Phil Anastasia: Woodbury's hoops twins make an impact
An abbreviated box score is the last place to look to find the impact of twins Isiah and Jared Roberts.
Even an expanded box score - which includes steals, rebounds and assists - can't fully reflect the all-around play of the Woodbury junior guards.
"They do everything," Haddonfield coach Paul Weideman said.
The twins combined for just eight points last night. Jared scored six but also was 1 for 8 from the foul line. Isiah scored two.
But the 6-foot-1 athletes were all over the court - lifting steals, grabbing rebounds, forcing turnovers, creating tempo - as Woodbury rushed to an 81-61 victory over Haddonfield in a Colonial Conference game in the Bulldogs' gymnasium.
"I'm always telling my players there are a lot of other ways to impact a game besides scoring points," Woodbury coach Ken Avent said. "You can take a charge. You can get a steal. You can make a great pass.
"That's way the twins do. They bring a level of intensity and defensive energy to the game that fuels our team."
Woodbury is 6-0, including a 4-0 mark in the conference, and word about the Thundering Herd is starting to spread in South Jersey.
Those were impressive wins over Bishop Eustace and Eastern, and that was another one last night. All six victories have one thing in common: Nobody has yet stayed within 15 points of the Thundering Herd.
"People still are sleeping on us," Jared Roberts said. "But that's OK. We'll show up to play every night."
Haddonfield (5-2, 3-1) is a young team with four sophomores in the starting lineup. But the Bulldogs have been a power for so long in the Colonial Conference that any team that wants to establish itself has to make its mark in the Bulldogs' old gymnasium, with its sunken playing floor and swimming-pool-style seating.
"They are so tough in here," Avent said. "They shoot so good in here and they get such great fan support. It's a great atmosphere."
Woodbury got 25 points from junior forward Brian Pernell and 20 from senior guard Mark DiRugeris, who battled foul trouble. DiRugeris sat out 12 of the game's final 13 minutes.
But the Herd pulled away with DiRugeris, the team's leading scorer, on the bench.
"My brother and I just looked and each other and I was like, 'We've got to step up,' " Jared Roberts said. "We knew we had to take over."
The Roberts brothers do a little of everything: Defend, rebound, attack the basket and defend some more. They set the tone for a team that contests everything; at times, Woodbury was pressing full-court after a missed shot.
"That's the way we play," Isiah Roberts said. "We've been preparing for it all summer, doing double suicides, just running and getting in shape."
The twins spent much of the summer playing for the Dajuan Wagner Rising Stars, an AAU team out of Camden that included Camden High School star Aaron Walton-Moss and Winslow Township's Shawn Valentine.
Their improvement, along with Avent's impact as a first-year coach who has his team playing with palpable intensity, has turned the Thundering Herd into the team to beat in the Colonial Conference's Patriot Division as well as a strong contender for the South Jersey Group 1 title.
The abbreviated boxscore doesn't show much of an impact by the twins.
Anyone in the gym last night knows better.
"I don't care if I never score," Isiah Roberts said. "As long as we win."
Woodbury 13 24 21 23 - 81
Haddonfield 14 17 14 16 - 61
W: Mark DiRugeris 20, Jared Roberts 6, Isiah Roberts 2, Mark Pernell 25, Malcolm Beale 9, Marcus Davis 14, Ben Jones 3, Petrose 2.
H: Wyatt Polk 18, Mike Steinberger 17, Chis Davis 6, Peter Bell 8, Anthony Parenti 6, Alex Reinicker 2, Mark Griffin 2, Julis Bzozowski 2.
Contact staff writer Phil Anastasia at 856-779-3223 or panastasia@phillynews.com
Contact staff writer Phil Anastasia at 856-779-3223 or panastasia@phillynews.com










