“We should have pulled through, but we didn’t,” Sam Sponheimer told The Fanscotian.
“We should have.” While only three words, they represent the team’s feelings as a whole – having regret and wishing you can change the past. On Feb. 8, these words were uttered by Sponheimer moments after the SPF Boys Basketball team came up short against the Cranford Cougars, 56-48, in the first round of the Union County Tournament.
With the loss, six seed SPF was knocked out of the tournament and will look towards regaining momentum before the opening rounds of the state tournament.
Despite a strong defensive effort throughout the night, the Raiders were unable to grasp the lead in the duel’s final moments. The dominant defense was not enough though, as the ball could never seem to find its way in the basket when coming out of the Raiders’ hands. Missed shots were the Raider’s calling card, following them from whatever angle they let the ball loose on the court, making it hard to win.
“At the end of the day, we had a lot of great looks and we just weren’t converting,” Coach Steven Siracusa said.
These opportunities had to be pounced on, especially with the Cougars strong offensive side. Led by six-foot five senior Nick Amitie, Cranford created a hard to stop offensive front, firing on all cylinders. With the attention put on Amitie, quick guards were able to get open, and drain threes with no one in sight.
While Amitie was dominant in the paint, putting up a 13 point double double, SPF defenders Caleb McDowell and Jack Wall did a nice job of controlling his power, and getting him into foul trouble in the second half. The Raiders got a taste of their own medicine, falling victim to foul issues themselves. Wall and senior Kyle Hunter sat down on the bench in the third quarter, hurting the team’s chances of making a comeback.
Siracusa was forced to call upon many players to try and step up throughout the game, including juniors Jacob Handy and Jack Sponheimer. Matters were made worse when senior guard Jaden Carpien landed awkwardly on his ankle, forcing him to sit out most of the second half. With Carpien out, and SPF’s usual scorers cold, it was nearly impossible to see a scenario that had the Raiders coming out on top.
“When a player goes down, it is the next man up. We have to figure out ways to help each other out and find ways to score and win, with or without Jaden [Carpien],” Siracusa said.
As heartbreaking as a first round exit is, SPF cannot let this loss affect the rest of their year and will have to set their minds towards the state tournament.
“We have to learn from this game and have a short memory,” Sponheimer said. “We can’t get upset about this loss. We just have to put our heads down and work.”
