The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 6

1 4- Ufa ydilabctpfiia inquirer TUESDAY March 17, 1992 C5 OUTH JERSEY SPORTS ByDONMcKEE EHT advances to semis with 4140 win Township 22 (Nickles 7), Jefferson Township 24 (Gonzetei 8). Assists: Egg Harbor Township 1 3 (Hannum 6), Jefferson Township 9 (Manner 41. Steals: Egg Harbor Township 7 (DeFeo 3), Jefferson Township 8 (Brandell 3). In last night's second tournament game, No.6-seed South Hunterdon beat No.3-seed Linden, 60-53, in a stunning upset. Linden, which looked very impressive in winning the Group 4 championship over Piscataway on Sunday, never led in the game.

Junior forward Tamecka Dixon, who had 39 points and 18 rebounds for Linden on Sunday, fouled out with 4:14 left last night, having scored 34 points. Peggy Minschwaner's 23 points led Group 1 champion South Hunterdon -(27-1), which will face undefeated St, Peter's (300) at 6:30 tomorrow night. St. Peter's is led by New Jersey's all- time scoring leader, Kristen Some- A driving layup by Pam Brandell, a 6-foot junior, gave the Falcons a 36-35 lead with just over two minutes left in the fourth quarter. With 1 minute, 38 seconds on the clock, after EHT had turned the ball over, Hannum stole it back.

Just 17 seconds later, Stephanie DeFeo found Matlock slicing across the lane and her soft jumper gave the Eagles the lead again. "I do feel a responsibility to score when the game is on the line," Matlock admitted, "but sometimes, they try too hard to get it to me. Everybody is capable of making those shots. Tonight I was able to get open and Steph made a great pass." Hannum, who did not score but had five assists, made another steal with 1:10 left and DeFeo found Nickles for a layup with 52 seconds left. Jen Meisner answered at the other end with a jumper in the lane.

With 18 seconds left, Matlock was fouled and made both shots. "She comes up big in situations like that said Botta. "She takes a lot of time shooting a free throw. She stands there until she has blocked sey girls' teams to win a Tournament of Champions game opened a 14 lead after one period, with Matlock getting eight points. But Jefferson Township (28-4), which defeated Middle Township in the state Group 2 final, rallied to tie the score, 25-25, at the half.

In the third period, with a 33-30 lead, Botta bad his team hold the ball for the final three minutes of the quarter. It wasn't pretty. For most of the time, Matlock or Jen Hannum just stood near mid-court with the ball tucked under her arm and Jefferson Township sitting back in a zone. "In each quarter, we seemed to be getting worse as the period wore on," Botta explained, "so I decided to run off some time and see if they would come out and play us man-to-man. When they didn't, we just decided to run off all the time and improve our chances.

We did get one point out of it" A very important point, as it turned out. Amy Nickles was fouled with one second left and made one of two shots. everything out." When Brandell scored at the other end, Jefferson was within one point with seven seconds left. They fouled Hannum with four seconds left but, although she missed, the Falcons could not get a good shot before time ran out "Brandell hurt us," said Botta, referring to the Jefferson center who scored a game-high 16 points. "She goes to the basket with authority.

But we did a good job on Aurora Gonzalez and Shea took (Jessical Annual right out of the game." The winners of tomorrow night's games will meet on Sunday (1:30) at the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, Em Harbor Township 14 11 9 7 41 Jefferson Township 8 17 BIO 40 EHT: Stephanie DeFeo 3-3 1-3 7, Jan Hannum 0-1 0-1 Amy Nickles 6-12 1-2 13, Shaa Matlock 6-14 2-3 14. Michele McGowan 1-2 O-0 2. Darmlla Castaldi 2-3 1-2 S. Totals 18 35 6-11 41. JT: Jessica Annunt 0-2 0-0 0.

Tara Jacobi 3-9 0-0 6. Pam Brandell 7-12 2-2 16, Aurora Goruatot 4-10 0-0 8, Jen Meisner 3-9 2-3 8. Tracy Heyboer 0-0 0-0 0, Sharon Hocks 1-1 0-0 2, Michel Laongnots O-OO-OO, Totals 18-43 4-6 40. Three-point Shots: Egg Harbor Township 0-3. Jefferson Township 0-4.

