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It’s in the playoffs where teams get one chance to see who is the better team, but in the South Mountain Athletic Conference, East Rutherford and Shelby will soon meet again.
The initial meeting between two of the best varsity boys basketball teams in the state among the 2A ranks went to Shelby last Friday in a packed “Jungle Gym“. There easily could be three more opportunities of a East-Shelby rematch.
The two will play again for sure at Shelby (February 12th), but could also meet in the South Mountain Conference Tourney and the 2A playoffs.
As for last Friday’s game at East Rutherford, the Cavaliers led for most of the fourth quarter. However, Gabe DeVoe (16 points) buried back-to-back 3’s and took a lead late that held in a 46-43 Golden Lion victory. Travis Waldroup-Rodriguez had four three’s in the game and both teams did a great job in blocking shots.
However, both know each other very well and it showed. Despite very little transition basketball, East Rutherford boys coach Brad Levine claimed it came down to one factor in entire ball game.
“I felt like both teams played hard and tough, but they got the rebounds when we needed them the most,” Levine said.
In the stat line, East shot 7-of-21 from three point land, 8-of-14 from the free throw line and hit 15 field goals compared to 19 from Shelby. Despite those stats, how about five ties and seven lead changes in a game came down to the last minute.
Meanwhile, R-S Central destroyed Burns boys by 32 and Chase was on the wrong end of the spectrum as Freedom beat them by 46. So that now separates the SMAC pack somewhat with Shelby in first, East in second, Freedom in third, and R-S Central in fourth, followed by Chase, Patton and Burns.
In girls action, Freedom maintains the number one spot with R-S Central in second, East Rutherford in third and Patton fourth. Shelby, Burns and Chase rounds out the SMAC standing as half the conference season has rolled past us.
We are less than two weeks away from Super Bowl Sunday and rest assure, you will see Ravens, 49ers and Harbaugh’s. Sounds a little like Adams family meets pirate movie, but we have learned a lot about these two teams, especially in the playoffs.
For starters, don’t put a billboard up all over Boston claiming that Ray Lewis’ career is coming to an end there! Not to say that it wasn’t a fun publicity stunt, but many Bostonians woke up Monday morning with the case of the chokes. Lewis has 11 tackles and three assists on defense as the Baltimore Ravens defense showed up and avenged last year’s loss in the AFC Championship game. Baltimore made New England pay on two of three turnovers, while Baltimore did not turn the ball over at all in the contest in a 28-13 Ravens win. I can’t believe it I am saying this, but Joe Flacco’s second half performance looked a little like the Eli Manning playoff version from 2008 and 2012.
In Atlanta, the Falcons certainly can score points early, but once again, played not to lose in the second half in a 28-24 NFC Championship loss. As a result, the Seattle game a week beforehand was just the encore performance to how San Francisco finds themselves in the Super Bowl.
Had Atlanta kept their foot on the gas, there’s no doubt in my mind that the Falcons would be in Super Bowl. Granted, the 49ers do have a pretty good defense and a respectable offense, but it was Atlanta’s to lose from the start of the game.
Why should we be surprised? Sports teams in Atlanta have choked for years on end except for the 1995 Braves that won the World Series and the 1998 Falcons, which made it to the Super Bowl.
Well, next week I will give my prognostication on how the Super Bowl will go and what to look for besides the commercials. Until then, see you somewhere around Rutherford County.
