Loss could serve as a wake-up call for Lancers
BY WARREN RAPPLEYEA
Staff Writer

Following its loss in the Shore Conference Tournament on Saturday, the St. John Vianney High School team has plenty of time to recover before it opens the NJSIAA Parochial A tourney on March 1.

Time off, however, may not be the remedy. The Lancers had a week off before meeting Shore Regional in the first round of the conference tourney. Ninth-seeded Shore, playing at eighth-seeded SJV, slowed the pace, owned the boards and came away with a 33-32 victory.

The Lancers went 0 for the first quarter and never recovered. Uncharacteristically, the Lancers shot just 1-for-32 from three-point range and just could not seem to get going. Mike Spinelli led SJV with 12 points and Eric Johannsen and Tony Ganter added eight points apiece.

"You're going to have nights when you're not shooting well, but I thought we were out-hustled," SJV coach David Emery said. "As bad as we played, we were still in a position to win. But I told our guys that the team that deserved to win the game won the game."

Emery also noted that the game was something of an anomaly.

"When you play like that, and it happens to everyone at some time, the best thing you can do is forget about it," he said.

Fortunately, SJV has two games remaining prior to the state tourney opener: this afternoon at Brick and Saturday at home against Lakewood. The Lancers will meet the winner of the RBC-CBA game, which is scheduled for Feb. 27 at CBA.

"We're still going to have five days off between the Lakewood game and the start of the tournament and I'm a little concerned about that, but we're going to hit the gym and work hard," Emery said.

On the heels of a 23-5 season, SJV entered the current campaign with just two starters back: co-captains Johannesen and Spinelli. The Lancers got out of the gate with a 13-2 start and are 16-7 overall. Emery's team won its Bayshore Holiday Tournament, winning the finale against Shore.

Johannesen leads the team in scoring with an 18.2 points-per-game average and his 75 three-pointers also tops the team. Spinelli, who averaged six points a year ago, has stepped it up and is averaging 14.2 points. Johannesen, Spinelli and guards Billy Facchino, a hard-nosed defender, and Billy Riordan have started all 24 games. Guards Ganter, Dennis McNamara and Carl Durand are splitting time in the fifth spot.

"If you said at the beginning of the season that we'd be 16-7 and have a bye for the first round of the Shore and state tournaments, we'd be very happy, and we are," Emery said. "Our fast start made everyone think we were a dominant team, but we were winning because we were doing the little things well.

"We got away from that for a few games, but that just showed everyone what it takes to win."

The Lancers' style of play is built around speed and tenacious defense. While SJV can go inside, their bread-and-butter is the jump shot and they don't hesitate to shoot the three.

"It's about intensity, that's what it takes," Emery said. "We were disappointed about the loss to Shore and I know the guys really want to make up for it, and they'll have their chance."