JFK boys fall to Bishop Ahr on the hardwood
BY SHAWN LAYTON Staff Writer
The John F. Kennedy High School boys basketball teamfell to 4-4 on the year after a 61-42 loss to BishopAhr. Led by Derek Figueredo's 23 points and 12 points fromMikeWilliamson, BishopAhr improved to 6-1 on the season.

"We committed a lot of turnovers and careless stuff, and Bishop Ahr took advantage of it, as good teams will do," Kennedy head coachChrisBanos said. "We didn't play our best and were down 11 points with the ball in the fourth quarter before things unraveled. The final score was a littlemisleading, but make no mistake, Bishop Ahr is a very good team. They bring a balanced attack and don't need to rely on one guy to do their scoring."

Previous to the Bishop Ahr matchup, Kennedy won its fourth game of the season in an overtime thriller against Spotswood. Both teams played at a high level and changed leads throughout the contest.After Kennedy held a slim 14-12 lead at the close of the first quarter, Spotswood reversed the tables as the teams entered the half tied at 26.

"Both teams played extremely hard," Banos said. "Spotswood is a tough place to play in for visiting teams, and I was very happy with the way our guys handled that additional pressure."

Led by a 10-point performance from Roman in the third quarter, Kennedy took a slim four-point lead heading into the final quarter.As the two teams did all game up to this point, the score was once again flipflopped, with Spotswood outscoringKennedy 16-12 in the fourth to send the game into overtime.

With the outcome hanging in the balance, Kennedy's Jonathan Ticzynski sank one fromthe foul line to put theMustangs up two in the closing seconds of overtime. In a crucial defensive play, Kennedy's Brian Reilly erased a Spotswood basket when he took a charge. Spotswood head coach Steve Mate didn't like the call, and the ensuing technical foul call putMarciano on the line, where he converted both attempts to give theMustangs a 66-62 victory.

"Our ability to win the game on the foul line was especially impressive, considering foul shootingwas ourAchilles'heal earlier in the season," Banos said. "We had some poor performances from the stripe. A 15-for-27 game and a 4-for-12 game against Edison."

The Mustangs will look to rebound from the loss to BishopAhrwhen the schedule resumes this week with a 7 p.m. home game against visiting SouthRiver tomorrownight.