On January 2nd, 2020, the Phillipsburg boys basketball team opened up their home court against the North Hunterdon Lions. The Stateliners fell short in their two games on the road going 0-2 into the annual rotary tournament, where they lost another two close games. Phillipsburg went into this game without one of their starters and senior captain Brandon Yale. Many players had to step up, and Coach Lloyd made sure they were ready to get this win.
The energy in the gym was crazy, and that definitely helped the boys. Phillipsburg’s pep band and student section increased the energy and mood, but what it really came down to was who wanted it more.
The first quarter made it anyone’s game with the score being 15-13 with the Liner’s up. The intensity and the grittiness shown by both teams during this game was incredible. Many underclassmen stepped up in order for the Stateliners to get this big win. Julian Couto did his job big time, with this game being his first time in the starting line up as Brandon Yale was out due to illness.
At half the score was 29-27 with the Liner’s maintaining the lead, but both teams took turns tying it up and taking the lead. Senior Michael Gomez and sophomore Josh Borelli were stand out players throughout the entire game. Junior Colin Domzalski and seniors Jacob Takacs and Jeremy Abbot also played an excellent game.
The third quarter started with the score being 41-35. The Liners took an even bigger lead. More three pointers were shared amongst both teams making the score 41-35 going into the fourth quarter.
With many drives and rebounds from Julian Couto, the Liners maintained the lead, but the Lions fired back with a couple of three pointers from Wesley Reinagel and made the Liners lead only three. Liner’s lost the ball making it Lions with only nine seconds left in the game. The score at this point was 53-50. The North Hunterdon Lions could not score in time, they ended up fouling Jacob Takacs. He made both his fouls shots which made final score 55-50.
The player of the game was awarded to Phillipsburg’s Julian Couto. He stepped up when his team needed him and got the job done.
The Liners will play again on Saturday, December 4th home against Penn Wood at 4:30.
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