Cougars dispatch Gloucester Catholic 44-29

In a low-scoring game this afternoon, the Cougars handled Gloucester Catholic 44-29 to bounce back after the tough defeat at the hands of Williamstown. The Cougars were clearly the more talented team out there today as they manhandled Gloucester Catholic defensively.

A baseball game broke out in the DiBart gym after the opening tipoff. Marc Schlessel ('12) had all seven Cougar RBIs in the three innings after two two-run home runs and a three-run home run. Catholic mustered a fourth inning three-run home run but the Cougars carried a 7-3 lead into the second quarter.

The baseball game became very high scoring in the second quarter as Chris Santo ('11) scored six points with a two-run home run and two two-RBI doubles. Edou Zaken ('11) also singled in an RBI in the quarter. Nine runs crossed the plate for Catholic in this stage of the game. However, Jake Gurkin ('12) prevented much more serious damage with his amazing defensive play with six diving catches (blocks). Santo had three.

Finally, basketball began in the second half. Dan Melleby ('11) hit two three-pointers in the third quarter as the Cougars opened up a 30-18 lead by the end of the third. Finally, the Cougars began to assert their physical dominance over their small but fast opponent. The first half was a struggle for the Cougars to score, but they soon adapted to Catholic's quick defensive play.

The fourth quarter was also a display of solid basketball for the Cougars. Alex Kauth ('11), Sam Rose ('11) and Jesse Gold ('12) got in on the scoring in the quarter as the Cougars built a bigger lead to end with the final of 44-29.

This was not nearly the best game the Cougars could have played, but they got the job done once they adjusted to Gloucester Catholic's speed.

Key Stats

Santo-15 points, 4 blocks, 12 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 assists

Schlessel-12 points

Gurkin-7 blocks, 7 rebounds

Player of the Game-Santo. Once he got into the scoring, the Cougars pulled away. His defense along with Gurkin on the inside is what really separated East from Gloucester Catholic today.

Cougars lose a defensive game to Williamstown 56-44

Chris Santo ('11) set the all-time Cherry Hill township scoring record held by Brian Spell of Cherry Hill West in 1988 by making a jump shot early in the first quarter. Santo went on to score 27 points along with nine rebounds. But that was not enough for the Cougars as they fell short to Williamstown losing 56-44 in the opening round of the annual Virginia B. Whitaker invitational.

It was one of the more frustrating games watching East play. They shot 4-29 from beyond the arch, 8-16 from the line and had 16 turnovers. Overall it was an upsetting performance by Chris Santo and company.

The first quarter looked promising as East was making the majority of their shots. Santo had only missed one shot in the quarter scoring 12 of East's 14 points. The other two went to Marc Schlessel ('12) on two free throws. The quarter was tied 14-14.

The second quarter started off very slow for the Cougars as they didn't score their first points until six minutes in. They ended the quarter with only five points, all from Santo. At the half Santo had 17 of 19 points for East and shot 7-11 from the field. Schlessel on his worst shooting performance of his two-year career had grabbed six rebounds which led the team. Williamstown had the lead at the half 22-19.

The game was still close for the Cougars as they were only down by three points, but they needed to connect on their shots to stay in this game. However, they missed shot after shot only scoring 11 points for the quarter. East was outscored 19-11 in the third making them down 11 going into the final quarter, which turned out to be a nerve-wrecking one.

With four minutes left on the clock East was down 46-35 and they started to come back. Jake Gurkin ('12) had a nice put back from a Santo missed three cutting the Williamstown lead to nine. After a missed shot by Williamstown, Schlessel was fouled and made 1-2 from the line. East, down eight at the time, pressured Williamstown into having a back court violation giving East the ball back. Santo missed a shot, but Dan Melleby ('11) who got his first start of the season, stole it away and passed it to Santo for a layup trimming the lead down to six. Over the next minute, Williamstown had two turnovers without even stepping on the court. One five-second violation on the inbound and the other when a player moved on an inbound after a turnover, which is illegal. However, Williamstown kept the Cougars from scoring and scored four points of their own bringing the lead back to 10 with the score being 50-40 with 1:40 left on the clock. East brought it down the court and Gurkin made a layup bringing the Cougars within eight points when everything fell apart.

East continued to miss shots and Williamstown made 6-8 free throws to finish off the game with a win 56-44. Schlessel failed to connect on a three pointer shooting 0-8. He did grab a career high 10 rebounds.

Other key stats of the game were Sam Rose ('11) five assists, Melleby had two of the four 3-pointers for East scoring six points and four assists, Gurkin grabbed seven boards and Santo scoring 27 and nine rebounds.

So once again, the Cougars blew a close game in the third quarter as they went on to lose their second game in a row.

Player of the game: Santo. He broke the all-time Cherry Hill scoring record (he now has 1904 points) and grabbed nine rebounds keeping East in the game as long as he could.

East's next game is at home against Gloucester Catholic December 30, 2010 followed by their first away game against Olympic Conference rival Lenape on January 4.

Cougars lose heartbreaker to Bishop Eustace 64-62

This was one of those games that just makes you shake your head as East lost to Eustace Wednessday 64-62. Although Eustace is a well-respected team in the South Jersey basketball community as they entered the season 2nd in the Courier Post's preseason poll, the manner in which the Cougars lost this game was overwhelmingly frustrating.

The Cougars started off solidly in the first quarter as Chris Santo ('11) looked much more comfortable on the perimeter than he did in the first game of the season as he hit two three-pointers in the quarter. Behind the offense of Santo along with Marc Schlessel ('12) (five points in the quarter), East took a 16-13 lead by the end of the quarter.

The Cougars dominated the second quarter, led by a scoring spurt from Justin DeJesus ('11) off the bench. DeJesus contributed ten points in the quarter behind two three-pointers, a putback after an offensive rebound and a backdoor layup. Along two Schlessel threes and scoring from Santo and Jake Gurkin ('12), the Cougars ended the half with a seemingly commanding 41-28 East lead.

It all unraveled in the third quarter. Eustace outscored the Cougars in the third 23-12. The team seemed sluggish as Eustace upped the tempo of the game. A somewhat surprising trend in the third quarter was that DeJesus did not play. Perhaps Coach Valore was still upset with his earlier intentional foul on Sho Dasilva of Eustace as he went in for another dunk in the second quarter. The Cougars still had lots of work to do for the win as they led only 53-51 at the end of the third.

The fourth quarter was devastating. The teams traded baskets throughout the quarter. East built a five-point lead midway through the quarter at 62-57 behind the scoring of Santo. It was around this point when Santo's mouth began to bleed. Eustace Coach Rob Falconiero promptly pointed this out as Santo was forced to miss a play. Luckily, Ravin Patel ('13) stepped up and took the jersey off of his back so Santo could re-enter with a blood-free jersey as number 23. Eustace scored five straight points even with Santo back in the game to tie it up. Then, with the score tied at 62, Santo committed an "offensive foul" and fouled out. The reason the offensive foul is in quotation marks is that the foul clearly seemed to be on the defensive player. Santo supposedly committed four offensive fouls on the day. However, Santo fouling out spelled doom for the Cougars. The Cougars got the ball left with a minute left as they attempted to hold the ball for the last shot as there is no shot clock in high school. This strategy failed as they turned the ball over to Eustace. Eustace then sank a jumper from the side of the basket to take a 64-62 lead with 2.3 seconds left. It was not over. Jesse Gold ('12) had a beautiful hail mary pass from the Cougars' own basket to Dan Melleby ('11) who was just in front of the foul line near the Eustace basket. Melleby caught the pass and barely missed a difficult attempt to tie the game. It was amazing that this play even made it to Melleby. 64-62, Eustace.

