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In the first boys' basketball tip off of the year for Pompton Lakes and Butler, the Cardinals pulled away after a sluggish start to win at home by seventeen points. Pompton Lakes shook off the disappointment of having its opening night game snowed out and took care of business in this non-league game.
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In the first minutes of the game, both teams had sports jitters and that resulted in sloppy play with a lot of errant shots and a lot of turnovers. But the Cardinals pulled ahead in the second quarter and never gave up the lead.
Pompton Lakes was led in scoring by Tim Kirk, who tallied 15, and Chris Mosley, who scored 12 with outstanding outside shooting. The Cardinals settled down in the second half and played up-tempo offense, passing the basketball around well and executing their plays.
Butler hung tough in the first half, led by Charles Grippenburg who was really quick to the driving to the basket. In the second half the Bulldogs made a run by going inside to Jeff Adubato. They cut the lead to three points but could not keep up with the Cardinals over the final minutes.
With a 25-game losing streak, Butler first-year coach Jon Simoneau has his work cut out for him, and is working hard to get the players to play hard and execute so they can be more competitive and start in a winning direction.
As for the Cardinals, coach Mike McCarthy was pleased at how his basketball team pulled together after the rough start. He looks forward to Monday's makeup game against Midland Park as Pompton Lakes looks to go 2-0, which would give the Cards a leg up on their goal of reaching the state playoffs. -- Rob Donohue for Jersey Sports Now
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