The boys basketball team had a great bounce-back game in their rivalry matchup against the Hawks on Wednesday, January 15.
The Edison boys basketball team, which up to that point had 5 wins and 5 losses, faced off against a JP Stevens team that had opened the season with twelve straight losses. Going into the rivalry matchup, Edison was looking to rebound off of a 67-44 loss against North Brunswick. By the second quarter, the Eagles ended up taking a lead against the Hawks of 8, one that was maintained throughout the game. Edison ended up winning 53-45.
Dheeraj Samparaboyina ‘26 scored a team-high 19 points and was a crucial part of Edison’s victory. Samparaboyina was also potent on the defensive end, getting 5 steals. Dedrick Harvey ‘25 also had a great two-way game. Harvey scored a season-high 13 points and was the second-highest-scoring Eagle. Harvey also put up a game-high and career-best of 8 steals, an important defensive performance that contributed to restricting the Hawks to 45 points. Vibert Reynolds ‘27 also had a strong performance, filling up the stat sheet with a double-double. Reynolds put up a career-high 11 points along with a team and career-high of 10 rebounds. Moreover, Reynolds attained 5 steals, another career high for him.
In general, the Eagles bested the Hawks in numerous statistics. Most prominent was the Eagles’ ability to draw fouls and get to the free-throw line, as they attempted 17 free throws and were able to make 13 of them. This was in sharp contrast to the Hawks, who were only able to get to the free-throw line 7 times and made 5 out of those 7 attempts. These free throws were a deciding factor between the two teams as they both had an equal 18 total free throws made.
The win was aided by the team’s great perimeter defense. As a result of the defensive contributions by Samparaboyina and Harvey, Edison was able to force a lot of turnovers. Edison got 18 steals, three times more than the Hawks who had only 6 steals. Kerem Ozdemir ‘25 of JP had a strong performance with 20 points and 13 rebounds, but the Eagles were able to effectively contain the rest of the Hawks team, restricting them to just 25 total points combined.
“The JP game is always a game we circle on the schedule. It has always been a fierce rivalry and both teams want to win for bragging rights,” said Head Coach Mr. Charles Mohr. “We were very excited for the game and we played well. We will play them again later in the season at JP.”
This game marks the second year in a row that Edison won their rivalry matchup against the Hawks. Edison and JP will play again in the penultimate game of the regular season on February 5.
Edison moves to a record of 6-5. The Eagles look to further build on this rivalry matchup victory in its following games in order to remain a top team in the GMC blue division.