This trend of losing huge leads in the third quarter is very disturbing. It happened last year on various occasions, including against Cherokee (then #1 in South Jersey). It seems as though the Cougars may tire out as the game progresses with their up-tempo offense. Obviously, Valore knows that he is doing much more than I do, but it would seem to not hurt to possibly give some of his star players more of a rest. Is there really any reason why it would not hurt to take Gurkin or Santo out for two or three minutes? Schlessel got a little bit of rest in there. If these key players could be preserved for the end of the game a little bit more, wouldn't that help at the end of the game?

The foul calls on Santo seemed to be a disgrace. The calls were very close on multiple occasions and almost everyone at the game felt as though some should have been called on Eustace.

Player of the game: DeJesus. He kept the Cougars in the game with his scoring. Although his foul was not a smart play, he should play more (even to spell some of the stars on the team). He proved that he can score off the bench and be a positive contributer. DeJesus proved Wednesday that this team does have depth unlike teams in the past couple of years.

Cougars hold on to defeat Timber Creek 56-53 in season opener

In a game that was way closer than it should have been, the Cougars defeated Timber Creek 56-53. The Cougars never trailed during the game, but they let Timber Creek get close at the end when it counted.

As expected, Sam Rose, Marc Schlessel, Chris Santo, Edou Zaken and Jake Gurkin were the starters.

East started off the game with a bang after a Gurkin three-pointer. The Cougars led 10-2 with 4:48 left in the quarter after a Santo layup and five Schlessel points. Timber Creek got right back into it, scoring five straight to cut the Cougar lead to three. Santo then made two foul shots and then Schlessel hit another three-pointer. Timber Creek came back to cut the lead to 15-14. Then a Dan Melleby three gave East the four point lead. Another Timber Creek three cut the lead to one at the end of the first.

The second quarter was very similar to the first without as much scoring. Turnovers were the name of the game today. East ended the half with a 29-25 lead. Schlessel led the team in scoring with 11 first-half points, especially impressive considering it was his first game back since breaking his left hand. He also led the team in turnovers with four in the half. However, this can be attributed to his lack of time able to play with his teammates in scrimmages before the season began. Santo had nine points in the half as well as two rebounds. Gurkin had an astounding four blocks in the half to go along with four rebounds.

East came out gunning in the second half as they raced out to a 37-27 lead after a Gurkin basket and Schlessel and Melleby threes. East maintained a steady lead in the quarter behind baskets from Santo and Schlessel. The quarter ended with the play of the game as Melleby had a beautiful inbound pass to Santo that he caught and shot in mid air with less than a second left in the quarter. The score was 44-33 at the end of the quarter.

Although the East lead seemed secure, Timber Creek went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 44-40 to begin the quarter. A Gurkin three followed by a Timber Creek basket then a Santo layup and one extended the East lead to 52-42. Timber Creek refused to go away as they cut the lead to 52-50. Santo fouled a Timber Creek player who made one shot to cut the lead to one. Santo then made a bucket for the Cougars. With less than a minute left, Timber Creek made an unbelievable layup off the upper part of the backboard. Santo proceeded to convert on a backdoor layup opportunity to give East a three-point lead. Finally, Timber Creek failed to make a three-pointer on their last attempt. It appeared as though the game had been won, but after Santo gathered in the rebound, Rose inexplicably stepped out of bounds. Thankfully, Schlessel played smothering defense on the man who caught the Timber Creek rebound as Timber Creek failed to get off their final shot with .6 seconds left. 56-53 Cougars.

This game was interesting for various reasons. First off, Coach Valore used deviated from using only his starters, something we almost never saw last season. Justin DeJesus, Melleby and Jesse Gold each saw significant action and performed pretty well. Schlessel played well, especially for his first game after his injury. Despite his seven turnovers (likely because he hadn't played in scrimmages with the rest of the team) his presence was definitely needed for the win as he contributed 17 points. If he was not able to play today as originally expected when he was injured, the Cougars likely would have lost.

Perhaps the most positive change noticed from last year was the intensity on the court from Gurkin. He looked like a completely different player out there as he brought down every rebound hard and blocked six shots. Last year, Gurkin sometimes seemed to play a little bit small, but today he played even bigger than he is with the ferocity that a successful rebounder needs. Fittingly, he had ten rebounds.

Melleby also provided a lot of confidence for the upcoming season in the head of a fan. Despite not having a huge impact on the stat sheet, Melleby proved to be a steady asset on the court as he made good crisp passes. He looked like the player we need who made second team all-conference his sophomore year.

Santo also deserves lots of praise for his play today. He really backed up what he said in the papers of his sole goal of winning. He acted like he realized this is the deepest team he played with and provided his teammates opportunities to be successful.

The style of the refs was very unusual tonight. There were more traveling calls in the game than I have ever seen in my life in any level of basketball. There was also confusion at the scorer's table which resulted in three East foul shots and the ball at a critical point.

Player of the Game-Schlessel. Based on the fact that he wasn't even supposed to play today, Schlessel made an extremely positive impact on the game with his hustle and scoring. He applied constant pressure on the Timber Creek offense, something the Cougars need to replace the tight press defense of Seth Friedman and Ben Gerstein last year. His three-point shooting was solid as usual. The turnovers were obviously a problem, but he was definitely the most valuable player on a night when nobody thought he would play just a month ago.

Final Stats

Santo-22 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 8-16 shooting.

Schlessel-17 points, 3 assists, 3 steals, 6 rebounds

Gurkin-8 points, 10 rebounds, 6 blocks

Rose-3 points, 5 assists

Melleby-6 points, 3 assists

Season Opener

The season opens tomorrow against Timber Creek at East at 3:45. Timber Creek appears to be a solid, athletic team according to Coach Valore. Hopefully, this will be a Cougar win before a difficult game against Bishop Eustace next Wednesday. Check back for a full post-game recap tomorrow night!

GO COUGARS

Seniors

The conclusion of the season marks the end of three East seniors' careers: Andrew Nahum ('10), Ben Gerstein ('10) and Seth Friedman ('10). I just wanted to write some brief comments about each of the Cougar seniors.

Andrew Nahum truly should be commended for his leadership, unselfishness, and team first attitude that he exhibited the entire season for East. I have a lot of respect for Nahum and his unconditional devotion and leadership for the team, and after talking to his teammates- I found out they feel the same. Nahum came into the season as a projected starter/sixth man. The way everything worked out this year, head coach Mr. John Valore rarely substituted in players off the bench. In fact, excluding injuries, the same five who started games for East normally played most of, if not, the entire game for East. Nahum did have some opportunities to play this year, and when he did he played well. But because of significant contributions from some newcomers to the varsity squad this year, he did not play nearly as much as was expected early on in the season. Despite the fact he may not have played as much as he, or others would have liked, he could be seen every game encouraging his teammates and not showing the least bit of animosity for his situation. It is evident that he was a big piece to the chemistry of this year's team, and he will definitely be missed next year.

Ben Gerstein has probably the most triumphant story out of any of the graduating seniors. In middle school at Beck, Gerstein was cut as a 7th grader. While many players probably would have hung up competitive basketball after this set back, Gerstein continued to work hard in preparation for the following year's basketball tryouts. As an 8th grader, Gerstein made the "B" team at Beck, while basically all of his peers who played freshman basketball at East in 2007 were selected for the "A", or "higher level" team. Once again, Gerstein continued to fight, and by the time he arrived at East for his freshman basketball season, Gerstein's hard work was finally paying off. As a freshman, Gerstein played JV basketball. He played varsity as a sophomore, junior and senior, and started varsity as a junior and senior. It was really enjoyable to see Gerstein have a very good senior campaign after all of the hard work he put in over the past several years and to see his last successful field goal in high school be as big as it was (the three pointer that put East within 3 points versus Shawnee late in the fourth quarter of East's playoff game loss).

