DENVILLE — The Chatham Cougars boys basketball team made easy work of Morris Catholic High School on Tuesday night, winning by a score of 48-29.
Leading the Cougars was guard Brendan Damodaran, who at times seemed to score at will. Damodaran netted a team-high 18 points in a little over three quarters of work against a 3-8 Morris Catholic team.
Although it ended in a blowout, the game was much closer through two quarters, as both teams struggled to hang onto the ball. The first quarter ended in a 7-7 tie.
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"Too many turnovers and too many missed shots … we had a lot of turnovers, but we kept making stops," Head Coach Todd Ervin said.
The second quarter showed a little more promise as Chatham made smarter decisions with the basketball and continued to play solid defense. Kevin Giannattasio and captain Chris Conroy kept the Cougars in the game as they each fought to grab seven rebounds and Chatham went into halftime leading 24-13.
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In the second half, Conroy began to heat up from the floor and the Cougars began to run away with the game. Morris Catholic showed little urgency on offense and continued turning the ball over throughout the second half. The Cougars left the third quarter leading 36-17.
"I thought we played great defense, but on offense I thought we struggled. But we got enough points," Ervin said.
Conroy finished the game with ten points and sophomore guard Jonathan Berntsen chipped in with seven points, three rebounds and two steals as Chatham walked away with the victory.
Up next for the Cougars is a matchup with Mountain Lakes on Thursday in Chatham at 7 p.m.
