High School Boys Basketball:
Lenape "Embarrassed" By Cherokee

Thursday, February 11, 1999

By Steve Robbins
SJSports Student Correspondent

The Cherokee Chiefs beat the struggling Lenape Indians Thursday night, 53-32. The Indians defeated the Chiefs earlier in the season, in a double-overtime barn-burner, but it was a very different story in Marlton on Thursday. Cherokee dominated the boards and held Lenape's star senior, Chris Hall, to just 8 points, 13 below his season average. Offensively frustrated, Lenape didn't score double-digits in a quarter throughout the game.

Cherokee didn't waste any time getting physical with Lenape. In the first quarter, it was evident that Cherokee's height advantage would play a major role in the game as Ryan Hewitt, who finished with twelve points, grabbed four rebounds for Cherokee. Hewitt forced Lenape to double team him, which opened up scoring opportunities for Cherokee's senior guard, Doug Cusack, who had two three pointers and finished with 12 points also. Lenape's only chance to contend was to follow Hall's lead, but that failed when Lenape's coach, Kevin Kelly, had to bench Hall for getting a technical foul in the second quarter for arguing with a referee. Cherokee lead at the half, 28-17.

The Chiefs pulled away in the second half by continuing to out-muscle Lenape's post players, senior Craig Vogt and sophomore, Chris Unger. The half was filled with savvy defense by Cherokee and slow-tempo offenses. The bright spot of the half, and perhaps the game, is when Cherokee guard, Jamal Williams, went the length of the court and scored a spectacular lay-up while getting fouled. Before the crowd knew it, the game was over. The high scorers for Cherokee were Cusack and Hewitt, with twelve each. Hall lead Lenape with eight, while sophomore Jim Gooding followed him with six.

When asked about the game, Vogt had this to say, "We were flat-out embarrassed. We beat them before, and we were just out-hustled and out-played Thursday."