By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
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DEPTFORD TOWNSHIP — On Tuesday night at the Group 4 state semifinals at Deptford High, Cherry Hill East held Montgomery to zero points through the first four minutes of the game. East fans were maybe starting to daydream about a trip up the New Jersey Turnpike to Rutgers University, site of this weekend’s state championship games.
Maybe it was a little bus lag for Montgomery, but the Cougars got loose halfway through the first quarter, going on an 8-0 run and taking a 12-8 lead into the second. After that, it was all Montgomery, as it outscored East 20-8 in both the second and fourth quarters to run away with a 67-37 victory that puts Montgomery into the championship game against North Jersey champion Plainfield at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Rutgers’ Jersey Mike’s Arena.
A pair of sophomores did nearly all the damage for Montgomery, as guard Mike Simborski scored 28 points and added nine rebounds and four assists, while 6-foot-10 center Shriyans Mallavarapu contributed 23 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots. It was his dominance in the second quarter that helped Montgomery race out to a 32-16 lead at halftime.
“Our focus was on (senior 1,700-point scorer) Ethan Lin and trying to limit him, as good as he is. And as we were trying to help, (Mallavarapu) was able to get freed up,” Cherry Hill East coach Dave Allen explained. “I don’t think our guys really understood that because Noahm Marciano was helping (at the top of the key), they had to get down inside and rebound. We tried to switch up and play a little zone, but their ball pressure really got to us (on offense). What I told our guys was, when you’re driving inside against a 6-foot-10 guy you have to become a passer. I wanted us to start getting some better shots.”
The better shots never came, as Mallavarapu was a dominant defensive force on the inside, altering most of the shots he didn’t actually block.
It was a frustrating end to what will go down as one of the best seasons in Cherry Hill East history, as the Cougars went 25-4, won three games in the Virginia B. Whitaker Tournament, won games in the Jimmy V. and Jeff Coney Classic showcases, won the Olympic Conference American Division title and went 4-1 in the state playoffs.
And they did all that without their leading scorer, sophomore Jamieson Young, who was averaging 22 points per game before going down with a season-ending injury in mid-January. Young burst onto the scene last year as a freshman, nailing 55 threes and scoring nearly 500 points. Even with missing half of this season, Young is well on track to surpass 100 threes and 1,000 career points as a junior next winter.
“To lose your leading scorer, averaging 22 points per game, and not lose a beat — I mean, we lost him halfway through the season. So, for us to maintain the No. 1 seed in South Jersey Group 4 and win the conference outright, and win a sectional title, I couldn’t be more proud of the leadership. And that all comes from them staying together,” Allen said. “We have four-year guys in Chris Delgado and Noahm Marciano, and we also got some really good contributions from guys who weren’t playing that much. Ryan Olson and Noah Johnson — we got really, really good contributions from those guys and that was a big help for us this year.”
Allen said it came down to a simple choice for his players. They could throw in the towel and make excuses, or have everyone step up to cover for the loss of Young. His team chose the latter.
“He got hurt on the 17th of January (during the Jimmy V Coaches vs. Cancer showcase) and on the 18th we saw our team doctor. On the 19th, we had to make a decision with what we wanted to do with the rest of our season,” Allen said. “And those guys said we were going to keep going. We could either quit and make excuses — but excuses are tools for the incompetent, and we’re pretty competent.”
