East downs Pennsauken 74-69

In a tight game on Tuesday, the Cougars defeated Pennsauken 74-69.

The Cougars played a solid first quarter as they took a 19-13 lead by the end of the quarter. Marc Schlessel ('12) led the way with seven points in the quarter and Chris Santo ('11) had six. However, Pennsauken looked to be a tough team as they could really matchup with the Cougars.

The Cougars took a seemingly commanding lead in the second quarter as they stretched the lead to 16 midway through the quarter via a Schlessel layup. Jesse Gold ('12) made his presence known in the quarter as he played aggressively, hitting a three-pointer and two free throws to help lead the run. Pennsauken soon tightened the gap and the Cougars led 43-34 at the half. Santo has 18 points at the half and Schlessel had 14 as they led the scoring for the Cougars.

Pennsauken managed to make the game even tighter in the third. Despite the best scoring efforts of Dan Melleby ('11) and Santo, Pennsauken crept within three until Schlessel hit another three pointer to take the six point lead. A scary moment occurred with a couple of minutes left in the third as Schlessel went up for an offensive rebound and landed on the back of a Pennsauken player then came crashing to the floor. He seemed very hurt as he hit the wrist he broke before the season started. However, he managed to come back into the game for the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, Pennsauken hit an amazing half-court shot to end the quarter at 57-53 that could not help but bring back painful recollections of East's last-second loss to Pennsauken last year on a buzzer-beater from deep.

Jake Gurkin ('12) scored two quick East baskets in the fourth to counter the Pennsauken offense. After these baskets, Pennsauken cut the lead to two. Then, Gurkin fouled out, leaving the Cougars with a seemingly gaping hole in the middle of the floor. The Cougars seemed to be missing Gurkin greatly as Pennsauken capitalized and took a four-point leas in his absence. Melleby then made a layup to cut the gap to two. Then, Santo came back and hit two free throws to tie the game. Another free throw on the next possession from Santo gave the Cougars the lead. Pennsauken then hit one free throw of their own to tie the game back up. Then, Melleby scored on a backdoor layup to give the Cougars a two-point lead with about two minutes left. On the next East possession, Gold was fouled and calmly hit two free throws from the line for the four-point lead. Pennsauken hit a free throw of their own to cut the lead to one possession. On the next Cougar possession, Gold was fouled again but missed the front end of the one-and-one. He remained unfazed as he made the play of the game by stealing the ball from Pennsauken before they could get a shot off to essentially seal the victory. Gold hit three more foul shots before the game ended and Melleby made two more.

Player of the Game: Gold. He played confidently out there as he took the ball himself more frequently and made plays. His free throw shooting was clutch and his steal towards the end potentially saved the game for the Cougars. Gold hasn't been a player to fill up the stat sheet but his steady presence on the court has been huge thus far in the season.

Key Stats

Santo-27 points, 6 rebounds

Schlessel-17 points

Gurkin-8 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks

Gold-9 points, 4 rebounds

Melleby-13 points, 5 assists