Seth Friedman's senior season was truly one that will be remembered for years to come. He broke two records (most assists in a single game (20) and most assists in a single season), and was possibly the biggest reason why the team was so successful this year. A four year varsity player for the Cougars, it was truly amazing to see just how much Friedman grew as a player this past year. Seth started at point guard for East last year as a junior, and at times, Seth seemed to play a bit tentatively. This year, Friedman played with absolutely no signs of nerves or tentativeness. Every single game, Friedman played with a sense of calmness that all great point guards seem to possess. As a senior, he developed a sense of mental toughness that allowed him to not fret in key possessions of the game. In addition to increasing his assist per game average from last year, he also dramatically decreased his turnover per game average. Without the play of Seth Friedman this season, there is no way East could have done as well as they did. His presence on the court will undoubtedly be missed next year.

With this last post also ends my career as a major contributor to this blog. Even though I will not be here next to cover East's basketball games, Max Cohen will continue running the blog next year. Both Karina (our photographer), Max, and I would like to thank all of the followers of our blog. We truly hope that people enjoyed all of the coverage we brought you this season. Only bbout 9 more months until next basketball season starts. GO COUGARS!

Cougars end season with 62-53 playoff loss to Shawnee

Yesterday, the Cougars ended their season in a hard fought battle to Shawnee. With the loss, the Cougar's finish the 2009-2010 season with a 19-8 record.

The Cougars completely controlled the game early on. At the end of the first quarter, East led 12-8. But then, Shawnee really took control of the game in the second quarter, outscoring East by 9 points in the quarter. In the third quarter, Shawnee out scored East 16-9. Throughout the second half, Shawnee rarely missed a shot, and East was having trouble scoring, which allowed Shawnee to take a 12 point lead into the fourth quarter.

At one point in the second half, East fell back as far as 15 points. But then, many things happened that allowed East to make a comeback in the fourth quarter. The Cougars began pressing on defense, and they caused Shawnee to turn the ball over on numerous occasions. East then followed up Shawnee's turnovers with a scoring spree of their own . With about four minutes left, Marc Schlessel ('12) hit a three to reduce Shawnee's lead to 50-44. Then, on East's next possession, Ben Gerstein ('10) hit possibly the most clutch shot of his basketball career. With exactly 3:37 left in the game, Gerstein hit a three pointer from the top of the key, making the score 50-47. The Cougar faithful crowd in Shawnee's gymnasium absolutely erupted when Gerstein hit this shot, and the happiness among all of the East fans was truly a remarkable site.

But on Shawnee's ensuing possession, a Shawnee player was fouled in the act of shooting. The Shawnee player's shot was good, and he converted the free throw, making the score 52-47 with 3:15 left in the game.

On East's next possession, East turned the ball over, and Shawnee went on a fast break. Three Shawnee players were down the court, with only Seth Friedman ('10) protecting East's basket. Friedman was able to block a Shawnee player's shot and recover the ball. Friedman then threw a pass cross court to a wide open Chris Santo ('11) on the right side of the three point line. Santo's three point attempt was no good, however. Following Santo's missed shot, the wheels fell off for East for good. With 2:25 left in the game, Santo fouled out of the game and Shawnee hit foul shot after foul shot, pushing the game out of reach for the Cougars and ending their season with a second round playoff loss. For the second straight year, East lost in the second round of the playoffs.

Final Point breakdown for East in the game:

Seth Friedman : 3 points
Edou Zaken : 2 points
Marc Schlessel : 10 points
Chris Santo : 21 points
Jake Gurkin : 9 points
Jesse Gold : 2 points
Ben Gerstein : 6 points

Please check back tomorrow for some concluding words on East's graduating senior basketball class.

Final Game

Hey everyone. I, along with all the other Cougar faithful, am sad about tonight's season ending loss. I will post a concluding article sometime tomorrow, but just briefly, I wanted to thank the Cougars for not only a great season this year, but for the past 4 years. Twenty years from now, I will remember Cougar basketball as one of the most exciting times of my high school life, and I am sad that I will not be in high school next year to see Santo, Schlessel, Gurkin, and the many other rising returning players put on a show in '10-'11.

Check back tomorrow for the article that I promised.

Go East.

Cougars/Countrymen take over Southern Regional

Before I start my post about the Cougars 53-46 opening round playoff win against Southern Regional, I just wanted to let all of you know that you should be lucky there is a blog or Twitter update tonight after Mike, Nate and I were threatened to be kicked out of the game by Southern's Athletic Director as we did not want to sit with East's students so that we could focus on the Twitter update. Eventually after five minutes of the lady yelling at us, we took our seats ready to watch a Cougar victory.

This turned out to be one of those games in which an attendee of the game felt as though the Cougars had it in the bag the whole game. They dictated the tempo of play, had better shooting than Southern and also seemed to rebound better. Yet, as the final score indicates this game was very close.

In a first quarter in which East clearly played better than Southern, Marc Schlessel had 5 points and Chris Santo had 8 points. The quarter ended with a 15-11 Cougar lead.

The second quarter was very similar to the first. Santo scored 7 more points to give him a total of 15 at the half. Jake Gurkin also played well in the quarter and the game as he scored 4 points in the quarter on his way to 11 total on the game. He looked good inside as he and Chris Santo piled up the blocks although blocks are not an official stat kept by the team. The Cougars appeared to be in good position to advance in the playoffs as they led 28-21 at

the half. Santo had 15 points and 6 rebounds at the half, Schlessel had 5 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists and Gurkin had 6 points and 4 rebounds.

Before a Ben Gerstein three, Southern Regional went on a 5-0 run to start the quarter. Minutes later, Jake Gurkin hit a three and the assist was from Seth Friedman who on the pass broke Jeremy Kaminer's East single-season assists record. The Cougar lead was extended to 12 after another Gerstein 3 but was quickly brought down to 43-38 after a Southern 7-0 run. It looked as though the game would be close even though the Cougars seemed to have been closing out Southern just moments before.

After a Southern basket later in the fourth quarter, Friedman hit a 3 with the assist from Santo with 4:30 left in the game. This took some of the air out of a 10 person Uggs-clad Southern Regional crowd which seemed to sense that their team had a chance. Another three by Friedman followed by a Santo layup brought the Cougar lead up to 11 with 3 minutes left. Of course, Southern proceeded to go on a 5-0 run to cut the lead to 6 with 1:45 left. However, the Cougars eventually closed them out for the victory, 53-46.

The Cougars next game will be at number 2 seed Shawnee on Thursday night at 7. Shawnee defeated Cherry Hill West 39-33 tonight in the opening round of the playoffs.

Player of the Game:Santo. With his good work in scoring 19 points combined with his 12 rebounds, Santo led the team to victory particularly in the first half when he scored 15 of his points.

Stats

Santo-19 points 12 rebounds

Seth Friedman-10 points

Ben Gerstein-8 points

Jake Gurkin-11 points

Marc Schlessel-5 points

Cougars win last game of regular season

In the final game of the regular season yesterday, the Cougars defeated Paul VI in a close game, 56-53. The Cougars have ended the regular season on a good note, winning their last 5 games and 8 out of their last 9.

The game started out poorly for the Cougars who were down 18-11 at the end of the first quarter. In a stark contrast from their previous game against Medford Tech the Cougars did not shoot the ball very well and allowed Paul VI to get off some good shots.

