The Alternative Press

CLARK, N.J. - The New Providence boys' basketball team secured its first win of the year, as they traveled to Clark on Tuesday night to beat  Arthur L. Johnson Crusaders 49-39. 

Curtis Kyzima led the Pioneers with 15 points in the victory.

Both teams showed a man-to-man defense.  New Providence utilized a press that helped it jump out to a 5-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game.  Johnson regrouped, scoring eight unanswered points. To help keep the pressure up,  New Providence substituted five new players into the game at the 3:40 mark of the first quarter. Down three with 1:20 left in the first quarter, Pioneer Mike Wilderotter hit a three pointer to tie the game at 8. 

"The press worked a lot better in this game compared to our opener," New Providence coach Art Cattano said. "We will be doing it more this year. It created turnovers and overall, I thought we defended well."

The Crusaders opened the second quarter with another layup before New Providence scored six straight points, including five from Brian Joyce, to take a slim 14-12 lead.

After a pair of Johnson foul shots evened the score, Kyzima went on a shooting spree, making three 3-point shots and two other field goals to propel New Providence to a 28-17 halftime lead. The second quarter saw the Pioneers score 20 points in total to turn its two point deficit into a sizeable eleven point lead.

The Crusaders scored the first seven points of the third quarter, as the Pioneers missed several outside shots.  The game became just a two point game at 31-29 with 4:25 left in the third quarter before New Providence's Tyler Curto  hit a key three pointer.  Johnson had a chance to cut into a seven point lead at the end of the third period, but they missed a buzzer beating three pointer.

With 2:30 left in the game, NP scored on a layup to retake an eight point lead. Given the scenario, Johnson went into foul mode to stop the clock and hope that New Providence would miss its free throws. Unfortunately, the Pioneers made 4-7 from the charity line to secure the 49-39 win.

"We took some bad shots that let the other team back into the game," Cattano said. "We became more selective with our shooting as the game progressed."

New Providence returns to the floor on Thursday when they head to Oratory Prep. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.