By Daniel McDevitt
The St John Vianney Lancers (12-5) took the hour drive down I-95 to faceoff against the (11-4) Ewing Blue Devils. After relentless offense seen by St. John Vianney, they then took home a 67-38 win all the way back to North Jersey. Ewing saw themselves fading fast on the scoreboard, as the game went on. This was attributed to the countless mistakes they seen during the matchup, which inevitably led to their defeat at home.
As the buzzer sounded beginning the first quarter, it was a matchup heavily won in the paint for the Lancers as they found height as their advantage. Throughout the 1st St. John Vianney was able to keep Ewing out of the paint and hold them around the three-point line. This did not seem to be a problem for the Ewing offense as they were able to dish three shots in to put nine on the scoreboard. On the other side of the ball though it was quite the opposite. As players like Taylor Sofilkanich and Madison Kocis were able to use their height and put up fifteen from inside the paint leading to a 9-15 ball game heading into the second once again.
Ewing came out of the break an exceedingly more motivated team and was able to get the crowd riled up after a foul turned for three. Although it seemed like a momentum switch the Lancers defense did not back down and held them scoreless following that till the third minute of the second quarter. Ewing found themselves making mistakes in this quarter a lot more and the Lancers were capitalized on this, to extend their lead over the Blue Devils. The half came and went and the St. John Vianney Lancers went cruising into halftime leading 35-19 over the Ewing Blue Devils.
Ewing entered the half as what seemed an unmotivated squad on the court as they began missing on quite a few attempts and tried entering the paint where they were swiftly sent back by the Lancers Defense. St. John Vianney on the other hand started rolling on offense once again and building off the constant turnovers from the Blue Devils. Ewing found themselves putting up the most points in that quarter then they had all game, accumulating in twelve points. This score did not help them much though as they were still trailing twenty in the 51-31 ballgame.
The fourth quarter was a defensive game to say the least as the Lancers were not able to find the score column until after 2 minutes of play. This was not a feat to celebrate though as Ewing was held in a shutout for 6 minutes and 21 Seconds. They found their first score from a foul that brought in two points. These points though did not help in the grand scheme of things and St. John Vianney was able to pull away with a 67-38 win.