Rebounds: Egg Harbor By Tom Williams SPECIAL TO THE INQUIRER WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. Shea Matlock scored four points in the final 81 seconds last night to help Egg Harbor Township defeat Jefferson Township, 41-40, in the opening round of the girls' basketball Tournament of Champions at Monmouth College. The win advances the Eagles (28-4), the state Group 3 champions, into tomorrow night's semifinal game against the tournament's No. 1 seed and defending champion, St. John Vianney (29-2) of Holmdel, the Parochial A state champion for the third straight year.

"Our schedule had a lot to do with how we played those final 90 seconds," said EHT coach Sam Botta, whose team had fallen behind, 36-35. "When you play against teams that force you to play well, you discover things about yourself. I like our chances in any game when it's still up for grabs in the final two minutes." The Eagles who joined the 1990 Sterling team as the only South Jer Burlington Twp. wins, 6144 Shawnee rematch next for Falcons Zesi they not go unheralded There Is only one bad thing about a glorious day such as the one enjoyed by South Jersey wrestlers at the state finals Saturday. There were too many great stories.

With so many South Jersey wrestlers winning titles in so dramatic a fashion and so many big names involved in headline events some names are sure to be overlooked. So let's take a quick look back, behind the headlines, at some guys whose accomplishments should be remembered. Tom McAleer wrestled in obscurity much of the season, but the Gloucester Catholic senior went all the way to the final bout at 160 pounds before losing to unbeaten (22-0) Glenn Prittlaff of Middletown South. McAleer finished the season 28-2 and was the only man to defeat Region 8 champion Brian Lewis of Highland. No previous Gloucester Catholic wrestler had ever won a single bout in state competition, so McAleer can lay claim to being the best In his school's history.

Justin Hurst of Lenape demonstrated that he will be a force in area wrestling for the next two years. The sophomore won Region 7 at 103 Kunds and advanced to the finals fore losing. Only a freshman Hurst finished ths season 29-3 and stopped Buena's then-unbeaten Bob Hanson, 5-2, in the semifinals. Hanson, by the way, is another wrestler we'll be hearing from in years to come. Only a freshman, he finished his season 30-1 and in third place at 103.

Yet another finalist who forced his way almost to the top was Kyle Young of Cherry Hill West at 119. Throughout the season that weight class had been dominated by Oak-crest's Michael Ware and Washington Township's Mike Sandelier. But Young pinned three straight opponents (including Sandelier and unbeaten Anthony Gencarelli of Passaic Valley) to make the finals. He lost to top-seeded Doug Detrick of Warren Hills, 124, but that shouldn't take the gloss off a great season. McAleer, Hurst and Young also contributed to a modest restoration of pride in Region 7, which had been devastated in the Super Regionals last week.

Heralded Region 8 produced two state champions. So did Region 7. And three of the five South Jersey wrestlers who won silver medals for finishing second were from Region 7. Super efforts The Region 8 winners were Abse-gami's John Martin at 13S and Over-brook's Kip Covington at 145. Region 7 winners were Collingswood's John Koss at 171 and Delran's Bill Duff at heavyweight The Region 8 wrestlers who made it to the finals before losing were Paulsboro's Matt Suter at 145 and teammate Larry DeVault at 152.

Duff is another guy who may not have gotten his due, but in his case it was because he was so dominant he made it look easy. The 6-foot-4 junior, who also was a first-team all-South Jersey football player last fall, wrestled four bouts in state competition. He won the first by a ISO technical fall, the second when his opponent defaulted due to injury late in their bout, and the last two by rousing, second-period pins. Duff finished the season 35-1 and his sole loss was a disqualification for an illegal slam. No opponent outpointed him all winter.

The outstanding wrestler award, however, went to 189-pound champion Bryan Stout of Southern Regional. Yearly award The award has been given every year since 1939 and 55 wrestlers have won or shared the distinction. Curiously, only nine have been South Jersey. But Stout certainly was deserving. The senior did not surrender a point to an opponent all season.

He gave up two points, both on referee's decisions. Once he was called for illegally locking hands, and once he was called for unsportsmanlike conduct. In his four state tourney bouts, he recorded three pins and a technical fall. Any number of great wrestlers will be back next year. Hanson has three more years.

Lewis, Hurst and Sandelier have two more. Suter and Duff will pursue state titles once again next year. Delsea's Ed Grace reached the quarterfinals at 112 and is just a junior. His teammate, Derick Maden, reached the quarters at 130 and is just a sophomore. Another quarterfi-nalist at that weight, Lee Moorer of Penns Grove, is a junior.

