JCC faces Career Connections in 2nd round of GPIBL after trouncing NUP
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JCC faces Career Connections in 2nd round of GPIBL after trouncing NUP

By Zachary Weiss February 20, 2009, 10:22 pm 0 Edit

The two-time defending champion JCC boy’s basketball team trounced Northside Urban Pathways (NUP) 77-42 in the first round of Greater Pittsburgh Independent Basketball League (GPIBL).
Leading the way for the JCC in scoring was Andrew Goleman with 19 points and Eric Levine with 18 points. NUP’s leading scorer has 17 points.
Addressing the win, JCC head coach Andy Pakler said, “It means a lot, but it is only one game. I think we’re climbing the mountain that we want to climb, and I think we are getting to where we want to be. The kids are all peaking at the right time and they all seem to be playing well.”
The first quarter set the tone of the game and resulted in what would turn out to be a high scoring affair. Goleman drilled two three-point shots in the early stages of the quarter. However, when a player from NUP was fouled, Josh Grollman came in for Goleman and immediately made his presence known by making a two point shot.
“A three point shooter needs to get a break every now and again, and I wanted to give Josh a couple of minutes. It was important that we got everyone involved in our rotation. Goleman came back in, and hit a bunch of threes, and it worked out perfectly,” said Pakler.
At the end of the quarter, the JCC had a 19-13 lead.
The second quarter allowed the JCC to pull away, as Goleman drilled more three-pointers, and Arron Critchfield scored five consecutive points in the quarter.
“We really were pushing in transition and didn’t hesitate to shoot. We also continued buckling down on defense, limiting their shot selection,” said Stephen Canton.
At halftime, the JCC was leading NUP by a score of 37-23.
The third quarter proved to be a frustrating one for NUP, as they continually fouled JCC players and were frequently called for traveling.
In addition to frustrating NUP, the JCC made some key transitions in the second half, “the key phrase that we used, was ‘play through the game’. So we didn’t play the first half, don’t play the second half, play the entire game all the way through and give it maximum effort the whole time, and that’s what we did,” said Pakler.
At the end of the quarter, the JCC extended its lead to 60-32.
The fourth quarter was a relatively relaxed one for the JCC, as the team continued to control the game. Eric Levine score 8 of his 18 points in the quarter and drew some praise from Pakler.
“Eric finally put it all together today. He’s missed some games and missed some practices, but he’s been to practice the last couple of weeks, and he’s really worked hard and finally put it all together,” said Pakler.
The game ended with the JCC coming out on top 77-42. With the win, the JCC will move on to the second round of GPIBL play when they face off at Career Connections. A date and time have yet to be determined.

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