Prep, Roberts hold off High Tech

Ronald Roberts St. Peter's Prep

Ronald Roberts (5) had 30 points and 15 rebounds for the Marauders last night.

Click Here for photos from High Tech at St. Peter's Prep.

By Jason Bernstein
Editorial Director

JERSEY CITY – For the past two seasons the bulls-eye has been placed squarely on the back of St. Peter's Prep. After a landmark victory over legendary Oak Hill Academy that target has continued to grow even larger.

Less than 72 hours after that signature win, the Marauders found themselves with another challenge, this time from a motivated High Tech team. Prep was given a scare for three quarters, but in the end it proved to be too much Ronald Roberts and Myles Davis in a 90-72 victory last night at The Barn.

“That team scraps like heck,” St. Peter’s coach Mike Kelly said. “They really made us raise our level. We weren’t going to get by playing soft tonight. When you come off a game like Oak Hill, the next game is a problem and they made it a big problem because of who they are.”

“We have to come out with a chip on our shoulder every game and we can’t come out less (energized) than any other team because they’re coming out for us,” said Roberts

In a game that had been defined by outside shooting, it was the interior presence of Roberts who took control of the game in the second half. The St. John’s-bound forward scored 15 of his game-high 30 points in a seven-minute span. He also pulled down 15 rebounds.

“I was just telling myself ‘these guys are too little for me,’” Roberts said. “I just put that in my head.

“I felt it was time to take over. The score was too close. So I was just telling my teammates to give me the ball and it worked out.”

Nine of his points came in the fourth quarter when the Marauders (17-3) finally started to pull away. Roberts had the final three points in an 18-6 Prep run to expand its lead to 21 points.

“We don’t have anyone as big as Ron, or as athletic or can get on the glass (like that),” High Tech coach Steve Ricciardi said. “There were a couple of plays where the ball should have went out of bounds, but he just goes up and saves it. He’s that athletic and he finishes around the rim.”

Up until that run by Roberts and Prep, the Lasercats (17-6) were in striking distance and poised for an upset.

Already owners of a win of a state-ranked team (a 69-63 win over Paterson Kennedy on Jan. 18), High Tech wasn’t intimidated by the challenge of playing New Jersey’s No. 4-ranked team.

“We knew we were playing a good team and that we were probably going to lose,” guard Kari Williams said. “We just came here to have fun and play hard. We knew we could rock with them.

“We had nothing to lose so we just went all out.”

The lack of nerves was apparent from the outset with Dmitri Pearson’s 3-pointer on the team’s opening possession. Behind the hot shooting of Pearson (eight first-quarter points) and Williams (10 first-quarter points), the Lasercats connected on five 3-pointers in the opening period and seven in the first half.

“They’re a tough matchup,” Kelly said. “When they’re hitting the 3-ball, they can beat anybody in the county. I thought they shot the ball very well for three quarters.”

As hot as High Tech was, Davis matched them shot-for-shot. Prep’s junior sniper continued his torrid pace, scoring 11 points in that opening quarter and had four first-half 3-pointers.

Davis would finish with 29 points on six 3-pointers to give him 111 points and 24 treys over his past four games. He also had 11 rebounds in the win.

The Marauders seemed poised to put the Lasercats away as a quick trifecta from Davis and a Roberts layup increased the lead to 10. Yet High Tech would not bow out easily as Derek Sierra responded with a pair of 3-pointers to help cut the deficit back down to two.

“I think we’ve played enough teams that are ranked that we’re not going to be intimidated by that,” said Ricciardi, admitting he had thrown his team out of practice the previous two days. “Obviously by their effort and how hard they played they weren’t intimidated by them. But by the same token, we didn’t play smart.”

Sierra would hit a trio of 3-pointers in the second half to finish with 11 points. He was one of five Lasercats to score in double figures. Williams led the way with 17 points, eight steals and six rebounds in an electrifying performance.

“He is as tough as nails,” Kelly said. “That kid is just a dynamite kid to have on your team.”

Pearson and Kevin Baez scored 12 points apiece and Xavier Corporan added 10 points in defeat.

Stephon Whyatt had 10 points and Chase Fluellen added nine points, eight rebounds and five steals as both provided big performances off the bench for the Marauders.

High Tech could get another chance at Prep in the semifinals of the Hudson County Tournament with a win over Bayonne and a Marauder victory over Union City this weekend.

Kari Williams High Tech

Kari Williams scored 10 of his team-high 17 points in the first quarter for High Tech.

	1	2	3	4	Total
High Tech Lasercats (17-6)	25	18	16	13	72
St. Peter's Prep Marauders (17-3)	26	22	19	23	90

High Tech

St. Peter's Prep

	2s	3s	1s	Pts
Kevin Baez	4	1	1	12
John Greenwald	1	0	4	6
Dmitri Pearson	2	1	3	10
Derek Sierra	1	3	0	11
Kari Williams	3	3	2	17
Xavier Corporan	2	1	3	10
William Ventura	0	0	0	0
Danny Infante	0	0	0	0
Dwight Mathis	2	0	0	4
Total	14	10	14	72

	2s	3s	1s	Pts
Kevin Walker	0	0	2	2
J.J. Hladik	1	1	0	5
Ronald Roberts	10	0	10	30
Myles Davis	2	6	7	29
Keith Lumpkin	1	0	0	2
Stephon Whyatt	1	2	2	10
Sequan Jackson	0	0	1	1
Tre Bell	0	0	0	0
James Calabrese	0	0	0	0
Chase Fluellen	4	0	1	9
Jordan Arthur	1	0	0	2
Total	20	9	23	90

High Tech: Williams 8 steals, 6 rebounds; Baez 7 rebounds, 6 assists; Pearson 6 rebounds; Greenwald 5 rebounds; Corporan 4 steals. St. Peter’s Prep: Roberts 15 rebounds; Davis 11 rebounds; Fluellen 8 rebounds, 5 steals; Hladik 5 rebounds; Lumpkin 5 rebounds.