Jim Dively of Highland got to the 140-pound quarters as a junior. Oak-crest's Justin Bird made the semifinals at 152 and is a junior. The beat, as they say, goes on. si i South Hunterdon Linden 14 21 10 16 60 12 9 21 11 63 SH: Megan Pern 4, Amanda Pittore 10, Peggy Minschwaner 23, Colleen McCrea 19, Christine Pierman 0, Came Neal 4, Missy Williamson 0. Reqia Johnson 1, Simone Gilliam 7, Shermans Koonce 11, Sharon Kukal 0, Tamecka Dixon 34, Lauren Wigfall 0, Loo Wilson 0.

Guarantee that a South Jersey team will play in the title game for the first time in the Tournament of Champions' four-year history. Become the first Group 1 team to ever win a game in this tournament, which brings together the six state champions. The 184) run began with Burg hitting two three-point shots, narrowing the deficit to 26-25. With two seconds left in the half, Burlington Township's Larry Crump inbounded the ball from under the opponent's basket. Crump, who had fvie assists, lofted an alley-oop pass above the hoop.

The acrobatic Smith, who has signed with Duquesne, swooped in from the foul line, caught the ball above the rim with his right hand and, in one motion, slammed the ball through the hoop. The buzzer sounded. The basket gave the Falcons a 27-26 halftime lead. "That," Faulkner said, "was a big play, because not too many high school players see a play like that." "Larry made the play," said Smith, who was lO-for-21 from the floor and 4-for-7 from three-point range. "To me, he's the best passer in South Jersey.

He did the work." Crump also did a commendable job guarding Dwayne Arrington when the Falcons were not in a 2-3 defense. Arrington, the only senior in a starting lineup that included three sophomores and a freshman, was held to three points 16 below his average. Crump was not in the lineup during the-entire 18-0 run. Phil Pittman, a 6-4 senior, replaced him. "That was our big lineup," Faulkner said.

"Phil gave us size and some fresh legs. I thought he was a big key." At the half, Faulkner told his team: "You have every excuse in the world to be tired, but I'm gonna kick your butts and get you through this." Smith erupted for 10 third-quarter points including a pair of three-point shots to help the Falcons open a 44-35 lead. Hillside, which scored a 62-60 overtime win over Middle Township in the Group 2 state final, never got closer than eight points in the final quarter. So, now we are headed to the best matchup in recent South Jersey history: The speed and uptempo style of Burlington Township against the controlled precision of Shawnee. 31-1 (Township) vs.

30-1 (Shawnee). The Burlco Freedom cohampion Falcons vs. the Burlco Liberty champion Renegades. It will be a rematch of the Feb. 10 regular-season contest, in which host Burlington Township scored a 63-62 win on a three-point basket by Smith at the buzzer.

Shawnee argued that Smith had taken the shot inside the three-point arc and that the game should have been decided in a three-minute overtime. Now the teams will have 32 minutes to decide the matter. In the first game last night, fourth-seeded Seton Hall Prep, behind 6-3 Wardell Strickland's 18 points and 13 rebounds, eliminated fifth-seeded Ewing, 59-36. Parochial A champion Seton Hull (27-3), which had a 44-28 rebounding advantage, will face top-seeded Mar-1st (30-1), the Parochial champion, in tomorrow's 8 p.m. semifinals at Rutgers.

Hnde 12 14 9 9 16 11 17 17 Burlmgio i Twp. 61 Dwayne Arrington 3, Istac Nelson 3. Ter- rence Glanton 6, Byron Lewis 7. Lamont Adams 14 Rashann Burner 3. Jemo King 8.

6T: Larry Crump 8. Frank Burg 1 1, Marcus Andrews 9, Anthony Smith 25, Chris Hutton 4, Phil Pittman 4. Seton HaH 17 11 14 17 69 4 10 14 8 36 twmg SH: Wardell Strickland 18, Todd Palumbo 7. Chris Couren 4, Mark Kenah 5, Brevin Knight 17, Don Carey 6. Pat Bosworth 2.

Delmar Qnnton 8. Ravi Norman 9. Jesse Glover 8, Michael Wilmore 4, Brian Devaney 2, Les Summiel 3, Kenya Mearns 2. If i-j Iff Li' -it) BySamCarchldl INQUIRER STAFF WRITER PISCATAWAY, N.J. With less than a minute remaining in last night's Tournament of Champions boys' basketball quarterfinal at the Rutgers Athletic Center, Burlington Township High fans started a mic chant: "We want Shawnee! We want Show-neef We want Shawnee" An 18-0 Burlington Township spurt one that erased a stunning seven-point, second-quarter deficit had preceded the fans' chant.

