Stockton coach Gerry Matthews sidelined after appendix ruptures
The Richard Stockton College men’s basketball team will be playing its biggest game of the regular season without head coach Gerry Matthews.
Matthews, 69, is recovering from a ruptured appendix that occurred last Thursday, Stockton’s sports information director Chris Rollman said.
Assistant coach Scott Bittner, a 1990 St. Augustine Prep graduate, has taken over the head coaching duties in Matthews’ absence.
Wednesday’s game against Kean University (8 p.m.) will be the second with Bittner at the helm. The Ospreys defeated Rowan 86-72 on Saturday.
Tomorrow’s regular-season finale will decide first place in the New Jersey Athletic Conference South Division, which has a first-round bye on the line. Kean is 17-7 with a 9-3 conference record. Stockton is 16-8 and 8-4 in the conferene. If the Ospreys win, they would earn the tiebreak with a better division record.
“It doesn’t feel much different,” Bittner said. “I’ve always been involved. If I wasn’t prepared as well as I am then maybe I would be nervous.”
Matthews is one of the top 20 active Division III coaches in winning. He has a 492-205 career record.
The Stockton women play Kean at 6 p.m. The women have already clinched second place in the South division. Kean is the No. 6 team in the country as ranked by D3hoops.com.