As a whole, East did not play great in this game, but still trimmed the lead to 4 by the half. Chris Santo was very quiet in the first half on his way to a very mundane 14 points (at least for him).

The Cougars turned it on in the third quarter as they made up the deficit and took a three point lead and their shooting improved as they made many of their 11 threes on the day.

The fourth quarter was extremely tense as the lead seemed to sway back and forth. With under two minutes left, the Cougars switched to a tight defense and were able to force a couple of Paul VI turnovers. The Cougars were down four when Marc Schlessel hit a three to put the Cougars down by one with about 1:45 left. After a Paul VI miss, Schlessel was fouled in the act of shooting and he nailed both of his free throws to give the Cougars a one point lead. After another Paul VI failed possession, the Cougars wasted some time on the clock and Seth Friedman hit two more free throws to give the Cougars a three point lead with about 30 seconds left.

Paul VI missed yet another opportunity to score and fouled the Cougars when they got the ball back. The front end of a one-and-one was missed by East with 3 seconds left and Paul VI heaved up a half-court shot for the tie. The shot fell short and the Cougars entered the playoffs with a victory.

The Cougars end the regular season with a record of 18-7. The playoffs start on Tuesday at Southern Regional. It should be a great game. Nate and I will be doing a live Twitter feed for all of those who cannot make the game. This is the link for the feed: http://twitter.com/EastsideOnline

Stats

Friedman-13 points 9 assists

Gerstein-6 points

Santo-14 points 12 rebounds

Schlessel-14 points 4-7 from 3

Gurkin-9 points

Player of the Game: Schlessel for scoring 5 straight points to give East the lead for good late in the fourth quarter.

School single game assists record broken as Cougars shoot the lights out

WOW. The Cougars destroyed a solid Medford Tech team today 94-63. In the process, Seth Friedman set a school single game assists record of 20 assists as he closes in on the school's single season assist record.

After Tech scoring right with the Cougars at the beginning of the first quarter, the Cougars led by 14 at the end of the quarter 33-19. If you need a summary of this quarter let's just say I had to ask statistician Dillon Rosenblatt if the Cougars missed a shot. Marc Schlessel ended the quarter with 14 points and Ben Gerstein had 12.


The amazing shooting continued into the second quarter. The Cougars ended the half with a 54-28 lead. Schlessel had 22 points and 5 rebounds. Santo had 14 and 6. Friedman was well on his way to the school record with 12 assists at the half. The Cougars shot an astounding 12-17 from beyond the arc in the first half and 9-13 from two point range.


The game ended up as a complete blow-out as the Cougars cruised to a victory. Friedman recorded his 20th assist with about a minute left in the game as Andrew Nahum scored a three point basket.


Stats
Schlessel-33 points 11 reb 12-15 overall 9-12 from 3
Santo-24 points 19 reb
Gerstein-12 points on 4 threes 4 steals
Friedman-7 points 20 assists
Jake Gurkin-7 points
17-28 from 3 as a team on three pointers
31-59 53% overall shooting


Player(s) of the Game: Friedman and Schlessel. Even though Friedman set the school assists record in a single game, Schlessel shot brilliantly and helped East build the lead. 9-12 from the 3 is ridiculous. Friedman ascended to a new level in breaking the single-game record, which was previously held by Adam Schwartz who had 19 assists in 1991.

Cougars Defeat Paulsboro 67-58

In a very tight game with a misleading final score, the Cougars defeated Paulsboro 67-58 just two days after defeating rival Cherry Hill West. But both of us saw a very strong Cougar effort against Paulsboro.

While this game was close throughout, it seemed as though East had the upper hand throughout. Even though these two teams are in different conferences and are not rivals, play became intense in the second half after Ben Gerstein seemed to effectively annoy one of Paulsboro's best players and the player proceeded to slam a dunk of the back rim and send the ball flying through the air. Many seemingly "touch" fouls were called on both teams in the backcourt to the annoyance of fans of both teams.

As usual, Chris Santo played tremendously. Although his day shooting-wise did not start off on a great note, he played beautifully as the game progressed and ended up with 40 points. The Cougars started off slowly as a team, down 18-11 at the end of the first quarter. They got the deficit down to one at the half with a score of 31-30 in favor of Paulsboro.

East gained a 49-43 lead by the end of the third quarter due to the offensive explosion by Santo who had 33 points by the end of the quarter. The fourth quarter was very close as the COugars could not put away Paulsboro until the very end of the game. With about three minutes left, the game was tied at 56. Then, a Santo two-point field goal and a foul shot brought the lead up to three. A Gurkin layup made the Cougar lead five right before Paulsboro scored on their next possession to cut the lead to three. Then as the Cougars tried to freeze the ball to let the clock run out in the final minute, Marc Schlessel was fouled and hit both of his free throws, effectively giving East the win with less than 30 seconds left.

An amazing statistic from the game was that the Cougars ended up with three players in double figures in rebounds in Santo, Jake Gurkin and Marc Schlessel. Although it seemed at times as though Paulsboro's tall freshman center was getting rebounds at ease, the Cougars truly held their own on the boards.

Stats

Santo 40 points and 13 rebounds

Friedman 12 assists

Schlessel-9 points and 11 rebounds

Gerstein 10 points

Gurkin 14 rebounds

Player of the Game: Santo. His explosive scoring allowed the Cougars to win.

NOTE: the playoffs are only one week away. The Cougars open up at Southern Regional High School next Tuesday night. Even though it is a long drive away, we hope everyone can make it.

East defeats Pennsauken in game's final seconds

The Cougars pulled out a win in a closely contested 77-75 game at Pennsauken. Although neither Nate nor I could make it to the game, it sounds like a great one. In a season in which the Cougars have not always closed out games as well as they would like, not only did the Cougars finish this one strong, but they came from behind at the end.

In a game that was very close from start to finish, the Cougars found themselves down with about 1:30 left in the game, but still ended up winning. Unfazed by their earlier difficult loss to Pennsauken at East by way of a Pennsauken buzzer-beating three the Cougars played tough during the stretch. Santo provided the East scoring in the final minute en route to his 40 points on the day. East won this game with 3 seconds left as Santo hit 2 free throws to put the Cougars up by two. On the ensuing Pennsauken possession, the Cougars stole the ball to seal the victory.

Here are the stats on the game:

Santo-40 points 13 rebounds 15-25 on two point field goal attempts

Friedman-5 points 11 assists

Gerstein 2 points

Gurkin 11 points 7 rebounds

Schlessel-10 points 3 three pointers

Zaken-9 points

Player of the Game: Santo. Not only did he score a ton of points, but he was also extremely clutch in this close game.

Cougars drop to 13-7 on the season after 53-45 loss to Washington Township

The Cougars had another close game with a division opponent today, and for the second time this season, East fell to Washington Township. Honestly, not a lot can be said about the game as far as how both teams played. Neither team truly outplayed the other; in fact for most of the game, the difference between both teams was two points, with East and Twp. trading the lead numerous times throughout the game. The quarter by quarter scores truly shows just how even a match this game was. After one quarter, the game was tied 14-14. At half, the Cougars were up 4. After the third quarter, Twp. led by two. And after a few questionable officiating calls, Twp. ending up winning by eight, even though the majority of the fourth quarter was a 2-3 point game.

