High School Boys Basketball:
Washington Township Gets Revenge Against Cherokee

Thursday, February 4, 1999

By Greg Alvord
SJSports Special Correspondent

As the Cherokee Chiefs and Washington Township Minutemen prepared for their rematch game, the Minutemen had one thought on their minds, "payback". The reason being is that the Chiefs were victorious in the first match up between these two group 4 playoff bound teams 46-44. In their first meeting the Chiefs came out on top in an intensely emotional game at Township. Now the Minutemen were on the road looking for revenge. They found revenge by toppling the Chiefs 77-45 at Cherokee on Thursday night.

Contrasting in styles, the teams started the game with the Minutemen pounding inside while the Chiefs established the outside shot. The Minutemen had ample opportunities in the post, but the nagging Chiefs "D-Fence", combined with some Minutemen unlucky bounces off the boards, kept the Chiefs in the first quarter. The Chiefs also used some fine ball movement to find the open man and score. The quarter ended with the advantage going to the Minutemen leading 24-14.

The second quarter found Cherokee packing the middle, so the multi-dimensional Minutemen switched to their outside game. This move turned out to be red hot, with the Minutemen banging seven three pointers in the half, led by Chris Vsilton's four long bomber threes. Cranking up their man to man defensive pressure, the Minutemen held the Chiefs to just six second quarter points. The half ended with Township 37, Cherokee 20.

Third quarter started with the Chiefs having to take many defensive gambles. The young Chiefs, still hustling but facing a upstream battle, left too many opportunities for the cagey Minutemen. Washington Township went back to work inside and this time many of their low post shots found pay dirt. Ed Hoban netted many of his 17 points in the quarter, which ended Minutemen 57, Chiefs 31.

Man to man defense is how both teams started the fourth quarter, with Cherokee desperately trying to trap and pressure Township. Township's players used crisp cutting and passing to take advantage of the open court style. The game was pretty much sealed in Washington Township's favor. The latter stages of the game saw both teams' non-starters receive "valuable varsity experience". The final score on this night: Washington Township Minutemen 77, Cherokee Chiefs 45.

Scoring Summary:

Cherokee- Cusick 8, Scanzano 3, Williams 8, Hewitt 9, Ehrhart 2, Lawrence 7, Albanese 2, Mccullough 2

Township- Crockett 11, Defrancesco 5, Lozanoff 6, Hoban 17, Branco 13, Vsilton 17, O'Neil 2, King 2, Ciavirella 2, Scarduzio 2

Photos by John Hibbs