February
16, 2004
March 21,
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John Oates and Don Bosco Prep barely avoided one of the biggest upsets in Jambo history with a 47-42 win over ninth-seeded Westwood. |
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PARAMUS - The final game of the quarterfinals of the Jamboree at Paramus High School had all the ingredients to become one of the biggest upsets in tournament history. Here was Group 1 Westwood holding a four-point lead over top-seeded Don Bosco with 2:05 remaining and in possession of the ball.
The standing room only crowd was on its feet, rooting for the underdog. Don Bosco head coach Kevin Diverio was urging his team to come up and play tighter defense. Cardinal freshman Corey Raji made a move down the lane and appeared to have a clean layup to give Westwood a six-point lead.
Just
as he released the shot, Tyrell Biggs came out of nowhere and got the slightest
piece of the shot, and that play ignited a late charge that saw the Ironmen
score 11 points in the final 1:35 to dodge more than a bullet and more like
ICBM missile.
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| Westwood's Corey Raji starting the drive that led to Tyrell Biggs' block that turned the game. |
Westwood's gallant effort came up just short as Bosco escaped with a 47-42 win that moves the Ironmen into the semifinals on Friday night against yet another BSCL American team, Cliffside Park, in an 8:15 p.m. start.
The ninth-seeded Cardinals (14-4) stood poised on the precipice, but could not close the deal. After Biggs' block, he came down and scored off a layup and was fouled, hitting the free throw with 1:35 left to make it a 40-39 game.
Mike Sbarbaro was fouled and hit one of two with 1:23 left, then Biggs grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled with 1:06 on the clock, making both free throws to pull Don Bosco (19-3) even at 41.
Westwood
then wanted to get the clock down and go for a final shot, but the Cards got
a bit sloppy with the ball. First, they turned it over, but Ryan Henry grabbed
a rebound of an Ironmen miss. They came down again, only to mishandle the
ball again near midcourt. Carl Augustin knocked it loose as Sbarbaro was looking
to hand it off to Henry, and he took it in for a layup with 24 seconds to
go give DB the lead at 43-41.
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| Carl Augustin's steal and layup with 24 seconds to go gave Bosco the lead for good. |
Marcus Gomes drove the lane and was fouled, but missed the first of two. He hit the second with 16.5 seconds left, but fouled out three seconds later. Chris Rose missed the front end of the one-and-one, but Biggs took down the rebound and was fouled. He hit both with 11.2 on the clock for a three-point lead.
Westwood tried a half-court inbounds, but the ball went out of bounds, and Augustin put the finishing touches on the game with two free throws with 9.2 left.
"He's been there for us all year, and in the last two or three weeks he's really stepped it up," Diverio said of Biggs, who finished with 21 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists and the crucial blocked shot.
For the better part of 28 minutes, Gomes had all but singlehandedly given the Cards their shot at destiny. He scored 16 of his 27 points in the first half, which ended with Westwood up by 26-22, and he was having a solid all-around game with 9 rebounds and 4 blocked shots despite giving away five and eight inches inside to Biggs and John Oates, respectively.
He was
involved in a crucial play in the fourth quarter, being hit with a technical
foul with 5:35 to play. He had gone up for a shot and had it blocked by Oates
as he was banged hard underneath. The ball caromed back to Rick Meyer, who
scored off the rebound to pull Westwood within one.
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| Tyrell Biggs (left) and Westwood's Marcus Gomes put on a show for the standing room only crowd. |
Gomes did not know where the ball was, and he yelled "aw, come on," after being hit in his shot. He turned away and muttered an obscenity, and after the Meyer basket, the referee "T'd" him up. It was also his fourth personal foul, and led to his no being on the floor to try the final shot in the closing seconds, and the situation did not sit well with Westwood head coach Kevin Brentnall.
"I'm not one to criticize officials in the press, but to call a technical foul in the fourth quarter of a Jamboree game under those circumstances is garbage," Brentnall said. "We're playing our tails off, kids are getting whacked, and they call a technical in that situation. He didn't show the official up, and that's two big points in a game like this that you can't give away."
Gomes was disconsolate after the game, but Brentnall said that, "he's the best inside-outside player in the county, and he's the best player around that nobody knows about.
"The bottom line is that we could've taken care of the ball in the last two minutes and won," Brentnall conceded. "We kind of panicked a bit. We started staring at each other and running to the ball instead of going back door for layups."
Twice in the first half Westwood moved out to an eight-point lead, but Oates scored off an offensive rebound and a neat feed inside and Biggs stepped out and hit a three-point field goal to bring the Ironmen back. What Bosco wasn't getting was production out of the guard spots.
"They played great defensively," Diverio said, "and our guards didn't react well. We were telling them to constantly pound it inside, and I think they started playing tentative and passing up on shots they normally would take. That's something we have to work on as a coaching staff."
Augustin had no first half points and the basket off the steal was his only field goal of the game. He did hit all eight of his free throws in the second half to finish with 10 points, but Rose had only two points and James Bryant six.
"I'm unbelievably proud of our kids," Brentnall said. "They have nothing to hold their heads about. Now we've got to take care of our league and then go into the states and make a statement."
Don Bosco was 15 of 43 from the floor and 15 of 17 at the foul line, while Westwood shot 11 of 37 from the field and 14 of 17 at the line. Raji, who sat the final 10 minutes of the first half with three fouls, had six rebounds but only 4 points for Westwood, and Oates had 8 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks, shooting just 4 of 12.
"At this point of the season, it's about moving on, and right now I'm just happy to be moving on," Diverio said with relief.
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