Here is East's stat line for the game:

Chris Santo- 33 points, 12/14 from the free throw line, 12 rebounds

Marc Sclessel- 5 points, 6 rebounds

Jake Gurkin- 2 points, 8 rebounds

Ben Gerstein- 4 assists

Seth Friedman- 5 points, 8 assists

In my mind (and I would bet that almost everyone at the game feels the way I do), the story of this game was the officiating crew. To be fair, the officials affected the outcome of the game for both teams way more than officials should. Numerous calls were missed and unnecessary calls were made. It was just a poor showing for the officiating crew today. Being that I am a reporter, it is my job to write without bias in my articles. But because I am a diehard East basketball fan, I am going to speak as a fan instead of a reporter for this one occasion. And because most, if not all, of the readers of this blog are East fans, I hope this is not a problem for anyone.

Here are the calls (or lack of calls) that stood out as bad officiating in my mind:

-Some of the calls the officiating crew made and failed to make during the game were absolutely ridiculous. Twice

during the game (and I am going to leave opposing players' names out of this post), a Twp. player hung on the rim for a significant amount of time. I will admit that I am not an expert when it comes to rules in basketball, but I do know that hanging on the rim is not allowed and doing so should result in a technical foul call. Both times the Twp. player hung on the rim, no technical foul was called at all. I wonder if a foul would even have been called if the player had broken the basket after hanging on the rim.

-After a missed shot in the first half, a Twp. player stormed up the court and absolutely smacked Chris Santo in the shoulder for no apparent reason. Santo had rebounded the ball and began dribbling up court when the player, apparently out of anger, pulled his arm above his head a made a full swing at Santo's arm. No foul was called.

-Later on, a Twp. player basically headlocked Marc Schlessel. Schlessel was in position to rebound the ball, and out of nowhere, the Twp. player brought Schlessel to the ground. No foul was called.

-Finally, at the end of the game, East was down three with seconds to go in the game. A Twp. player rebounded the ball, and Chris Santo tried to either grab the ball from the Twp. player or foul him to stop the clock. Santo was called for a flagrant foul (or possibly intentional foul), giving Twp. two foul shots and possession, putting the game out of reach for the Cougars. Everyone in the crowd was shocked with the call- there was definitely a foul on the play, but there is no way that the foul was worthy of a flagrant foul call, as Santo was clearly trying to steal the ball from the Twp. rebounder.

*On a positive note, before the game Chris Santo received a commemorative basketball for breaking the all- time scoring record at East. Congratulations once again to Chris for his record!

Game today versus Capital Prep cancelled

The Cougars next game is tomorrow versus Washington Twp. at home.

Cougars set to travel to Southern Regional for first round of playoffs

Yesterday, Saturday February 13, the NJSIAA (New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association) released the official boys basketball playoff brackets. Originally, it appeared as if the Cougars would be the 9 seed and play Oakcrest, but the official bracket turned out differently.

The Cougars are the 10 seed and will travel to 7th seeded Southern Regional on March 2nd. East's first round matchup definitely bodes well for the team, as Southern traveled to East earlier in the season to take on the Cougars. In the game, East won 78-61.

If East wins their first round matchup, the Cougars will take on either 2nd seed Shawnee or 15th seed Cherry Hill West. The bracket can be viewed in its entirety and the link below:

http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=350559&tclass=South%2C%20Group%20IV

The girls' basketball team earned the 9 seed in the playoffs. Their bracket can be viewed at the link below as well:

http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=348237&tclass=South%2C%20Group%20IV

East defeats Ocean City, 54-46, in the 10th annual Olympic-Cape Challenge

The Cougars win versus Ocean City today pushed East's regular season record to 13-6. East has been playing very well as of late, as the Cougars are 6-1 in their last 7 games.

Because the game was all the way at St. Augustine, I nor Max could attend the game, so I can not comment on the gritty details of the game. But a few players who I talked to told me that East had control for pretty much the entire game, and that the game was not nearly as close as the final score indicates. At half, the Cougars were up 15. After 3 quarters, East was up 18. In the fourth quarter, Ocean City outscored East by 10, pushing the final score to an 8 point difference. But the reason why Ocean City's appears to have dominated the final quarter is due to a combination of a couple things: the Cougars holding the ball trying to waste the clock and not converting all of their free throw opportunities.

As has been the norm since last year, Chris Santo poured in another 20+ point performance, as he scored a game high 27 points in addition to his 9 rebounds. Santo has scored at least 20 points in 17 out of the Cougars' 19 games this season.

Sophomore Marc Schlessel hit 3 three pointers, en route to his 11 points, and fellow 10th grader Jake Gurkin contributed 10 points.

Guard Ben Gerstein had 4 points, and point guard Seth Friedman had 2 points alongside 12 assists, pushing his season assist total to 212. Friedman is currently averaging an impressive 11.16 assists per game.

East's next game is this Monday, February 15 against Capital Prep Charter. The game is at Cherry Hill East.

East Manhandles Woodrow Wilson as Santo Breaks School Points Record

Even though the Cougars won big today 81-29, the big news on the night was Chris Santo ('11) breaking the school's all-time points record in the first half and creating a new school record of 1,595 points after he finished with 31 today in the game which was moved up because of the impending bad weather.

Unfortunately, few were on hand to witness the historic event based on the game's location, the moved up time and the weather. Luckily for everyone, we have much more Santo basketball to see. This is what is truly amazing about him breaking this historic record. Not including the seniors, we will all have more than 40 opportunities to see him play and lead East. Santo's career points will only keep on increasing as he continues through his high school career with lots of time still remaining. Although breaking records is usually reserved for the end of careers, Santo has much more time left to not only break more records, but to set a completely new standard for Cherry Hill East basketball.

Now, on the game tonight, Santo added 15 rebounds to his 31 points. Seth Friedman ('10) scored 9 points, had six rebounds, 5 steals and 13 assists and Edou Zaken ('11) added in 12 of his own points.

As a team, the Cougars received scoring from various other players including Marc Schlessel ('12), Jake Gurkin ('12), Jake Fischer ('12), Andrew Nahum ('10) and Ben Gerstein ('10). Almost everyone contributed in this blowout.

Player of the Game:Santo in honor of his illustrious career and game. Usually setting school records is for the end of careers. For Santo, this is just the beginning.

Important News/Updates

-According to the Courier Post, East forward Chris Santo currently has the highest points per game average in South Jersey with 28.8 (489 points in 17 games this season).

-The Cougar's next game is on Tuesday, February 9 versus Woodrow Wilson. The Philadelphia Inquirer has the location of the game at East, but I will post the exact location when I find out for sure.

-After talking to a few players, the Cougars have apparently earned the 9th seed in the playoffs, which would mean East would travel to Mays Landing to take on Oakrest in the first round of the playoffs. This not an official matchup, however. It is just an educated estimate as to who the Cougars will play after comparing all of the records of Group 4 teams. The official playoff pairings are set to be realeased on February 12th, so I will update everyone with the official playoff matchup when it is released.

Cougars Edge Eastern, 55-52

This time, the shot hit the front rim. After losing two heartbreakers in close games in these past few weeks, the Cougars finally won the close one. After Pennsauken's disheartening buzzer-beater to beat the Cougars and Cherokee seeming to make every shot in the final minutes of the game on Tuesday, Eastern's final game-tying shot missed out today to let the Cougars escape with a three point victory over rival Eastern.

In a season in which the Cougars have only two games in which they have won by less than eight (both against Eastern), this game followed the similar trend of the Cougars outplaying the other team most of the game but losing the lead at the end. Today, the Cougars played superbly in the first half as Chris Santo ('11) dominated on his way to 23 of East's 38 first-half points and a seven-point Cougar lead. In the first half, the Cougar lead reached 11 after a Santo offensive board and layup.

