POMPTON PLAINS — Despite overcoming a nine-point deficit at the half, the Chatham Cougars fell to an extremely physical Pequannock Township basketball team, 59-57, at Pequannock Township High School on Thursday night.
Initially, Chatham was haunted by sloppy play on offense and lackluster defense. The Cougars faced a 12-9 deficit after one quarter of play.
It was the same story in the second quarter as a noticeably larger Pequannock team dominated the inside game.
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"I don't think we played real well defensively in the first half and we just dug too big of a hole," Head Coach Todd Ervin said.
In fact, the only Cougar to consistently get inside and disrupt the Panthers in the first half was senior captain Chris Conroy. Conroy seemed immune to the Pequannock interior defense as he drove to the hoop play after play. Chatham went into the half trailing 34-25.
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Conroy finished with a double double, leading all scorers with 20 points and 12 rebounds.
The second half showed a totally different Chatham team. The Cougars were much more protective of the ball, more physical inside and more dominant on defense.
"We just started attacking [the inside] more in the second half," Ervin said. "We got it back, we got it even, but we just couldn't get over that hump."
The Cougars closed the end of the third quarter trailing by only three points.
Sophomore guard Jonathon Berntsen helped the Cougars overcome their struggles inside. He was a force from behind the arc, going four of six from three-point range and finishing with 18 points.
With the help of Berntsen, the Cougars were able to take their first lead of the game at 54-52 with 2:30 remaining on the clock, but the lead was short-lived, as Pequannock quickly tied it up and eventually took the lead for good.
"They started off more physical and it got us in that hole, and once we started playing we kind of evened it up," Ervin said. "But they made plays down at their end
Chatham will face Morristown in a Morris County tournament matchup at 7 p.m. Saturday.
