February
2, 2004
March 21,
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| After three years of watching the Jambo from the stands, Queen of Peace senior Ryan Kearney scored 13 points in his first tourney appearance. | |
PARAMUS -- Queen of Peace senior Ryan Kearney has always loved the atmosphere of the Bergen County Jamboree. He's been there for the last three years but there was something different about this year's tournament for Kearney and the Golden Griffins. This year they were participants.
"The
past three years I've come to the Jamboree and just sat in the stands watching
it," said Kearney, whose team won four straight games to qualify for the tourney,
earning the No. 17 seed and a first round matchup against No. 16 Old Tappan
on Saturday. "For this to actually happen, to be able to play in this great
atmosphere, I couldn't ask for anything more."
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| Chris Stankiewicz threw up shots from every angle and led Old Tappan with 17 points. |
And while his goal of stepping on floor in a Jambo game that mattered has been accomplished, his tournament experience is not over yet. In a game that saw the lead change hands five times in the second half to go along with four ties, Queen of Peace (9-4) made the clutch plays in the final minute to pull out a 50-43 win.
Kearney turned a Mike McTigue steal into two made free throws with 1:09 to play in the game to give the Golden Griffins the lead for good. McTigue then made perhaps the game's biggest basket, going back door and taking a feed from Mike Lamego for the layup that put QP up 45-42 with 28 seconds remaining.
"I think
we were all a little nervous at first, being in the Jamboree for the first
time. It felt like a big game," said McTigue, a junior who also got his first
taste of county tournament action. "But once the game started I think we relaxed
and when the fourth quarter came, we weren't thinking about anything except
making the plays."
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| Two of Nate Gainer's 21 points came on a two-handed dunk early in the fourth quarter that gave QP a three-point lead. |
A John Tringali free throw got Old Tappan (8-6) back to within 45-43 with 13 seconds to go, but those were the Knights' last points and Vin Ahmuty put the finishing touches on the win with a putback of a missed free throw for a 48-43 lead with just 10 seconds to play.
"Really where the win came from was that we buckled down on defense because we needed a stop to get the ball with a chance to take the lead," said QP head coach Dennis Gregory. "We are finding different ways to win. Maybe guys like Ryan (Kearney) and Nate (Gainer) are putting up the points statistically, but a Mike Lamego, a Mike McTigue, a Vin Ahmuty, those guys are stepping up and doing good things."
Both
teams were hit with foul trouble throughout the game. Old Tappan point guard
Chris Stankiewicz picked up his third foul midway though the second quarter
and had to sit for the rest of the half, and Kearney picked up his third foul
on the first possession of the third quarter.
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| Old Tappan's John Tringali scored six points and pulled down 8 rebounds, despite shoulder injury. |
Stankiewicz' foul woes took away from the interesting battle between two point guards with contrasting styles. Stankiewicz throws shots at the basket from every conceivable angle, and flip shots and running floaters are his specialty. The most crafty of his team-high 17 points came on the fastbreak early in the second quarter when he drove the lane, took off on the wrong foot and put up a rain maker from halfway down the lane that fell through the net almost on a straight line.
On the other side, Gainer is a quick ball handler that goes to the basket hard. His strength and quickness were evident early in the fourth quarter when he poked the ball free at midcourt and went in for a two-handed dunk that gave QP a 38-35 lead.
Gainer
led the Griffins with 21 points, Kearney finished with 13, including a 6 of
8 performance from the line in the fourth quarter. Ahmuty (9 points) and McTigue
(7 points) accounted for the rest of QP's scoring.
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| Mike McTigue's basket off a backdoor cut gave QP a 3-point lead with 28 seconds left in the game. |
Stankiewicz led the way for Old Tappan, which was banged up going into the game. Tringali, who is battling a shoulder injury, finished with 6 points and 8 rebounds and Tom Eschbacher, clearly slowed by a pulled groin muscle, finished with just four points, all in the first half, although he did pull down 7 rebounds. Matt Brundage added 6 points and 5 rebounds, while Anthony Plescia and Brian McLaughlin scored four points a piece.
"We were
banged up, but that wasn't the reason we lost. Too many turnovers, that's
the bottom line," said Old Tappan head coach Mike Burke, whose team won just
two games last season, but is now back on good footing. "To lose like this
is tough. We were happy to be in (the Jambo), we are having a good season,
but this is a frustrating loss."
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| Tom Eschbacker, playing hurt, managed 4 points and 7 boards. |
The Griffins' victory sets up maybe the most interesting storyline of next weekend's Round of 16. Gregory, the current Queen of Peace head coach, will take on the team he coached for five seasons in the mid-90s, top-seeded Don Bosco Prep. Bosco's current head coach, Kevin Diverio, was an assistant to Gregory at DBP.
"Kevin
and I have a great relationship, we work together and we see each other all
the time," said Gregory. "The last time I spoke to him I told him that we
have a few things in the works, that our two 6-8 kids become eligible on Tuesday
and that (DBP center) Tyrell Biggs is going to take his official visit to
UCLA next weekend, so everything should work fine for us.
If only that were true…"
For more pictures from this event or to purchase a Collector's Print of this story, visit the NJS.com School Store!
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