CLARK, NJ- With the regular season officially in the books, the Arthur L. Johnson High School Crusaders boys varsity basketball team is ready to give everything they’ve done in the regular season and bring it to the next level in the state tournament.
The sixth-seeded Crusaders open it up with a matchup against 11-seeded South River HS in the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 2 First Round on Tuesday, February 27 at 7:00 p.m.
Johnson finished the regular season with a 16-7 record, including a 9-1 record in conference play, a 2017-18 Union County Conference Sky Division Co-Champions with New Providence, the teams losing to one another, splitting the regular season series.
Regular Season Analysis: Johnson
Johnson lost their games this year to Rahway (2, John “Butch” Kowal Christmas Tournament First Round), Holmdel, Union, New Providence, St. Peter’s Prep and Summit (lost on buzzer beater). They started off the season with a 3-0 record, beating New Providence, Roselle Park and New Egypt.
The Crusaders defeated Christ the King HS (Newark) in a 67-53 win on Super Saturday, which ended a two-game losing streak from the Christmas Tournament and withstood physical playing from Oratory Prep to capture a huge conference win.
They lost to Union 58-47 in the Allstate Eric LeGrand Classic at Kean University, despite playing toe-to-toe with them for the entirety of the first three quarters of action that Sunday afternoon.
Johnson fell to 6-5 on the season after losing two straight games to New Providence (79-65) and St. Peter’s Prep (ranked No. 17 on NJ.com’s Top 20 at the time), in a game where they battled hard until the final seconds, where the Maruaders sealed the deal with late free throws. In the weeks that followed the loss, Johnson would turn it around and get better in a big way.
The Crusaders went on a six-game winning streak, defeating Roselle Park, Oratory Prep, Dayton, Brearley, St. Rose (Tom Richel Memorial Hoopfest Showcase at Roselle Catholic HS) and Dayton on their Senior Night. The Crusaders’ 72-44 win over St. Rose effectively secured the Crusaders as the sixth seed in the state tournament.
Johnson picked up a 62-52 win in the first round of the 2018 Union County Tournament against Plainfield HS. They won three of the last four games, victories at Delaware Valley, Brick Township and Pequannock to close out their regular season.
Johnson has received production from all their starters, in seniors George Visconti, Joe DiProfio and Jeff Drajin, along with juniors Brandon Hund and Brenden Kelly. Senior Ross Wildes has stepped up on the defensive end of the game, grabbing all the loose basketballs and doing a lot of the defensive work that Brendan Stanzione (2017 graduate) did.
In addition, Johnson has seen good stuff out of juniors Eric Bretz and Marcos Castro and freshman Tino Puentes, especially in the Brearley games, where the second group of players saw extended time on the floor, along with times where players have missed time due to injury or illness, such as the flu, which plagued two Johnson players a few weeks ago.
George Visconti comes into the state tournament averaging 21.2 points per game, including 107 field goals, 55 three-pointers and 109 free throws on the season. He recently achieved 2,000 career points on February 12, a 62-50 win over Delaware Valley, which Visconti is happy to have gotten, but is focused on helping the team go as far as they can possibly go.
Joe DiProfio comes into the state tournament, averaging 7.6 points per game, including 33 field goals, 25 three-pointers and 11 free throws on the season.
Brenden Kelly has emerged as a major threat on both sides of the game, a lot of better things from last year. averaging 13.3 points per game, along with 49 field goals, 55 three-pointers and 38 free throws on the season. He has been one of many cornerstones for the Crusaders as the weeks of the season have went along.
Brandon Hund has recently found his game, scoring a season-high 21 points in a 56-50 win over Brick Township HS on Wednesday, February 21. On the season, he is averaging 11.5 points per game, draining 87 field goals, with 18 three-pointers and connecting on 36 free throws.
Jeff Drajin has really risen to the occasion, with receiving a spot as a varsity starter, with the loss of Brendan Stanzione to graduation. While not hitting many of the main areas that Stanzione did, Drajin has become one of the rising stars as the season rolled along. Coming into the state tournament, he’s averaging 6.8 points per game, hitting 86 field goals, 3 three-pointers and 21 free throws.
Ross Wildes has become this year’s role of Brendan Stanzione, making the key plays on defense, grabbing the tough rebounds and making the tough shots when the other players have not been able to get their game on the offensive side going. He has been another cornerstone for the Crusaders and will be as long as the season is going.
Regular Season Analysis: South River
South River comes into the state tournament with a 17-9 record, including a 5-7 record in conference play, fourth place in the Greater Middlesex Conference Blue Division. The Rams lost their first two games of the season to Bishop Ahr and Spotswood, before winning the next four games in a row to get back on track on the season, sporting a 4-2 record at the time.
Following that, they’ve achieved wins over Bard, Timothy Christian, Metuchen, South Plainfield, Perth Amboy Tech, Koinonia, Middlesex, Piscataway Tech, Keansburg, Iselin Kennedy, North Brunswick, New Egypt and Keyport.
South River has done all the things necessary to win the games on their schedule this season, especially the games where the opponents are the ones capable of being beaten in a game, as the Rams had been able to take control of those games as the season rolled along.
From January 24 to February 3, the Rams embarked on a six-game winning streak to keep them on the right track, as they officially locked up the 11-seed heading into Tuesday night’s action. They’ve put together a string of good basketball to return to the state tournament, after coming up just short and missing the state tournament all together last year, to get the 11-seed heading into this year’s state tournament.
They’ve seen production from several players, including juniors Derrick Whittaker and Joseph Nigro, the two best players on the team. Junior Michael DeSantis, the quarterback of the football team, has also produced in a big way for the Rams throughout the season, both in regular shots and in shots behind the arc, the cornerstone for their wins on the season.
Keys to the Game for Johnson:
Johnson’s defense has carried them in games where the offense hasn’t quite taken off, which was huge in games they found themselves in trouble throughout the season.
For Johnson, the key to the take will be to try and contain juniors Derrick Whittaker (18 points per game, 117 field goals made, 45 three-pointers) and Joseph Nigro (14.7 points per game, 73 field goals, 55 three-pointers), they will compete on Tuesday night. The next thing is to prevent them from getting open looks by locking down on the plaers, preventing them from shooting and possibly trying to force turnovers or bad shots to regain the basketball.
South River is a boys basketball program that’s always been decent in years past, and they have guys who can still make plays and run the football, so we will see what develops Tuesday night.
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