St. Augustine wins Cape-National Showdown

Hermits corner BulldogsBy DAVE ALLEN, Staff Writer

BRIDGETON – There was no place to run and hide for the Hermits Thursday night against Bridgeton, just four corners on a basketball court.That was enough.St. Augustine Prep went to a four-corner spread offense mid-way trough the third quarter, protecting an eight-point lead, and stayed with it the rest of the way, even after a 10-1 Bulldog run put Bridgeton up by a point with 1:52 remaining in the game.The result was two easy baskets, two free throws and a 58-53 win for the Prep (6-1) in the battle of Cape-Atlantic League National Division contenders.“We tried to shoot off it (the spread offense), which is normally not what we want in those circumstances,” Hermits’ coach Paul Rodio said. “We wanted to take time off the clock, but we had some layups and we made the right decisions.”The first decision was made by St. Augustine center Raheem Rex. Rex drew a Bridgeton defender to him and found a wide-open Matt Hufty for an easy layup and Hufty’s only two points of the game with 1:38 remaining.Bridgeton then wasted two opportunities to retake the lead with turnovers, once by stepping out of bounds and another time by throwing the ball away upcourt.That set the stage for Hermits’ center Bill Fahber, who transferred from Bridgeton to the Prep after his sophomore year.The 6-foot-6 senor followed Bobby Hennessy’s miss with 49 seconds left to give Prep a 56-53 advantage, a lead that held up with two insurance free throws by Matt Clark with 12 seconds remaining.“They really put it upon me to stick that one in there,” Fahber said of his ex-teammates.Fahber had 10 points for the Hermits and Rex nine. Matt Miles came off the bench to lead Prep with 13 points, hitting nine-of-10 free throws. St. Augustine Prep converted 24-of-31 free throws for the game, including a stretch of nine straight in the fourth quarter.The Hermits also hit three consecutive 3-pointers to open up the second half, including two by Hennessy, turning a one-point lead (26-25) at halftime into a 35-27 advantage and thus allowing the Prep to spread its offense out in four corners.Bridgeton’s Terrence Hester led all scorers with 27 points.“Our achilles heel all year has been turning the ball over at crucial times of the game … down the stretch, in the final two minutes,” Bridgeton coach Charlie Kates said. “We throw the ball away. Our guards are not making good decisions.”

C.A. National Basketball archive – S.A. 1992