Chatham High School Boy’s Basketball Upends Union City

Chatham High School (N.J.) Boy’s basketball could not have played a better first quarter, firing on all cylinders to take a 33-13 lead by the period’s end.

The Cougars rode that early momentum to an 80-69 victory over Union City (9-14) Tuesday night at home.

While Chatham won by 11 points, head coach Todd Ervin was not exactly pleased with his team’s overall performance.

“We have to take care of the ball better than that. That was atrocious,” Ervin said. “We had so many unforced errors. That was horrible. I think we just stunk today, that’s what it came down to. First quarter was good. After that, it went downhill.”

After a stellar first quarter, the Cougars kept up the pressure on The Soaring Eagles and even took a 41-20 lead after a junior Nicky Fabijanic basket that gave it a 21-point lead with 5:05 left in the second quarter.

However, Union City managed to close out the first half, trailing just by a 43-31 score.

But Chatham went on a 11-7 run, capped by a junior Michael MacAniff bucket that gave them a 54-38 advantage with 4:26 to go in the third period.

The Cougars finished the quarter ahead by 14 points.

With Union City banging home a three-pointer early in the fourth period, senior Quinn Burke led a six-point spurt to give Chatham a 70-53 lead with 6:08 remaining in the contest.

Junior Sonny Arden’s basket made it 78-60 with 2:44 left in the game.

By then, everything was academic for the Cougars, as they picked up its eighth consecutive win, and 16 victory of the season.

The Soaring Eagles, a team with a lot of speed and quickness, mirrors a lot of the squads that Chatham might play in New Jersey in the playoffs, something that is not lost on Burke.

“It was an important win for us,” Burke said. “It’s a team, similarly, that we can see in states. I think we’re playing well together, and we’ll see what happens from here.”

Burke led all scorers with 27 points. Senior Will DesMarais contributed 15 points, while MacAniff added 13 points in the victory.

The Cougars returns to action Saturday at 7:00 p.m. against Mendham at County College of Morris in the Morris County Tournament semifinals.

— Jerry Del Priore