Woodbury takes S.J. Group 1 title

Jared Roberts didn't say much, but he got his message across. The Woodbury junior guard knew the momentum was swinging the other way, so he took matters into his own hands.

Roberts keyed an 11-0 run with two quick baskets and an assist that essentially pushed a five-point fourth quarter lead to 16 during Woodbury's 65-50 win over Salem in last night's South Jersey Group 1 championship game at Kingsway.

Top-seeded Woodbury (25-3) will meet Asbury Park in tomorrow's 4 p.m. state Group 1 semifinal at Robbinsville. According to school officials, this is the Thundering Herd's first sectional title since 1934. "It's about time," Roberts said.

Though the 6-foot-1 Roberts is known for suffocating opponents on defense, he scored a team-high 16 points last night. Roberts also had 16 points in the Herd's 58-47 semifinal win over Pitman. Teams have been running defenders in waves at Woodbury's leading scorer, Mark DiRugeris, who had 15 points last night, so Roberts took a more offensive mindset.

Second-seed Salem (20-8) had lost to Woodbury, 71-45, on Feb. 14, but many thought that as the defending South Jersey Group 1 champions, the Rams would fare better in the rematch. And Salem made it a game when Lamont Johnson hit a three-pointer with 5 minutes, 51 seconds left to cut Woodbury's lead to 46-41.

"I felt that if around the five-minute mark, if we were within six points, we would have a good shot," Salem coach Brad Spicer said. "They came out and punched us right back, and all of a sudden it was a blur."

And nobody hit harder in the next sequence than Roberts.

He scored consecutive baskets to begin the 11-0 run, first on a layup off his own steal and then on a drive to the basket. The run ended when Roberts fed DiRugeris, who drilled a three-pointer.

Salem 9 13 11 17 - 50

Woodbury 17 16 9 23 - 65

S: Lashan Clark 3, Lamont Johnson 3, Shaquille Brooks 7, Quayshaun Morris 3, Derrick Parsley 24, Barry Numan 10.

W: Malcolm Beale 8, Jared Roberts 16, Brian Purnell 9, Isaiah Roberts 10, Mark DiRugeris 15, Marcus Davis 4, Ben Jones 3.