North Hunterdon boys basketball trailed rival Voorhees by as many as 12 points in the first half on Thursday night.
But the Lions didn’t panic. They have been in this spot before.
North Hunterdon roared back for a 76-65 home victory. It was the third straight win for the Lions.
“We’ve been in this situation many times this year,” North Hunterdon coach Kyle Rehrig said. “We’ve played multiple overtime games. We’ve been down early. We’ve had some rough stretches. We just continue to play. That’s why I don’t really get too worked up. I just let them play.”
“We’ve been used to coming back,” Lions junior guard Mike DelSantro said. “Usually our second half is a little bit stronger. Second half has been our strong point.”
After a 3-pointer by Kyle Kokoskie early in the second quarter gave Voorhees a 26-14 lead, the Lions outscored the Vikings 16-7 the rest of the quarter to trim the halftime deficit to three points. North Hunterdon sophomore guard Nick Guasta scored five points in the quarter.
Following a third quarter which saw the momentum and lead go back and forth, the Lions took control in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Vikings 29-19 in the last eight minutes. DelSantro had eight points in the fourth quarter for the Lions. North Hunterdon junior forward Paul Woolhouse and senior forward Andrew Berger each had six points in the final quarter.
DelSantro finished with 19 points with 12 coming in the second half. Berger had 14 points with 10 coming after halftime. Guasta scored 11 points for the home team. Woolhouse tallied all 10 of his points in the second half for the Lions.
Rehrig was impressed with DelSantro and others on the night.
“I thought Ahman Cooks really made some big plays for us,” Rehrig said. “Andrew Berger and Paul Woolhouse did some good things. We always get some contributions from everyone. Not all of them shows up in the box score. A lot of its the effort and energy plays. It was a good team win for us.”
Kyle Kokoskie had 20 points and Blair Felts added 13 for Voorhees.
The Lions have beaten Somerville, Morris Hills and now Voorhees in the last three games to improve 9-12 on the season.
“We started off pretty slow, adjusting to this new system we’re running with. Coach knows what he’s doing,” DelSantro said. “He gives us confidence in practice and games and we’re working with it.”
“We try to keep the tempo up. We try to keep our guys fresh,” Rehrig said of the new system. “We’ve always been playing anywhere from 12 to 15 guys.”
North Hunterdon has home games with Warren Hills on Tuesday and then Roxbury on Thursday to wrap up the regular season. The 14th-seeded Lions then play at No. 3 Scotch Plains on Feb. 27 in the first round of the NJSIAA North 2, Group 4 tournament.
“Any win is a big win for us right now,” Rehrig said. “We’re trying to get ourselves ready for the state tournament.”
Josh Folck may be reached at jfolck@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshFolck. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.
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