After half-time, the Cougars play went downhill. The team's shooting went ice cold, scoring only 10 points in the 3rd quarter and seven in the fourth. Eastern cut the lead to 40-39 before a Marc Schlessel ('12) three and a Jake Gurkin ('12) three and layup brought the lead back to seven. Just as the Cougars were about to head back to the bench at the end of the quarter, Eastern hit a last-second three to cut the lead to four. This was going to be a close one.

The Cougars opened the fourth with a Seth Friedman ('10) three, his only points in the game in addition to 14 assists. One of the Cougars problems in this game was that they sometimes suffered lapses on the boards. Despite Santo ending up with 21 rebounds, in the fourth quarter the Cougars failed to get the clutch defensive rebound. When Eastern was down seven with about six minutes left, the Cougars gave Eastern three or four opportunities at a basket due to Eastern offensive rebounds. Although Eastern failed to capitalize, most teams will in that situation.

On the offensive side, the Cougars worked the ball around to let the clock dwindle. After a Cougar intentional foul and Eastern basket with under four minutes remaining, Eastern cut the lead to five. Then three. This game was up for grabs. Then Santo re-emerged on the scoring front and hit a layup to extend the lead to five. On the ensuing possession, Eastern hit an ugly jump-shot to make the lead three. Then after a Cougar turnover, Eastern hit a layup to cut the lead to one.

Another Santo layup extended the lead to three. Eastern failed to score on their next possession. They then proceeded to foul Friedman multiple times until they sent him to the line with 10 seconds left in the game for a one and one. Friedman missed the front end of the one and one so Eastern got the rebound and the ball. East fouled with 1.5 seconds left to force Eastern to have to quickly force a three. Then, the final shot hit the front rim for Eastern and the Cougars pulled their record to 11-6.

Player of the Game: Santo. With his 27 points and 21 rebounds in addition to his clutch rebounds at the end, Santo came through when it mattered most for the Cougars. In addition to his great play today, Santo is only nine points away from breaking the school record of 1,572 points set by Frank Williams in the 1985-1986 season. The Cougars next game will be Saturday at East against Capital Prep Charter.

Cougars lose heartbreaker to Cherokee, 63-62

Instead of the normal post-game write up, I thought I would just post some of my feelings on the game. I am sure there will be an interesting write up in the paper tomorrow that will chronicle exactly what happened, but for those who weren't able to attend the game I will provide a brief synopsis.

This game was honestly probably the most exciting regular season contest I have ever attended. It was up there with the Williamstown playoff basketball game last year- it was that type of atmosphere in the DiBart.

In the first half, the Cougars absolutely dominated, and I mean DOMINATED. Santo finished the first half with 28 points against arguably the best team in South Jersey. To score 28 points in a game versus Cherokee is terrific, but to do it all in one half, is unbelievable. At one point in the first half- and I do not have the exact number- Santo probably made ten field goals in a row. It was a remarkable display, and Santo finished the contest with 37 points on 14/17 shooting, 9/11 from the FT line, 13 rebounds, and five steals.

Seth Friedman continued his stellar play at point guard. He scored 9 points (on 3-3 three point shooting) and dished out 13 assists, including one phenomenal no look pass to Santo in the first half. On the pass, Friedman was driving to the basket, and while in mid air, made an adjustment, literally threw the ball over his shoulder while looking the other way to a wide open Santo, who scored the basket on a layup. Marc Schlessel hit some big three pointers and finished with 12 points. One of his three pointers put the Cougars up by 1 point late in the fourth quarter after Ben Gerstein made an amazing heads up play. Cherokee in-bounded the ball and Gerstein snuck behind Cherokee's point guard Willis Nicholson and stole the ball from him. That possession is when Schlessel hit the big three to put the Cougars up one. Jake Gurkin also played well. He only scored 4 points but he had some big rebounds on defense and did a good job in-bounding the ball against a tough Cherokee press.

After Cherokee's phenomenal senior point guard Willis Nicholson hit a three at the buzzer before half, the Cougars entered half time with a 7 point lead. Just so I do give credit where it is due, Nicholson's performance was on par with Santos today. Nicholson, who is widely regarded as the best point guard in South Jersey, showed why he has earned that reputation, as he hit 5 three pointers, shot 15/19 from the field, and scored 35 points.

To sum up the second half, Cherokee quickly made a comeback and after the third quarter, Cherokee led by two. The Cougars kept it up though and with 27 seconds left in the game, the Cougars were down one point and had the ball. The team called time out, and when play resumed, Friedman killed some clock at the top of the key, before driving to the basket with about 15 seconds remaining. Friedman tried to put up a shot but it was blocked by a Cherokee player. East fouled with 6.5 seconds remaining. The Cherokee player who went to the FT line missed both, and Santo rebounded the ball in traffic. All of a sudden, Santo fell to the floor and lost the ball. It looked as if Santo was fouled on the play, but it is difficult to know for sure from where I was sitting. Cherokee recovered the ball and that was the game.

This game was literally a heartbreaker, and everyone supporting East undoubtedly felt drained after the game. Perhaps my co-sports editor Mike Davis put it best when he whispered to me during the latter stages of the game, "I feel more nervous now than I did for my Bar Mitzvah." Quite frankly, I don't think he was exaggerating because I felt similar nerves. The entire fourth quarter my stomach was in knots.

But as hard as it may be for everyone who was at the game, forget the loss. A lot of good came out of this game. The Cougars lost by 1 point to arguably the best team in South Jersey. East controlled the entire first half, and after losing a 7 point lead, East made comeback after comeback, taking the lead numerous times in the second half. It is evident that the Cougars can keep up with any team in South Jersey, and should feel confident against any team they face going forward. If they can come this close to beating the best team in SJ-and they probably should have won- they can beat anyone.

Cougars hit double digits in wins with 67-22 blowout over Holy Cross

The Cougar's continued their hot play yesterday, Saturday January 30th, when they beat Holy Cross 67-22 and improved their season record to 10-5. The game between East and Holy Cross took place in Rancocas Valley as part of the Jeff Coney Tournament.

East started out the game a bit slow, only managing to score 6 points in the first quarter. At half time, the Cougars were up by 10. But in the third quarter, the Cougars absolutely erupted, scoring 28 points and improving their lead to 33 points. Finally in the fourth quarter, the Cougars put up 12 more points than Holy Cross, allowing the Cougars to win by a huge margin of 45 points.

Chris Santo ('11) scored 29 points, while Marc Schlessel ('12) hit three three-pointers, en route to his 11 points. Ben Gerstein ('10) was the third leading scorer with 8 points.

East's next game is on Tuesday, February 2nd, when Cherokee will travel to East for an Olympic Conference American Division matchup. A win would push the Cougar's conference record to 3-3.

In picture above, Marc Schlessel ('12) hits a three. Picture by Karina Korneyeva ('10)

Cougars Discard Emily Fisher Charter

In a blowout win, the Cougars defeated Emily Fisher Charter today. The Cougars, led by Chris Santo ('11) who scored 40 points and Seth Friedman ('10) who scored 20 points, had this game in hand by the half, leading by a margin of 44-33.

Player of the Game:Santo. 40 points. Enough said.

Cougars Push Aside Lenape

In a game that was surprisingly not even close, the Cougars defeated Lenape 52-34. After appearing outmatched in their opening season loss to the Indians (50-37), the Cougars showed how much they've matured throughout the season in this huge victory to improve their record to 8-5.

The first quarter was a dogfight and it made it seem like this was going to be a typical difficult game against Lenape. The quarter ended tied at 11 with Chris Santo ('11) scoring 8 of East's points. Marc Schlessel ('12) provided the other three points for East.

