The UC boys basketball team improved to 5-4 with a 59-48 victory over Union on Monday
Winchester, Ansong lead UC boys basketball team to victory over Union
Keyshawn Winchester scored a career-high 20 points and Yaw Ansong had 10 points,13 rebounds, and three blocked shots to lead the Union Catholic boys basketball team to a 59-48 victory over Union on Monday in Union.
Here is the game story written by Mike Kinney of NJ.com
A height advantage is certainly a welcomed commodity in basketball, though merely bragging rights for the measuring stick if those taller bodies are not utilized properly.
Just two plays into this game, Union Catholic was already beginning to obtain high marks for its execution against a considerably smaller Union club.
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Yaw Ansong, a 6-11 sophomore, scored inside off a feed from sophomore point guard AJ Altobelli to open the scoring, and followed on the next possession with a thunderous put-back jam for a four-point lead that would grow to nine over the next two minutes and continue to expand.
But it was not just the sky-scraping Ansong or 6-8 sophomore FK Muntari creating direct difficulty for the neck-craning Farmers. An even larger issue was the way Altobelli and the other guards attacked by capitalizing on that interior advantage from the perimeter.
Senior guard Keyshawn Winchester scored a season-high 20 points, Ansong finished with 10 points, a game-high 13 rebounds and three blocks, and 6-5 junior Terrance Wood contributed eight points, 11 rebounds and one rejection to steer Union Catholic to a 59-48 victory over Union in a Union County Conference-Watchung Division clash Monday afternoon at the Louis J. Rettino Gymnasium in Union.
"I feel like today was really the first time we executed like we wanted to, and the bigs were able to score," Union Catholic head coach Jim Reagan Jr. said. "A little old-school paradigm basketball for us and we were pleased about that."
What Reagan was less thrilled about was a somewhat untidy fourth quarter after his team had staked out a 32-19 halftime lead that grew as high as 23 points in the opening minute of the fourth, then quickly shrank.
"Eventually, I think we're going to play four quarters cohesively," he said. "But we've got a bunch of sophomore out there, and this is the first varsity experience for a lot of the kids."
Of course, credit for the tighter end result also belongs to scrappy Union (5-4) for continuing to believe and bang with those tall bodies despite the wide disadvantage.
Michael Roseberry led the Farmers with 10 points off the bench, and fellow senior guards Riley Flood, Ralph Brucal and Kameron McGainey each scored eight. Bradley Emilzo, a 6-1 junior guard, scored five points and pulled down 12 rebounds while covering either 6-11 Ansong or 6-8 Muntari. The 6-2 Flood also drew that tough assignment, but met the challenge stoically.
"I always say you've got to be up 10 to win by two on the road in the Watchung Division. Luckily, we were up by 20 and we won by nine," Reagan said. "If you don't play four 'A' game, you're not going to win in this conference."
That was the story the pst two seasons for Union Catholic, which finished 4-21 last season and 0-6 during the COVID-shortened 2021 schedule in 2021.
But some exciting new life came to the Vikings' by way of transfers - Winchester from J.P. Stevens and Ansong and Muntari (5 points, 8 rebounds) from Our Saviour Lutheran in the Bronx.
And although Reagan was pleased with the overall effort by all, the jelling was not an instant process with the newcomers and returning standouts Altobelli, Raheem Williams, Terrance Wood and Javon McKay.
"I feel like we're just starting to really come together. Beginning of the season, we didn't really have that full connection," Winchester said. "With our big men, we're trying to use them to the best of our ability because no one else in the county really has size like that."
That is with the definite exception of Roselle Catholic with four 6-8 stars wither already committed to or destined for Power Five college programs.
It was classic high-low basketball for Union Catholic throughout the first half, while Union struggled to keep pace with only 7-of-28 accuracy from the field, most of that from the perimeter.
Winchester connected for 10 points, Ansong chipped in with six points and eight rebounds, and Wood and Altobelli each scored five points to help the Vikings to that 32-19 lead. The play-making Altobelli, a starter as a freshman, also had three assists and a steal in those first two quarters.
"We were really disappointed with the way we played against St. Peter's Prep (62-45 loss on Saturday), so we worked hard in practice on Sunday," Reagan said. "We worked really hard on bringing the energy today. I think the kids listened and they really responded to that call. We came out pretty strong."
Winchester paced a well-balanced offense in the third quarter as UC's lead grew to 46-28. his Vikings were in front, 54-33, with 5:29 left in the game when unrelenting Union reeled off 11 straight points to cut the deficit to 10 with 2:43 to go. McGainey scored five of those points on transition layups and a free throw.
"I feel like we should have expanded the lead in the fourth quarter. I feel like we gave up way too many buckets in the fourth. But we'll work on that in practice," Winchester said. "I feel like we have to be more disciplined toward the end; hit more free throws and lock in on defense."
