Eagles soar into playoffs

In the 2004-2005 season, Middletown South went 0-21. Last year, their record was 3-18. This year, they are headed to the NJSIAA Tournament because of a 49-35 win over Raritan Saturday afternoon.

South held only a 17-16 lead going into half-time, but outscored Raritan 18-7 in the third, in part to a crazy ending to the quarter. Kyle Cancilleri blocked a Rocket layup, Mike Roura picked the ball up and pushed up the floor, then passed it off to Jack Provine, who hit a three as time expired.

There was a scary moment at the begining of the fourth quarter when Kyle Cancilleri was fouled hard by Brian England, and smacked his head against the floor but was able to get up after a few moments. Brian Dudzinski got into a shoving match with England and both got a technical foul. At the end of the play, England was given both a foul and a technical, while Dudzinski received just the technical.

Middletown South Trainer Stacy White said after the game, "Kyle's OK. We just held him out for precautionary reasons."

The game continued, and the Eagles were able to keep a comfortable lead all the way until the end. Garret Thiel had a game-high 16 points for South. Mike Roura had one of his best all-around games of the season, scoring 10 and securing 4 rebounds. The Rocket's leading scorer was Will Atkinson with 11.

While the Eagles have secured a spot in the state tournament, there are still 3 games until the cut-off for the Shore Conference Tournament and they have to win at least two of them.