Cranford Downs Plainfield In UCT

Garden State Basketball Report is spending its Saturday "Old Nieghborhood" style at the Dunn Center in Elizabeth for the Union County Tournament Quarterfinals on Saturday with wall-to-wall coverage courtesy of our partners at Wheelie Good Pierogi in Rahway.

In the opener, Cranford stepped up to the plate to take on a Watchung Conference opponent in Plainfield, who has been red hot of late.

Plainfield jumped out to a 10-0 lead behind a high flying first four minutes from 6’1” sophomore Kamai Lowery, who had the first ten points solo. Cranford began clawing its way back into the game after falling into a hole and were able to half the deficit to 12-6 at the 3:00 mark of the first. 6’6” senior Nick Amitie led the charge with 8 points in the opening quarter for the Cougars, who trailed 13-12 after the first.

Plainfield opened the quarter with a triple from freshman prospect Micah Gordon to extend the lead to 17-12, but a Cranford run powered by Amitie, who pushed himself to a dozen, gave them a 24-21 lead at the midway mark of the second quarter. Two free throws and a triple later, Cranford pushed its lead to 29-21, all behind Amitie—Who also was cleaning up the defensive glass for the Cougars.

Plainfield made a run in the third to get themselves within one possession but Amitie continued with his torried pace, pushing himself past twenty points and Cranford led 45-42 after 3.

In the fourth, the cat and mouse game continued as the teams traded baskets. 6’1” Sophomore Devin Thomas hit a pair at the 4:00 mark to cut the Cranford lead back to one possession at 52-50, but Amitie answered to restore a comfortable lead for the Cougars at 56-50 with 2:40 to go. The 6’6” senior drove the bus to the finish line as the Cougars capped a statement win and advanced to the semis with a 62-50 victory.

Amitie finished the game with an eye popping 32 points and was masterful at both ends of the floor to power the victory.