the help of a three point shot from St. Joseph Junior, Aidan Carter to make it 23-13. Piscataway was able to bring it back with a three point shot from Piscataway Junior guard, Landon Pernell to make it 24-20.
The Falcons were able to respond with a 7-0 run with yet another 3 point shot from Carter. Both teams went back and forth and the Chiefs went into halftime trailing by 10 at 38-28.
Piscataway Superintendent, Erskine R. Glover shared some words about the team in an interview at halftime.
“It’s not the first time they’ve been down. They’ve made it come back. They were down in the semifinals against Colonia, [and they] came back. So, St. Joes is a tough team but if you play smart and play your game, you’ll be right there.”
Piscataway was able to start out the second half with a 4-0 run and St. Joseph was able to respond with a 15-0 run, leaving 2 minutes to go in the third quarter with a score of 53-32 Falcons. No shots were falling for the Chiefs and Piscataway Head Coach, Bob Turco even commented on this.
“It’s just a matter of we’re not hitting shots, they’re bigger than us, [and] everything’s falling for them,” Turco said. “The writing’s on the wall and it’s not their night.”
Fortunately, Piscataway was able to put together a 9-4 run to close out the third quarter, 59-41.
St. Joseph started to run up the score on Piscataway and the Chiefs lost, 91-61.
At the end of the game, Coach Turco and St. Joseph Head Coach, Marc Taylor got into a little bit of an argument. Here is a quote by Turco explaining what happened.
“[St. Joes is] keeping kids in [the game] up 30 points, trying to get 30-40 points on us, and they’re jumping up and down as a coaching staff, as adults. That’s childish,” Turco said. “What they did didn’t respect my kids so I’m gonna fight for my kids, always.”
Player performances
Pernell led the Chiefs with 22 points, including 4 3-pointers. Senior forward, Isaiah Fowler, was able to put up 15 points and Senior forward, Donald Nwaigwe, tagged on 13 points.
This game puts Nwaigwe 11 points away from 1000 with 989 career points.
The Superintendent shared some words about the team itself:
“This has been a dream come true for these young boys, these brothers. They’ve been playing for a while together,” Glover said. “Number two seed this season, GMC finals, can’t do better than that.”
What’s next?
The Piscataway Chiefs return home on Tuesday, February 24th to play in the first round of the NJSIAA North 2 Group 4 tournament against the J.P. Stevens Hawks.
