February
2, 2004
March 21,
ORADELL - Pascack Valley is known as a team with a great 1-2 punch and three supporting players. In their first round Jamboree game against Cresskill at Bergen Catholic High School on Sunday afternoon, the Indians played that formula perfectly.
It wasn't the prettiest exhibition, but playing the Cougars and their pesky style of play will do that to a team. Still, a 72-55 win sends the Indians to the Round of 16 next Sunday in a noon start against sixth-seeded Teaneck at Tenafly High School.
"That's the way they've always been," PV head coach Keith Onderdonk said of Cresskill. "They always play hard, and we didn't help ourselves by missing foul shots and layups, but a 17-point win against a (Cresskill coach) Marty Rivard team is a good win."
All six Indians who played in the game made significant contributions at some point, beginning with Mike Blackgrove, who had 8 of his 10 points in the first quarter as Valley stormed out to a 20-11 lead.
The final basket of the first period by Sean Martini began a 10-0 run that extended 3:56 into the second quarter an allowed the Indians to extend their lead to 28-11. Greg Lippert hit 7 of 8 first half free throws to help get the lead to 35-19, but Cresskill used a Dennis Conrad basket and two foul shots by Chris Niland in the final 23 seconds to make it a 35-23 game at the half.
Again the Indians moved the lead out to 13 points nearing the end of the third quarter, but once again the Cougars made some last second noise, with Niland and Eric Horowitz scoring baskets in the final 36 seconds.
This time, however, Pascack Valley (11-2) had an answer, as Sean Martini went down the floor after the Horowitz bucket, pulled up and drilled a three-point field goal with three seconds left that was a rally-killer.
"He's coming on now," Onderdonk said of Martini, who topped all scorers with 23 points. "He had a big game on Thursday and he had been struggling a bit. When he gets going, we're going to be okay."
The Indians benefitted in the second half from Greg Miller's six points and five of his six assists in the game, and Justin Warshaw, who had a tough go of it for three quarters (5 of 11 from the foul line, a handful of missed layups), came up with four big baskets in the paint.
Miller and Warshaw (21 points) both had 8 rebounds for the Indians, and Brian Baker, playing a majority of the second half spotting both Miller and Lippert, had four rebounds and four assists. Thanks to a 14 of 24 shooting second half, PV was 24 of 46 from the floor and hit 23 of 33 free throws, including 9 of 11 in the second half.
Niland led the Cougars (10-4) with 22 points and Horowitz added 16 along with 7 assists and 4 steals. Chris Cowan topped Cresskill with 7 rebounds and Conrad had 10 points and 5 rebounds.
Pascack Valley, the 11th seed, now looks to earn a spot in the quarterfinals when they take on Teaneck. The Indians match up well inside and will need to get solid guard play to advance.
"That should be a very interesting game," Onderdonk commented. "If we can handle their pressure and handle the ball, we'll be fine."
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