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Schools

Mitola Breaks Points Record For Gill Basketball Win

Hoffman scores 30 points and 12 rebounds for Gill St. Bernard's.

The atmosphere was tangible in Tuesday's heated playoff game. The contest was intense and physical. In the end, only one team could win this boys basketball shootout between Gill St. Bernard’s and Bridgewater-Raritan.

Gill St. Bernard’s had the last laugh.

Dominic Hoffman had a double-double with 30 points and 12 rebounds. Alex Mitola became the school’s all-time leading scorer and the Gill St. Bernard’s Knights held on to win a close one over Bridgewater-Raritan, 65-61.

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“This is a wake-up call. We’re deep into the season now, we went through our first round of conference play, and this is the second time we’ve played Bridgewater,” said Knights head coach Mergin Sina. “To tell you the truth, they should have won the game. They wanted it more, I thought we came out flat, but that’s a credit to them.”

After trailing 13-11 at the end of the first quarter to the Panthers, the Knights came alive in the second by outscoring Bridgewater-Raritan by a 24-16 margin to take a 35-29 lead into halftime. Timely rebounds and turnovers proved costly for the Panthers, who allowed the Knights to capitalize on their mistakes.

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The two teams opened up the second half pretty evenly matched, with clutch points from Hoffman and junior guard Jaren Sina countering nearly everything the Panthers were able to do on offense in the third quarter to allow themselves to hold a five-point lead heading into the final period of play.

“(Gill St. Bernard’s) is such a great team, and when you’re behind by any margin at the end of the game, they’re a tough team to trap, a tough team to foul and they’re a tough team to pressure,” said Panthers head coach Gene McAteer.

The Panthers closed the gap to within two points several times throughout the second half, but the Knights hit just enough timely shots to stay ahead. One of those shots in the game’s final seconds came from guard Alex Mitola, giving the senior the Gill St. Bernard’s all-time points record in the process.

Mitola, who had 10 points on the night and 1,765 throughout his illustrious career, was quick to deflect praise to his teammates on what has been a great season so far.

“It’s a good achievement. Individually, it’s a nice accomplishment, but my focus right now is on the state championship,” said Mitola. “We want to win as a team; this is our last year together, so that’s really what our focus is right now.”

On the other hand, Mitola’s coach was quick to praise one of his star players.

“He’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever been around,” said Sina. “He’s a tough kid; he plays hard every game, he competes, he’s a team player and I’m not surprised about that accomplishment.”

For the Panthers, senior Steve Danyluk had a team-high 21 points, while teammates Eric Murdoch and Sal Vitello added 13 and 12, respectively.

As far as the Knights are concerned, Mitola, Hoffman and the rest of the Knights’ senior class will surely figure into the team’s plans as they chase county and state championships with the conference already wrapped up.

“We’ve got to play better. We’ve got to play harder, and we’ve got to know that, right now, it’s the stretch of the season where every game is going to be a war,” said Sina. “Especially in conference play, because it’s the end and we’ve already clinched the conference, but teams don’t care. They’re trying to take the best shot at us, and normally in the second part of the season that happens.”

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