The Cougars played shut-down defense in the second quarter, allowing only five points the whole quarter. After a Jake Gurkin ('12) layup with seconds remaining in the half, it appeared as though East would enter the half in a close contest, leading by a score of 20-16 until Lenape inbounded the ball and an East player deflected it off a Lenape player so the Cougars would have possession with three seconds left in the quarter. This was just enough time for Seth Friedman ('10) to work some magic. After the inbound pass from half-court, Friedman took two dribbles so that he was a couple of feet beyond the three point line and launched a three that found its way into the basket to give the Cougars the 7 point half-time lead, 23-16.

At the half, Santo had 10 points and four rebounds and Friedman scored 5 points to go along with his 5 assists.

After Friedman's miraculous shot, East never stopped charging forward. In fact the Cougars were so dominating in the third quarter that Lenape coach Chuck Guittar took out all of his starters to put in the reserves for over a quarter. This accomplished absolutely nothing basketball-wise and the Cougars led 35-21 at the end of the third.

The Cougars continued their strong effort on both sides of the ball in the fourth. As Lenape started to try to gain some momentum in the fourth, Schlessel nailed a three, pushing the lead to 17 with 5:40 left and effectively putting the game away.

Players of the Game: Santo and Friedman. Although this was not one of his most high scoring games, in a tough defensive battle Santo was able to score at will on the inside and kept the Cougars in the game when neither team took charge in the first quarter. Friedman gets the nod here for his timely three at the end of the first half. In a defensive battle, as this game looked as if it would be during the first half, a seven point lead is a significant margin. His three in the waning seconds of the half gave the team momentum that it carried into the locker room and into the second half.

Cougars Lose Heartbreaker to Pennsauken

Today the Cougars fell to Pennsauken 65-62 in a true heartbreaker. After a fantastic, fast-paced exciting game, the Cougars simply came out on the wrong end of this one. The game was tight throughout, but the second half was a frenzy of action. After the Cougars led at half-time by a score of 28 to 26 with Chris Santo ('11) leading the scoring charge with 11, neither team truly took control in the second half.

The third quarter ended with the game all tied up at 47. Santo had a huge third quarter, scoring 15 points to keep the Cougars in the game.

The intensity level of the fourth quarter for both teams was spectacular. Both teams played scrappily and hustled for every loose ball in the quarter. With six minutes left in the fourth, Pennsauken took a slight 53-52 lead. As usual in this game, Santo did not let them extend their lead. Less than a minute later, Santo fiercely dunked the ball through the basket to tie the game up at 56.

Pennsauken proceeded to score a basket on their next possession to give them the two point advantage with a little bit more than two minutes left in the game. After a Santo free throw and East getting the ball back after a Pennsauken score Seth Friedman ('10) had a clear look at the basket for an easy layup on the fast break which would cut Pennsauken's then three point lead to one. The ball was headed straight into the hoop, but a Pennsauken player came out of nowhere to swat the ball out of the air. After a tense moment, it was called goaltending and the Cougars pulled back within one.

After yet another Pennsauken basket, Santo once again forced his way to the hoop, knifing through the defense to bring the score to 62-61 Pennsauken with about a minute left in the game. As Pennsauken brought the ball up, the Cougars played a tight press defense to force a turnover. After Pennsauken's coach was forced to call a timeout, the Cougars accomplished their goal. Ben Gerstein ('10) came away with the steal as the Cougars had a fast break opportunity. The Cougars could not cash in this time after a Pennsauken player swatted away a shot attempt. This time it was a clean block however and it looked as if the Cougars would come away with nothing on this possession. Luckily, the ball found its way into Cougar possession once again. Santo came away with the ball and was then fouled with 17.6 seconds left in the game.

With the game on the line Santo knocked down one of his two free throws to tie the game up at 62. The game would come down to one final Pennsauken possession. It looked like East had forced this game to overtime as it seemed like Pennsauken could only pass the ball around the perimeter on this final possession. As the clock slowly ticked towards zero, Pennsauken still had not set up any sort of play. Even with three seconds left it looked as if the Cougars would live to play an overtime quarter. Some days, the ball just does not bounce in the right direction as the ball came into Pennsauken player Frank Small's hands. Small launched a deep three in a quirky shooting motion that somehow, in some way, found nothing but net. Pennsauken won the game, 65-62.

It was just one of those games. The ball just didn't bounce in the right direction for the Cougars today.

Player of the Game: Chris Santo. His 36 points allowed the Cougars to stay in the game and he could do whatever he wanted in the paint. He also added in 10 rebounds. He was also all over the court in this game, collecting steals and playing tough defense throughout.

Also, Friedman dished out 11 assists today to add to his tremendous assist total this season.

Cougars Defeated by Washington Township

In a big game against Washington Township the Cougars fell short and lost 67-52. Chris Santo ('11) was the leading scorer with 19 points, followed by Marc Schlessel ('12) with 12. The game was much closer than the final score makes it seem with Township pulling away at the end due to foul shots.

The Cougars shot poorly on the night, making 17 out of 42 two point shots and 5 out of 21 three point shots.

Player of the Game:Seth Friedman ('10). Friedman continued his strong season by dishing out 13 assists in the losing effort.

Schlessel sets tone early, Cougars win big over Clearview 87-50

With their 37 point win yesterday versus Clearview, the Cougars improved to 7-3 on the season. East took control of the game right off the bat, and by halftime, they led the game by 25. Marc Schlessel ('12) hit shot after shot in the first half, en route to his 16 first half points. Schlessel's hot shooting start was probably the biggest reason why the Cougars had such a big lead in the early going.

Chris Santo ('11) scored 32 points, while Jake Gurkin ('12) contributed with 11. Edou Zaken ('11) also scored 12 points off the bench.

For the sixth time this season, starting point guard Seth Friedman ('10) dished out 10 or more assists, as he finished the game with an impressive 15.

Cougar Cage Player of the Game: For his performance up to this point in the season, and his big 15 assist performance, Seth Friedman ('10) is the player of the game. He also had three points in the game and had some impressive no look pass assists.

Seneca No Match for Cougars

It seems like it's been just days since the Cougars were 0-2 and struggling to find their identity as a team. Starting with their game against Gloucester Catholic on December 28, the Cougars have been 6-1, losing to only a very good Cherokee team. Today was no different, as the Cougars tossed aside Seneca 72-50.

Although the game started out very slowly offensively with only 5 points scored in the first 3 1/2 minutes, the Cougars took control of the game towards the end of the first quarter. The quarter ended with the Cougars with a comfortable lead of 20-6. Marc Schlessel ('12) contributed 9 points (via 3 three pointers) and 5 rebounds in the quarter.

The second quarter was much more of the same with the Cougars maintaining a steady lead. At the end of the half, the Cougars led 38-25. The score at the half did not indicate how dominant the Cougars were in the half. Every spectator knew they would win from the outset.

By halftime, Schlessel had 13 points and 7 rebounds, Chris Santo ('11) had 13 points and Seth Friedman ('10) contributed 8 assists.

Seneca never made a serious attempt at a comeback in the second half, although they did cut the Cougar lead to 9 with 7 minutes left in the third quarter.

Players of the Game: Schlessel and Santo. Although Santo had a better statistical game than Schlessel with 30 points and 13 rebounds, Schlessel was just as valuable to the Cougars today. In the first quarter, Schlessel hit 3 three pointers to jump-start the Cougar offense and gathered in 5 rebounds in that quarter alone. Overall, Schlessel was a solid 5 of 10 from beyond the arc and finished with 19 points. Just as Schlessel started the game off strong for East, Santo finished off Seneca with 12 points in the fourth quarter alone.

