By Evelyn Fisher
CCC Journalism Program
SEWELL – It was the game opener Nov. 10 between men’s basketball rivals Gloucester County College and Camden County College.
Nerves were high, but the Cougars managed to get the ball first but shortly turned over the ball letting the Roadrunners put the first six points on the board. After minutes of playing without putting anything on the scoreboard John Chesmond put the first three points up for the Cougars. With a frustrated Head Coach Lou Abbattista pacing back and forth, after minutes went by with both teams fighting for the ball, the ball almost went out of bounds when Josh Quinones of the Roadrunners saved the ball and kept it in motion.
Kenny Garrett made the first three pointer of the night for the Cougars. After scuffling for the ball after a rebound, Garrett blocked the shot of Will Sanchez of the Roadrunners and put the ball back in the Cougars’ hands. With nine minutes left in the first half, both coaches were showing a little more emotion about the way their teams were performing.
By the second half the Roadrunners were having traveling problems, and after a dry spell on the scoreboard Chesmond put up points for Camden County. What got the crowd’s spirit back up was when Will Sanchez of Gloucester County dunked and the crowd got a little excited.
Gloucester County won the game, 70-56.
The performanes of several players stood out during this game – Chesmond and Garrett of Camden County and Quinones and Trae Summiel of Gloucester County.
As to whether Abbattista thought the game was going to turn out the way it did, he replied, “we played better in the second half of the game, the key was it was our first game.”
Garret was the surprise player of the game. He had nine points in the second half. “They didn’t take the execution from practice and apply it to the game,” Abbattista said.
Gloucester County’s Chris Martin said, “it’s our third game, I feel good about it, because we lost the first two and it’s an important region game, Josh was a key player and Trae Summiel played defensively and had nice buckets.”