Second Half Surge Helps Cougars Roll Over Parsippany

From the outset of Tuesday's boys' basketball matchup between the Parsippany Red Hawks and the Chatham Cougars at Chatham High School, it appeared the Cougars were down and out.

All of Parsippany's shots appeared to be on target. Mike Ross and Peter Gonzalez were sinking three pointers—they each made two three-pointers in the first quarter—and the Red Hawks extended their lead to eight points early on.

"They didn't miss many shots," Chatham Head Coach Todd Ervin said.

But the tide quickly changed. Chatham's Chris Conroy scored 10 of his 12 points in the second quarter and Chatham coasted, on the strength of that momentum, to a 69-57 victory.

The Cougars cut the Parsippany lead to one point late in second quarter and had the chance to take the lead going into halftime when they got the ball back with under a minute to play in the half. But Parsippany got the ball back on a turnover, and Kurt Welge's basket in the final minute gave the Red Hawks a three point lead at the break.

Welge's only basket of the evening provided Parsippany with one of its final highlights. Chatham went on an 8-0 run toward the beginning of the third quarter as the Red Hawks turned the ball over four straight times. Throughout the night, Parsippany was consistently called for traveling or double dribbling, and Chatham was also able to steal the ball on a regular basis throughout the third quarter.

"The first half a little shaky because of our defensive effort, but then we started to lock them down," said Chatham's Jonathan Berntsen, who was the team's leading scorer with 15 points.

Parsippany took a timeout after the 8-0, but Chatham kept up its onslaught.

"Once we got some layups, their [defense] collapsed inside," Ervin said.

Because the Red Hawks were guarding even more than usual against the short basket, Chatham's players got several open shots from beyond the three-point line, and they capitalized on them. Adam Konopka made back-to-back three-pointers, and Chatham extended its lead to 10 points toward the end of the quarter.

The Cougars cruised through the fourth quarter. They extended their lead to 15 with 1:26 left to play as Parsippany continued to turn the ball over.

"I thought my team played hard," Parsippany Head Coach Bill Medina said. "I just thought we didn't execute at the times we needed to, and Chatham took advantage of that."

Parsippany fell to 2-8 with the loss, while Chatham improved to 6-2.

Ervin said the team's next two games would be difficult. Chatham will play Madison on the road at 7pm Thursday and will travel to Mendham to face the Minutemen Saturday at 7pm.