High School Basketball: Deptford Knocks Off Top Seeded Pemberton Thursday, March 2, 2006 By Jerome Michaels SJSports Special Correspondent The race to the group finals just got a bit interesting. On one side of the bracket, the Panthers from Camden had knocked off the number two seed in Highland. When the Spartans from Deptford traveled to Pemberton in search of an upset over the number one seeded team, it would take a sound performance by the so called underdog in this game to come up with the win. Rickie Crews was up for the challenge as he would lead Deptford’s recovery from an early deficit and then regain their lead down to stretch. The Spartans would post a 59-56 victory to knock off the top seed in a South Jersey Group 3 game played at Pemberton. The eighth ranked Spartans would advance to the next round after defeating Ocean City on their home court. That victory gave them a chance to matchup with the number one seed who were rewarded a bye during the first round. Pemberton would jump out to a three point lead after one quarter, but Crews would ignite a run that put Deptford ahead 32-28 at the break. Aigner Green (14 points) and Nate Boyd (11 points) both came up big when the Hornets were trying to slow down Crews who was on a mission. Pemberton would regain the lead briefly during the opening moments of the fourth quarter, but Deptford would find a way to regain the lead and hold of the Hornets. Crews finished the game with 31 points for Deptford. Emory Lester finished the game with 14 points, Stacey Jett added 11 and Terrance Johnson chipped in 10 points for Pemberton. Photos by Mark Fletcher