UC boys basketball team opens season with hard-fought win over Linden
The Union Catholic boys basketball team, ranked No. 4 in the state, rallied from a late deficit by using lock down defense and hitting several clutch free throws down the stretch to defeat Linden, 53-45, in a good old fashioned Union County clash on Wednesday night at Louis J. Peragallo Gym ay Johnson High School in Clark.
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The Vikings, who won their first Union County Championship last year, saw a double digit lead vanish when Linden took a one point lead with 3:03 to play n the game.,
But after struggling through an 1-for-15 shooting slump, UC responded by closing out the game on an 11-2 run to secure the hard-fought victory, just its second win ever against Linden.
Seniors FK Muntari, Yaw Ansong and AJ Altobelli keyed the late run by sinking crucial free throws.
Muntari, who finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds, gave the Vikings the lead for good at 44-43 off a dish-and-drive under the basket by Altobelli with 2:32 to play. Altobelli and Ansong each finished with 10 points for UC and freshmen Malik Moore had a strong debut for the Vikings, scoring 11 points.
UC coach Jim Reagan Jr. said he was proud of how his team played down the stretch to beat a great team.
I'm really happy with the resiliency of our bunch - going down by one point and then coming right back and getting the win," Reagan said. 'We have guys on the court who have won and know how to win these kinds of games. I think they stuck with their roles and got it done.''
