SPRINGFIELD, NJ — Following a rough season-opener where they were defeated by 30 by division rival Abraham Clark High School in Roselle, the Jonathan Dayton High School Bulldogs were not about to let that happen again in their home-opener against arch rival David Brearley High School.
Before you knew it, a 7-0 lead blossomed to 15-2, in large part to a run sparked by a tenacious full-court defense that produced almost as many steals as points scored.
Jonathan Dayton led by 14 at the end of the first eight minutes. The Bulldogs were up by 18 at the break.
Jonathan Dayton didn’t let up at all in the third quarter, winning the period 25-14.
When sophomore Chris Ramirez dazzled the home crowd with a somewhat-reverse layup with a minute to go he provided Jonathan Dayton with its biggest lead of 35 points.
That turned out to be the final margin of victory. That was the dominating difference.
Jonathan Dayton rolled to a decisive 67-32 Union County Conference-Valley Division boys basketball victory against 2-0 David Brearley on Saturday, Dec. 20, evening its record at 1-1.
The Bulldogs, after opening with a 68-38 loss at Abraham Clark on Thursday, Dec. 18, felt a lot better about basketball once the final buzzer sounded on Saturday, Dec. 20.
“We started slow in our first game, so we put in a lot of work to play much faster this time,” said Jonathan Dayton junior forward Adrian Bernknopf, who led all scorers with 18 points. “We wanted to play at our pace, much faster.”
Senior forward Nick Perez was next in scoring with 14 points, filling the hoop from inside and out.
“We wanted to go strong to the basket,” Perez said. “We wanted to work the middle and find an open spot.”
Following one of many steals the Bulldogs produced in the first quarter, Perez scored inside and was fouled. He made the ensuing free throw to give Jonathan Dayton its first 10-point lead of 12-2.
“We weren’t mentally locked in against Roselle,” Perez said. “Against Brearley, we wanted to get out quickly and run our plays. This time, we got to our spots. It was our home-opener and against a rival team and we wanted to play much better than we showed (in) our first game.”
Two free throws by senior guard Danny Perez, who finished with 12 points, gave Jonathan Dayton a 40-18 advantage midway through the third quarter.
Later in the third, senior guard Patrick Ferguson connected on his only field goal of the game to give the Bulldogs a lead of 29 for the third time.
“We had a good practice after our first game and came out here and protected our home court,” said first-year Jonathan Dayton head coach Joe Pulice, who won his first game and initial home contest at Jonathan Dayton after taking over for Bobby Martin, who retired from coaching basketball. Pulice, who has been coaching for more than 10 years, was previously an assistant coach at Millburn High School with head coach Rodger Blind and at Jonathan Dayton with Martin.
“We set the tone with our style of play, with our speed and finished at the basket,” Pulice said. “Our man defense dictated the turnovers. Our emphasis was to limit them to one shot and to clean up the boards on offense and defense.”
Senior guard Tyler Zawacki paced David Brearley in scoring 11 points, as he was the only Bears player to reach double-digits. Sophomore forward John Beronio, who finished with six points, scored David Brearley’s first basket, following Jonathan Dayton’s quick 7-0 start.
Notes: Jonathan Dayton was scheduled to face Hackettstown High School on Saturday, Dec. 27, in a holiday tournament game at home and then host another tournament contest on Monday, Dec. 29.
The Bulldogs begin January with a home game on Tuesday, Jan. 6, at 7 p.m., vs. Governor Livingston High School.
Union County Conference–Valley Division Boys Basketball
David Brearley (2-1, 1-1) 06 08 14 04 – 32
Jonathan Dayton (1-1, 1-1) 20 12 25 10 – 67
David Brearley Bears (32):
3-Brody Zawacki, senior, 0-0-2-2
5-Tyler Zawacki, senior, 2-1-4-11
12-Ryan Nelson, sophomore, 0-1-0-3
21-Greg Scalise, senior, 2-0-0-4
24-Mateo Cruz, freshman, 0-0-1-10
25-Josiah Bilewu, junior, 2-0-1-5
45-John Beronio, sophomore, 2-0-2-6
Starters: B. Zawacki, T. Zawacki, Scalise, Cruz, Beronio.
Totals: 8-2-10-32.
Jonathan Dayton Bulldogs (67):
2-Chris Ramirez, sophomore, 2-1-0-7
3-Patrick Ferguson, senior, 1-0-0-2
12-Danny Perez, senior, 2-2-2-12
15-Adrian Bernknopf, junior, 6-1-3-18
21-Nolan Mohabir, senior, 1-0-0-2
22-Nick Perez, senior, 6-0-2-14
24-Jalen Waldron, senior, 3-0-0-6
30-Ryan Drennan, senior, 0-0-2-2
5-Joshua Gordon, senior, 2-0-0-5
Starters: D. Perez, N. Perez, Bernknopf, Waldron, Gordon.
Totals: 23-4-9-67.
Photos by JR Parachini