"Yeah, I heard them," Burlington Township swingmanhighlight film Anthony Smith said after scoring 25 points and leading the Falcons to a 61-44 victory over gallant Hillside. "1 was thinking the same thing they were." Burlington Township-Shawnee, Part II, will take place in a 6:30 p.m. semifinal at Rutgers tomorrow. It will be a rematch of Burlington Township's controversial 6342 win on Feb. 20, and the winner will undoubtedly finish No.

1 in The Inquirer's South Jersey ratings. For part of last night's first half, it didn't look as though Township (31-1) would reach the semifinals. The cold-shooting Falcons faced a startling 26-19 deficit when Hillside's 6-foot-5 freshman Jemo King (seven blocks) banked home a 12-foot turnaround shot with 2 minutes, 31 seconds left in the half. "We were flat even the guys on the bench" said Township coach Ken Faulkner. "It's one of those things that can happen at this time of the year.

The guys were tired. We had a parade after winning (the Group 1 title Sunday night, and the kids didn't get to bed until 2 or 3 in the morning. "And then we had a press conference (Mondayl in Edison, and we've been playing every other night Everyone's beat I saw some yawns out there tonight." Trailing, 26-19, Burlington Township's Frank Burg hit a three-pointer from the left side. The yawns stopped. Burg's basket triggered an 18-0 run that gave the Falcons a 37-26 lead with 4:33 left in the third quarter.

When Byron Lewis canned a 15-foot baseline jumper with 4:17 left in the third quarter, it ended a Hillside (23-7) scoring drought that had lasted 6:14. The 18-0 run, viewed by a crowd of 1,500, allowed Burlington Township to: Equal a South Jersey record for wins in a season. Camden (31-0 in 1983-84) and two other Burlington Township teams (31-0 in 1984-85 and 31-1 in 1986-87) also had 31-wln seasons. Earl told his coach he would lead Shawnee to a South Jersey title. He did that and more.

I- .:8" I i I 4 I ft 1 fx SpKial to Ths mqu.fr ELIZABETH VORHAUER a promise For his performances, Earl has been named The Inquirer's South Jersey boys' basketball player of the week. Earl, the ultimate team player, is averaging 20 points and nine assists Sit game. A terrific outside shooter, has hit 159 three-point shots in his three-year career. "He runs the show," said Irvington coach Kurt Fenchel. "He penetrates and forces two guys to cover him, and then he dishes off and makes the other people around him look good." With Earl leading the way, Shawnee (30-1), which will play in tomorrow's Tournament of Champions semifinals, has become one of six teams in South Jersey history with a 30-win season.

By Sam Carchidi niiinfitimtj tfmmMM High above th crowd, Burlington Township's Marcus Andrews, who contributed nine points to his team's Tournament of Champions victory, takes a shot over Hillside defender Dwayne Arrington. delivers on Boys' basketball player of the week and collected 10 assists, leading Shawnee to the championship with a stunning 82-80 overtime win over previously undefeated Atlantic City. The win gave Shawnee its first sectional crown in the program's 22-year history. Two nights later, Earl had 14 points and a strong floor game as Shawnee whipped previously undefeated Bridgewater-Raritan, 75-66, in the Group 4 state semifinals. Sunday, in the Group 4 state final Rutgers University, Earl had 12 points and 10 assists, helping the Renegades defeat Irvington, 69-56.

Danny Earl A half-hour after last week's rivet-ting South Jersey Group 4 boys' basketball contest had ended, an exhausted Danny Earl sat in Shawnee High's locker room and recalled a conversation he had with his head coach, Joe Kessler. "It was after a practice in my freshman year," said Earl, now a 6-foot-3 junior guard. As Earl spoke, Kessler entered the room. "I promised Mr. Kessler that, before I graduated, I would get him a South Jersey championship.

"Do you remember that?" Earl asked his coach. Said Kessler: "I'll never forget it." Nor will he ever forget Earl's magical performance in the South Jersey Group 4 final at Atlantic City. Earl, scoring on long-range baskets and on slithering drives down the lane, netted a school-record 41 points at.