Cougars beat Lenape for huge conference win

The Cougars once again showed the South Jersey basketball world that they are indeed for real by defeating Lenape 57-46. In their first game after being placed in the top ten in South Jersey, the Cougars showed they are here to stay.

The Cougars jumped out to a 5-0 lead with a basket from Marc Schlessel ('12) and a three from Jake Silpe ('15). Lenape immediately struck bacj in a big way, going on an 8-0 run. However, the Cougars managed to control the damage as they took a 15-14 lead going into the second quarter via two jumpers by Jesse Gold ('12), a Silpe layup, two free throws from Gary Hettinger ('13) and a Schlessel three.

The Cougars fell behind by two as Lenape capitalized on early opportunities in the second. However, they went on an 8-0 run as Jake Gurkin ('12), Schlessel and Silpe provided the scoring to give the Cougars a 28-24 lead at the half.

The Cougars once again expanded their lead in the third quarter as Silpe started the half with a layup, followed by a Schlessel three to give the Cougars a 33-24 lead. Lenape cut the lead back down to five before Hettinger hit a layup for the Cougars. Then, Schlessel threw up an alley-oop for Gurkin which he laid in to give the Cougars a 37-28 lead. Gurkin hit two free throws to end the scoring for the Cougars in the third as they held a 39-32 lead heading into the final quarter.

Hettinger scored four points to start the quarter for the Cougars, the first two off of a tip-in and the last two on a layup after a beautiful pass from Gold. Lenape managed to cut the lead down to 49-44 but Silpe hit two clutch free throws for the Cougars and the team never looked back on its way to a 57-46 victory.

Player of the Game: Gurkin. He recorded a triple-double as he recorded 16 points, 16 rebounds and 10 block shots for an outstanding all-around performance.

Key Stats

Gurkin-16 points, 16 rebounds, 10 blocks

Schlessel-16 points, 5 rebounds

Gold-4 points, 6 assists

Silpe-11 points

Hettinger-10 points