Hunterdon Central High School - Echo Yearbook (Flemington, NJ)

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Boys' basketball reaches state semi-finals by Cheryl Hunter This year, Hunterdon Centralis boys' basketball team made its mark in the Delaware River Confer- ence. They've come back from a 6- 16 record last year with a 16-2 sea- son C23-4 overalll. Head Coach Joe Kleczynski was pleased with the team's perfor- mance and outstanding improve- ment. The team worked together ex- tremely well as a unitf' he com- mented. Their attitudes improved tremendously. It was one total team effortf' The season started off well, as Central mauled their opponents. Ju- nior Ted Gobillot hit 30 and 29 points against Piscataway and Voorhees respectively. Then came the Memorial Invitationl Tourna- ment. Central had a depressing de- feat in the finals, losing to Phillips- burg, but that did not stop them. In one of their most impressive games, they beat Notre Dame by one point and they started reeling off wins again. - Senior Rich Ackerman continued to pull down rebounds, and senior Mark Dragotta and junior Ed Ham hit everyone inside for assists. Sen- ior Jake Ruscher, one of the best sixth men in the conference, also contributed to the team's efforts. Co-captains Dragotta and senior Norbert Hirst played tremendous defense as did the rest of the team. The loss to Hackettstown, the only defeat during the regular sea- son, did not stop the Devils in pursu- ing their goal-winning the Delaware River Conference. The last game of the regular season against North l72 Hunterdon saw Ted Gobillot, aver- aging l8 points a game, fall after a basket and break his left wrist. This did not stop the teamfs winning ways, however. The playoffs against Hackettstown showed that the Dev- ils wanted revenge. They defeated Hackettstown in the semi-finals but went on to lose to North, 52-51. Central also accomplished a feat never seen before in Hunterdon Central boys, basketball history - they won their first state game ever against Perth Amboy. They went into the game as the underdogs and proved everyone wrong. Rich Ack- erman, having one of his best games of the year with 23 points and 21 rebounds, joined Ken Santino and Keith Lerch, who replaced the in- jured Gobillot, to make the neces- sary outside shots. This did not last forever, however, as the season came to a close when the Devils lost in the semi-finals to Middletown North. Next year, Central will enter the Mid-State Conference with only six letter winners returning. They are looking forward to a tough season, as they will have to rebuild the team.