Lenape uses defense to get past Woodbury

Heading into the playoffs, the Lenape boys' basketball team was hoping to reverse a recent trend of losing close games to quality teams.

That's why last night's 58-41 win over host Woodbury could be the game that enables Lenape to revert to its early-season form.

Ranked No. 10 in South Jersey by The Inquirer, Lenape (17-8) entered the game having lost seven of its previous 11 contests.

Of those seven losses, five were by five or fewer points, and the last two were overtime defeats.

"We needed a win like this," said Lenape coach Chuck Guittar, whose team closes its regular season tonight at home in a makeup game with Timber Creek.

That the win came against the No. 6 Thundering Herd (22-2) made the victory even more important.

Woobury competes in Group 1 but has received Group 4 respect. The Thundering Herd has beaten defending South Jersey Group 3 champion Timber Creek and owns a win over an Eastern team that won the Olympic Conference American Division, a place where Lenape resides.

"We're supposed to be the little guy, but teams are coming after us like we are a Group 4 school," Woodbury coach Ken Avent said. "This was a good game for us, and we realize how much work we have to do."

Lenape led, 32-21, at the half and then scored the first 12 points of the third quarter. The closest Woodbury got was nine points with slightly more than five minutes left in the game.

In winning, Lenape used a similar formula that enabled the Indians to win 12 of their first 13 games this season.

"We went back to the basics, which is defending and making good decisions," Guittar said.

Woodbury likely won't see a defensive team like Lenape in the postseason. The 41 points was a season low, with the previous low 61.

"They are a great defensive team," Avent said.

While the defense was strong, Woodbury missed several open shots and a number of chippies near the basket. Leading scorer Mark DiRugeris had a game-high 17 points, but the senior guard, who is among the best players in South Jersey, shot 4 for 19 from the field.

As usual, Lenape had a balanced scoring attack, with five players scoring between nine and 11 points. Junior guard Phil Jackson came off the bench to score 11, while point guard Mike Celestin had 10 points and did a nice job running the offense against a Woodbury team that can turn up the heat defensively.

"We knew how good Woobury is, and figured we could make a statement if we won," Celestin said.

The statement is that the Indians figure to make life miserable for Group 4 teams.

Lenape 17 15 12 14 - 58

Woodbury 10 11 4 16 - 41

L: Mike Celestin 10, Phil Jackson 11, Kendall Peters 10, Ryan Lavell 4, Pete Dinich 9, Isiah Dixon 10, Kevin Cunningham 4.

W: Malcolm Beale 8, Jared Roerts 5, Brian Purnell 7, Anthony Blackwell 3, Mark DiRugeris 17, Marcus Davis 1.