Boys Basketball – Video/Recap: Matawan 40, Long Branch 37

LONG BRANCH - The Matawan boys basketball team – ranked No. 3 in the Shore Sports Network Top 10 – took another step toward winning its first division title in nearly 50 years by beating No. 4 Long Branch, 40-37, Thursday to sweep the season series with the Green Wave.

Matawan now leads Long Branch by two games in the loss column and holds a two-game lead on Neptune in the loss column with one game remaining against the Scarlet Fliers. The two Class B North rivals will square off in Matawan on Feb. 14.

The Huskies jumped out to 20-7 lead early in the second quarter, but Long Branch outscored Matawan 24-10 over a span of 14 minutes to take a 31-30 lead into the third quarter. The Green Wave slowed down the pace of the game in the fourth and broke a 33-33 tie on a runner by senior Terrel Cox with a little more than two minutes left.

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Matawan junior Joe Piscopo answered with a 3-pointer out of the left corner to give Matawan a 36-35 lead with 1:44 left, the last lead change of the game. Long Branch had two possessions trailing by one, but missed a 3-pointer and turned the ball over, which led to a layup by Matawan senior Chris Tawiah to put the Huskies up 38-35.

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Long Branch senior Kenneth Barrow and Matawan junior Jason Dunne traded two free throws each and Long Branch got one last chance after Piscopo missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 6.6 seconds. Cox got a clean look at a three from the left wing, but the attempt came up short as time expired.

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Cox’s miss capped a 2-for-23 performance for Long Branch as a team from behind the three-point line. The Green Wave missed its first 16 attempts before Cox and senior Hassan Foster connected on consecutive attempts in the third quarter.

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Cox led Long Branch with a game-high 14 points, while senior Austen Planes led Matawan with 10 points. Planes scored two different go-ahead baskets in the second half, the first to make it 30-28 in the third quarter and the other to make it 33-31 early in the fourth.

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Box Score

Matawan 40, Long Branch 37

Matawan (40): Joe Piscopo 3 1-3 9, Jason Dunne 1 4-4 7, Nick Tomkins 1 0-0 2, Austen Planes 5 0-0 10, Chris Tawiah 2 2-4 7, Dritan Gjyriqi 1 3-4 5, Mike Vella 0 0-0 0, Mergim Gjyriqi 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 10-15 40

Three-pointers: Piscopo 2, Dunne, Tawiah

Long Branch (37): Izayah Irizarry 1 0-0 2, Terrel Cox 6 1-3 14, Myson Penningon 2 1-2 5, Deon Williams 1 0-0 2, Hassan Foster 3 2-4 9, Kenneth Barrow 0 2-2, Jamar Foster 0 2-2 2, Dave Colbert 0 1-2 1. Totals: 13 9-15 37

Three-pointers: Cox, H. Foster