The Alternative Press

SPRINGFIELD, NJ - The New Providence boys' basketball team was defeated by Jonathan Dayton, 66-49, on Thursday.

The Pioneers were led by Tyler Curto who wracked up 17 points in the losing effort.

"We just think we can play a lot better," New Providence head coach Art Cattano said. "We had a good game against Summit last week, lost by three. They had beat us by 20 in the first game of the season, so I thought that was a good effort. I told them we have a tough stretch coming up."

The Pioneers trailed by seven points after the first quarter, 16-9. Curto had six of the Pioneers' points in the first eight minutes.

However, New Providence's offense stalled out in the second. The Pioneers managed only three points the entire quarter, a Curtis Kyzima 3-pointer from the right wing.

Defensively, the Bulldogs went on an 11-0 run to open the second quarter. Isaiah Rogers scored five points during the stretch, leading to a 33-12 halftime lead.

"We really talked about just controlling the basketball a little bit more and not necessarily shooting as fast as we did," Cattano said. "That was leading to a lot of fast breaks. You miss threes, usually you get long rebounds and they start running the floor with that."

The Pioneers cut the deficit to 17 at the start of the third quarter when Kyzima sunk two free-throws, Kyle Kroeger finished a fast-break layup and Jordan Morang hit a runner from the right block. However, after a Dayton timeout, the Bulldogs went on a 15-6 run to up their lead to 25 points after three.

In the fourth, the Pioneers rallied for 24 points, including a 10-0 run that ended with New Providence coming within 13 points. Curto scored 11 points, while Matt Romeo put up 10 in the final eight minutes, before the Bulldogs sealed the game with seven points in the final 50 seconds.

"At halftime, we talked about playing a little harder," Cattano said. "We have to play really smart and a lot harder. I thought we did a better job in the second half. Our goal was to lose by less than 20, which we did."

New Providence returns to the floor on Sunday when they face Westfield in the first round of the Union County Tournament. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at Rahway High School.