February
8, 2004
March 21,
ALLENDALE - When Joe McGowan made a steal at halfcourt with just under 10 seconds to play in a tie game, the entire gym at Northern Highlands High School had the feeling that 19th-seeded New Milford was going to pull off one of the biggest upsets in Jamboree history.
Everyone also knew just who was going to get the chance to win the game, and when McGowan's three-point shot caught back iron, the game went into overtime and the edge shifted squarely to third-seeded St. Joseph.
The Green Knights took advantage of the New Milford foul woes and were able to squeak out a 56-52 win that moves them into the quarterfinals of the Jamboree, a position most people felt would be a lot easier to obtain.
"Give them a lot of credit," SJR head coach Mike Doherty said. "I'm not going to be yelling at my kids after this game. I'm proud of the way we came back in this game against a team that played a very good game. People put a lot into the seedings, but in a one-game situation, anything can happen."
It almost did. New Milford owned a 35-25 lead in the third quarter and had the Green Knights reeling, but they were also in deep foul trouble. Tim Belthoff was already on the bench with four fouls, and Keith Creagh joined him with 1:26 to go in the third.
That helped the SJR get back into the game, creeping within 38-37 before Mike Jaimes scored a jumper with 26 seconds left and converted a McGowan steal with one second to go to push it back to 42-37 entering the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, St. Joe's kept pecking away as New Milford took only four shots from the floor. The Green Knights got a key three-point field goal from Devin McCourty to pull within two midway through the period, but Belthoff got the lead back to four with 4:09 left.
Gerald Inman scored off an offensive rebound with 3:12 remaining, and Jason McCourty also had a putback Basket with 2:14 left to tie the score. Belthoff (10 points, 9 rebounds) fouled out with 1:26 remaining, and SJR decided to hold the ball for one shot.
McGowan made his steal as St. Joseph began to run the offense, and when his winning try rimmed out, NM head coach Mark Cacciacarne knew his team would be at a disadvantage in the four-minute extra session.
"They can run 8 or 9 quality players out there," he rationalized, "and we had the foul trouble and are not as deep. We played 36 minutes of intense basketball and I don't take anything away from my kids. We played hard every possession, but when your in overtime, it becomes a possession game and we couldn't match them."
New Milford actually grabbed the lead when McGowan hit a jumper with 2:32 on the clock, but Mike Glover fouled out with 1:50 to go and Stanley Julien hit both free throws to tie the game at 48.
After a NM miss, Inman got free inside for a layup to give SJR the lead, and Devin Wooten forced a turnover and converted the layup with 1:10 to go. Doherty felt, "that (basket) was the first time I thought we had a bit of breathing room. They really battled it."
The teams traded free throws before Devin McCourty hit a pair of foul shots to make it 55-49 with 27 seconds to go. McGowan nailed his fifth trey of the game to make it a one-possession deficit, but the Knights had no time outs left and were forced to foul.
They caught a break when Inman missed both free throws with 9.9 seconds left, but Julien made the key offensive rebound and got it to Devin McCourty, who was fouled with 6.5 seconds to go. He missed the first but made the second to clinch the game.
McGowan finished with a game-high 21 points and also had 4 assists and 3 steals, while Creagh had 10 points and Glover 7 rebounds as New Milford shot 19 of 44 from the field and 8 of 14 at the free throw line.
Inman topped St. Joseph with 19 points and 13 rebounds, Devin McCourty had 17 points and 4 steals and Julien had 12 boards, including 8 off the offensive glass, and 2 blocked shots. The Green Knights were 16 of 48 from the floor and 20 of 29 at the line.
"We didn't come here just to play well," Cacciacarne said, "we came here to lace it up and win. The guys are disappointed, but they left everything on the floor and gave it their best shot."
"I'm sure we felt some pressure," Doherty said of his team playing as the third seed. "They were feeling the weight, but you really have to credit New Milford."
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