| Player | SHOTS | FG | 3PT | FTA | FTM | POINTS | REBs | | Wellington Smith | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 8 | | Dwayne Reid | 15 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 | | Tony Johnson | 8 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 3 | | Alex Sprinzen | 9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | | Dwight Reid | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | | Chris Dean | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | | John Alpizar | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Steve Bariexca | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Game Totals | 47 | 16 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 46 | 32 |
The atmosphere was electric, our reduced capacity stands were jammed, 100 to 200 fans filled every square foot of standing space, and a large and boisterous group of students from both schools filled opposite ends of the stands. It was as if the game was for the state championship, high school basketball at its best. Summit employed its tough defense to hold Mendham to 7 points in the 1st quarter but only managed 9 itself. The lead grew steadily as Summit held Mendham to single digits in each of the first 3 quarters. Entering the final 8 minutes Summit had an 11 point lead. Against many other teams this would have been a comfortable lead but everyone knew that Mendham would never give up. Mendham's Leondarelli got hot and drilled a pair of 3-pointers to make it a 6 point game with about 4 minutes left. Wellington Smith and Alex Sprinzen answered with a pair of Field Goals to rebuild a 10 point lead with 2:30 on the clock. Mendham came through with another Leonardelli 3-pointer and 3 free throws and suddenly the lead was cut to four at the 1:30 mark. Dwight Reid hit the front end of a 1-and-1 but two more free throws by Mendham made the score 44-41. With 4 seconds left Tony Johnson calmly drained a pair of free throws to insure the victory. What a night!
This game was very important for two reason. It was the last game before the cutoff date for seeding the state tournament and Summit goes into the seeding with a fine 11-3 record. What's even more important, it moved Summit to within one game of Mendham in the chase for the Conference Championship.
Wellington Smith had a big night with 13 points and 8 rebounds. Chris Dean also pulled down 8 rebounds. Leonardelli led Mendham with 16 points.
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