What a difference a month makes. Or almost a month. The last time Bordentown and Cinnaminson met (January 14), the Pirates and Scotties were both 7-0 overall and 2-0 in the Freedom. The Pirates dropped that game 69-52.
On Thursday night, with the addition of Will Cabbler (14 points), the Pirates were able to answer everything Bordentown threw at them and stun the Scotties with a 66-57 victory.
“We wanted this game badly,” Cabbler said. “Bordentown is a great team and their record speaks for itself, but we always had confidence we could win against them or anybody else. That’s our attitude every game.”
Cinnaminson is now 13-5 overall and 5-2 in the Freedom. The loss was just the second of the year for Bordentown (17-2, 6-1).
“Showing that we can beat a 17-1 team,” head coach Mike Fries said. “I told them, they can beat anybody. They can go into Camden. They can beat Woodstown or Cedar Creek. Use this as a platform to spring off of and just go from there. The way they played tonight, they have to show up like that every game.”
The win came just hours after the Pirates learned they would be the five-seed in the South, Group 2 Tournament and host #12 Cedar Creek in the first round on Tuesday, March 1 and boy did this one have a playoff feel to it.
After taking their first lead of the game at 8-7, the Pirates saw the Scotties reel off 13 points in a row to take a 20-8 lead. Cinnaminson would finish the quarter on a 4-0 run to close the gap at 20-12.
“We were down 18-8 and we could’ve just folded,” Fries said. “We could’ve said that’s Bordentown, a 17-1 team, but they didn’t. They kept fighting and fighting and got the job done.”
The Pirates outscored the Scotties 15-11 in the second to trail 31-27 at halftime. Cinnaminson went on an 8-0 run to pull within two points before Bordentown picked up the final bucket of the quarter.
After a tight third quarter the Pirates found themselves down 45-39.
“The senior leadership is key this year,” Fries said. “They want it. They know how to get it done because they’ve been with the program a few years.”
The Pirates scored eight of the first 10 points in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 47. Conor Bresnahan, who finished with 19, used a three-point play to tie it up with close to five minutes remaining.
“We really locked up on defense and hit our free throws down the stretch,” Bresnahan said. “Practice yesterday was so focused. The senior leadership on this team is incredible. They got us really hyped up for this game.”
From that point on it was all Pirates. Will Cabbler hit a three to give the Pirates a 52-50 lead they would never relinquish. Just one possession later, Cabbler struck again from beyond the arc, extending the lead to 55-50.
“The game is never over until the clock hits 0:00,” Cabbler said. “I knew those threes would give us momentum and a good cushion to close the game out in the fourth. We could never get too comfortable with a team like Bordentown.”
The Cinnaminson defense, which played one of its best games all season, hunkered down for a dogfight in the final three minutes.
“It was how tight we were defending them. It was all effort,” Bresnahan said. “Everyone was getting out on shooters, closing out. We were making it hard on them to even get to the shot.”
The tight defense led to quick offense and plenty of foul shots down the stretch.
“I loved the never quit, never die, attitude,” Fries said. “They got every loose ball. They tipped or got the rebounds. They kept them off the boards. They attacked the basket and finished.”
Devon Taylor, who finished with a game-high 23 points, hit five big free throws in the fourth. The Pirates hit eight overall in the quarter and shot 16-of-23 for the game as Bordentown shot just 9-of-19.
“We have to take this win and say to ourselves, ‘we can beat anybody,'” Cabbler said. “We can make this season a special one if we work together, not overlook any opponent, and we should be fine.”
Cinnaminson returns to the court on Sunday, February 14 against Glassboro at 9:30am. The game will be played at Cherry Hill East as part of an Invitational.
“We scrimmaged Glassboro and it was a great scrimmage because it prepared us for the season,” Fries said. “They are a great team. This will be a great test to see how far we’ve come since December playing them.”
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Bordentown
|
20 | 11 | 14 | 12 | 57 |
|
Cinnaminson
|
12 | 15 | 12 | 27 | 66 |
Pirates Scoring:
Devon Taylor – 23
Conor Bresnahan – 19
Will Cabbler – 14
Rich Rickus – 8
Pat McCarthy – 2
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