February
8, 2004
March 21,
ALLENDALE - With the turmoil that has surrounded the Northern Highlands boys basketball team the past couple of weeks, and with Ridgewood making a tremendous run at the end of the third quarter, Greg Betancourt gave the Highlanders exactly what they needed.
His off-balance heave from the extreme right corner as the third quarter horn sounded banked in off the glass, quelling the Maroon charge and giving Highlands the lead as the fourth quarter started.
That shot became the turning point as the Highlanders advanced to the quarterfinal round of the Oscar F. Thompson Memorial Basketball Jamboree with a 65-52 defeat of the seventh-seeded Maroons.
"We had a shot exactly like that go against us earlier in the year," NH head coach Mike Stone said, "and we know just how deflating it can be. To get it to go for you was a great momentum changer."
Ridgewood head coach Jim Stroker agreed, saying that, "when you come all the way back like that and then they get that shot, and all of a sudden the game changed."
When Brian Dench added a layup to start the fourth quarter, Highlands had a five-point lead and, after Chuck Kaliades matched that bucket for Ridgewood, NH went on an 8-0 run that all but closed out the Maroons.
"We had three goals coming in," Stone commented. "One was to keep (Paul) Meakem from hitting the threes, and he had no points in the first half. Second, we wanted to keep (Clay) Rhoten off the glass and away from the basket, and he had no points in the first half. The third thing was not allow the second shot."
They accomplished that as well, as the Maroons had only three putback baskets. Conversely, the Highlanders were big on the boards, with Ken Fetzer the catalyst with 11 rebounds to go along with 15 points.
"After everything that happened, we sat down with Ken and explained what we needed from him," Stone said. "We told him the magic number was 10 (as in 10 points and 10 rebounds), and since then, he's been right there."
Betancourt had two other big threes in the third quarter, one that moved NH up by six midway through and another that made it 41-33. It was at that point that Ridgewood (11-7) began its comeback.
Harryl Smith (14 points) hit a jumper, Meakem hit his first points of the game with a three and Smith dropped one in off a rebound to get them within one. Dench scored for Highlands with 23 seconds left, then Jason Greenstone knotted it with a three with seven seconds left.
Highlands (13-3) came down and dumped it off to Betancourt, who was double-teamed in the corner and made the prayer.
Ridgewood shot just 6 of 26 from the floor in the first half, and Stroker said that, "we had some looks, but you've got to put those shots down."
Despite the difficulties, the Maroons were down just 25-20 at the half, as Betancourt was a bit off and Dench was not getting the ball inside. Fetzer hit four free throws in the second quarter to help Highlands stay on top. Betancourt finished with a game-high 24 points, including 4 of 9 from three point range, as Northern Highlands shot 23 of 44 from the field and 14 of 23 from the free throw line. Dench added 7 rebounds and 5 blocked shots and Derek Asplint had 5 assists.
Ridgewood got 13 points and 11 rebounds from Chuck Kaliades and Meakem finished with 10 points. The Maroons had only 6 turnovers, but after hitting 10 of 14 shots in that third quarter, they went cold again in the fourth period and finished just 20 of 56 shooting from the floor.
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