Cougars Down Eastern 59-52

In a huge rivalry game, the Cougars defeated Eastern 59-52 tonight. Chris Santo ('11) put on a show for the crowd at Eastern with 30 points and 20 rebounds before fouling out of the game. Seth Friedman ('10) contributed 13 assists for East in the winning effort. The Cougars maintained a lead for the majority of the game with their largest lead at 12 before the half.

Ben Gerstein ('10) was East's second leading scorer with 10 followed by Friedman and Marc Schlessel ('12) with 7 points apiece. Schlessel also had 6 rebounds. Jake Gurkin ('12) was also very productive off the glass, pulling in 9 rebounds to go along with his 5 points.

Player of the Game: Santo. Any time a player puts up 40 in combined points and rebounds it's an enormous game. 50? That's just monstrous.

The Cougars next game is Thursday against Seneca at East at 4:00.

Game at Eastern on Tuesday, January 12th scheduled for 6:00 start

That is the word I just received. If I hear anything different, I will post on here ASAP. But as of now, the word is that the game is scheduled for a 6:00 PM start.

Cougars take down Southern Regional 78-61, improve to 4-3

It was a big win for the Cougars yesterday in the DiBart Gym, as they pushed their record over the .500 mark. The game versus Southern could very well have been the best played game for the Cougars all year. As a team, East shot an impressive 15-27 from the three point line, and all five starters had big games.

After one quarter of play, the Cougars were up 11. But then, Southern went on a run and got the Cougar lead down to 6 at half time. At one point early on in the second half, East was up four. But everyone kept their composure, and by the end of the third quarter, the Cougars were up 17.

Chris Santo ('11) poured in 20 points and had 8 rebounds, while Marc Schlessel ('12) continued his stellar sophomore campaign with 14 points on 4-7 shooting from three. Although he only scored six points, point guard Seth Friedman ('10) really did a good job controlling the offense, as he dished out 14 assists. After dealing with mononucleosis for the past couple of weeks, Jake Gurkin ('12) made an early return from his sickness in the Cougar's last game versus Cherokee. In the game yesterday versus Southern, he played extremely well, scoring a career- high 19 points on 5-6 shooting from the field (4-4 from three) and 5-7 shooting from the free throw line. Gurkin and Schlessel have really been holding their own early on in their rookie campaigns.
Lastly, guard Ben Gerstein ('10) scored 19 points on 7-14 shooting (5-11 from three). As is usually the norm, Gerstein played steller defense for the duration of the game.

The Cougars' next game is Tuesday, January 12th versus Eastern at Eastern. I will post the game time when I find out.

Players of the Game: Jake Gurkin ('12) and Ben Gerstein ('10)- Most would probably agree that both Gurkin and Gerstein put in two of the better individual performances for the Cougars all year. Gurkin set a career high in points scored for a game while shooting 4-4 from three. Gerstein shot 50% from the field and really worked hard on the defense end as he pressed for most of the game.

Cougars Fall to Cherokee 81-70

In a hard fought battle, the Cougars lost tonight to the Cherokee Chiefs 81-70 at Cherokee. The Cougars put lots of heart into the game, fighting for every loose ball and kept hustling until the end, but it seemed as though there was a Cherokee answer for every East three pointer. Despite Seth Friedman's ('10) outstanding shooting (five of seven from beyond the arc) it seemed as though Bryan Cooper or another Cherokee player would run down the court and make a three-pointer for Cherokee.

Cherokee jumped out to a 21-6 lead in the first quarter, seemingly taking control of the game. The Cougars stayed with it though, cutting the lead to 21-13 at the end of the first quarter after a dazzling Friedman layup with 2.8 seconds left in the quarter.

The status quo remained the same in the second quarter. The Cougars would make mini-runs at the Cherokee lead, but could never make a deep enough dent in the lead. The half ended with a Cherokee lead of 34-22. Chris Santo ('11) had 8 points and 4 rebounds at the half, but his game was just beginning. Friedman had 11 points at the conclusion of the half and perfect 3 of 3 shooting from the three point line.

In the third quarter, Cherokee built up their lead to 17 in the quarter, but once again the Cougars had an answer. The lead was cut down to 10 with 2 minutes left in the quarter after a Santo layup with a foul shot afterwards. Once again, Cherokee responded with a mini-run but a Friedman three from a different area code than the basket cut the lead to 12. Another Cougar bucket cut the lead to 10 at the end of the third quarter, which ended with a score of 57-47 with Cherokee in the lead. Santo had 21 at the end of the quarter and Friedman had 17 along with 6 assists.

The fourth quarter was all about Santo for East. Santo scored 14 points in the final quarter, leaving him with 35. He would not give up in the paint and went up hard to the basket each possession and drew many fouls. After Cherokee extended its lead to a game-high 18 with about 4 minutes left, Santo and the Cougars cut it down to 11, 81-70.

Friedman ended up with 20 points and 9 assists while Santo had 35 points and 12 rebounds.

Jake Gurkin ('12) made an early return from his sickness in the first quarter. Unfortunately, minutes after he came in the game, he was elbowed in the face by a Cherokee player and had to sit out for a quarter due to a bloody nose.

The entire game was very physical, with the game ending with both teams in the double bonus for fouls, meaning each team had fouled the other ten times in the second half.

Player of the Game:

There were only two options here in either Friedman or Santo. However, Santo was tonight's true best player. All game he faced an athletic defense and went up against bigger bodies for rebounds, yet he still ended up with 35 points and 12 rebounds. Cherokee had no answer for him on defense, as he continuously bulldozed his way in the paint, fighting off contact in the second half. He made his baskets even when fouled and kept East close late in the game.

Cougars head into tomorrow night's showdown with Cherokee after winning last three

Tomorrow night, January 5th, the Cougars will travel to Marlton, NJ to take on the number one ranked team in South Jersey, Cherokee at 7 PM. It should be an interesting matchup, especially if the Cougars are able to keep the game close. It goes without saying that an upset would be huge, which would push their conference record to 1-1 and their overall record to 4-2. The Cougars are currently 3-2.

As for the past three games, sorry to all of the followers out there for the lack of updates. All of the contributors to the blog were away for the vacation.

During winter break, the Cougars earned three much needed wins against Gloucester Catholic, Williamstown, and Leap Academy, with scores of 48-39, 61-57, and 110-59 respectively.

Top performers for each game are below:

In the Gloucester Catholic game, Chris Santo ('11) had his usual high scoring game as he poured in a game high 19. Marc Schlessel ('12) hit two big threes en route to his 15 points, and guard Seth Friedman ('10) dished out six assists.

The Williamstown game was quite a thriller, as it went into overtime. The Cougars outscored the Braves 8-4 in the extra period, which earned them the win. The Cougars shot well from the line, going 16-20 as a team. Santo once again led all scorers with 22 points on 9-14 shooting for two point field goals. He also had 7 boards and 4 assists. Friedman also came up huge, going 4-7 from the three point line and had six assists.

In the final game of break, the Cougars game out on fire. Ten different players scored, with Santo leading the charge with 43 points. Starting guard Ben Gerstein ('10) had a huge offensive game scoring 20 points. Guard Sam Rose ('11) also made a significant contribution with 9 points off the bench.

Gurkin out because of sickness; Due to return January 10th

After starting the Cougar's opening game versus Lenape on December 18th, East 6'5 forward Jake Gurkin has been out because he is currently sick with Mononucleosis. His sickness was reported in a Philadelphia Inquirer article that was published today by staff writer Marc Narducci. According to the article, Gurkin is not expected to return until January 10th at the earliest, which would mean his first potential game back would be on January 12th when East takes on division rival Eastern at Eastern.