High School Boys Basketball:
Washington Township Cruises Over Highland In Season Opener

Friday, December 18, 1998

By Mike Costantino
SJSports Staff Writer

The Minutemen from Washington Township began their '98-99 season at home by routing the Highland Tartans 58-20 in a varsity basketball game played on Friday night. It was a meeting between two Olympic American Division teams. The Minutemen were without senior guard Jamie Huckel.

Led by Chris Usilton who scored 22 points helped by sinking 5 three-point shots, Washington Township raced out to a 10-2 lead and was ahead 17-4 after the first quarter. Highland had trouble finding the range and started the second quarter going scoreless for the first 4 minutes. The Minutemen scored 12 consecutive points to lead 29-4, as junior guard Dave DeFrancesco ran the offense flawlessly and seemed to always find the open man. The half ended with Washington Township leading 31-6.

Neither team could hit their shots in the third quarter, as only a total of eight points were scored and the period ended with the Minutemen leading 35-10.

With a huge lead, coach Steve Selby was able to rotate several players in during the fourth quarter, and even with his team up by thirty he was still teaching till the horn sounded. A sign to his kids to continue to play hard no matter what the score.

Photos by Art Redd