On Sunday, December 17, OP Hoops traveled to Cranford High School to face off against the then-undefeated Cougars. Cranford was fresh off a 16-point win against defending conference champions Scotch Plains-Fanwood, as led by Senior Nick Amitte (Salve Regina Committ) who is averaging 22.5 points a game this year. On the other hand, our beloved Rams were fresh off an emotional rollercoaster that saw a 17-point halftime lead turn into just a 5-point victory over rival Summit.
On this affair, and reminiscent of the ending of the game against Summit, the team came out way too flat. Down 18-9 at the end of Quarter 1 as a result of poor play on both sides of the ball, things were not looking up for the Rams. Little improvement followed to end the first half as 11 of Nick Amitte’s 23 points for the game came in the 2nd quarter, prompting a 34-19 deficit at the break. However, Coach Daughtery, Coach Barresi, and Coach Muoio would fire up their squad in the locker room and institute a press to inspire a second-half comeback. Scoring 25 points in the third quarter alone, the Rams would fight their way back, and cause an alarming amount of turnovers to only be down 49-44 with 8 minutes to play. This 3rd quarter explosion was led by none other than John Pirone whose knock-down shooting provided 12 much-needed Q3 points for OP. After being held scoreless in the first half, Asher Bradley then came alive to score 10 of his 16 in the 3rd quarter while a big-time 3 from Nick Servitto gave the Rams an abundance of momentum for the final quarter of play. Continued scoring from John Pirone would allow Oratory to complete the comeback, while Max Cook and Asher Bradley provided yet another jolt for the Rams. After a 26-point fourth quarter concluded a dominant 51-point 2nd half, OP was able to overcome a 15-point deficit and win by double digits on the road. The biggest contributors to the 70-57 victory came in the form of a monster 32 points by John Pirone, a 16-point / 8-assist performance by Asher Bradley, and a 14-point / 3-steal game by Max Cook. John Pirone’s 6 made threes warranted Cranford middle schoolers to take a photo with him post-game, as they were in awe of the Senior wing who is now averaging 26 points a game. Pirone also played a large part in defending Nick Amitte, who was scoreless in the fourth quarter. In the final minutes, Max Cook and Asher Bradley conveyed a message that they were a backcourt able to keep this squad undefeated, with the two both shooting 100% from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter. Max Cook’s 9 points in the final 8 minutes of play also proved to be clutch. Furthermore, Pat Conniff led the team with 7 rebounds and 2 blocks, while the overall play and effort displayed by Nick Servitto won him the player of the game chain.
The Rams will face Hillside in a 7:00 pm home game on Tuesday, December 19th. There, OP Hoops will look to find some consistency for the first time this season. Between the first half against Summit and the second half against Cranford, OP Hoops has outscored opponents 88-44 (a +44 margin in an analytical +/-). On the other hand of those games, the Rams have been outscored 58-31 ( a -27 differential). Therefore, if Oratory can run a tight ship for a full game span, their offensive firepower mixed with defensive toughness can make this squad extremely difficult to stop for the remainder of this season. The first step to achieving this will be defeating Hillside, before taking care of business in the annual In-Season Tournament to close out 2023. Hudl highlights from the victory over Cranford are linked below:
