Wall Boys Basketball Clinches Central Jersey Group III Sectional Title

(Above) The view of the court during a timeout in the first half.

By: Ryan Sy
    The sign “sold out!” read outside of the door minutes after tip off in the Group III Sectional Championship game with thousands inside of the Wall High School gymnasium to watch a game that ended up being decided in the last few minutes.
    For the first time since 1973, the Wall boys basketball team clinched the Central Jersey Group III title in a 53-47 win against Burlington Township on Tues., March 5, in the Wall High School gym for the first time in its history.
   “The key to winning was our rebounding. We limited them to very few second-chance shots,” Wall High School Basketball Coach Mr. Robert Klatt said. “I think the turning point of the game was when (junior) Quinn Calabrese got a layup on a fast break then (junior) Michael Caputo took the charge.”
   That proved to be a very important part of the game because it changed the momentum. After the charge, the Burlington point guard, senior Marcus Moore, started to argue with his coach about what play to run. This proved to be a point in the game where the pressure started to mount along with the noise of the Wall High School student section creating for a discombobulated last few minutes for Burlington. And the frustration of falling apart in last few minutes boiled over when a Burlington player knocked over Calabrese with 5 seconds left in the game and a technical foul was called.
    Wall was able to set the tone in the first half getting out to a 26-19 advantage at halftime. In the third quarter, however, Wall was trailing by one point.
     The team rallied to win the game in the fourth behind the thousands of fan within the stands of the Wall High School.
     “We accomplished two of our goals in winning the section and the division, which was awesome,” sophomore Patrick Lacey said. “As a team we’re trying to improve on all parts of our game and just get better for next year so we can be the best version of ourselves.”
    This Knights’ team will forever be remembered for this season and will forever hang on the banners in the Wall High School gymnasium. 

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