February
16, 2004
March 21,
PARAMUS - In its opening game in the 48th Oscar F. Thompson Memorial Basketball Jamboree, St. Joseph came within a missed shot of being eliminated. The Green Knights' frustrations with New Milford's zone defense were evident.
On Saturday afternoon, SJR showed that it wasn't going to be in the same predicament twice, as they worked the ball in the half court offense well and reached the Final 4. A late first quarter spurt put St. Joe's in the lead and its defense and inside game allowed the Knights to keep it on the way to a 57-42 win over 11th-seeded Pascack Valley, earning them a berth in the semifinals against Northern Highlands next Friday night at the Rothman Center at 6:30 p.m.
"Even though we had two league games during the week, this game was in the back of our minds," said SJR head coach Mike Doherty. "We wanted to show that we were comfortable with the zone offense."
The Knights played patiently and ran when the opportunity presented itself, and they were able to keep Valley's big two, Sean Martini and Justin Warshaw, in relative check. They scored 40 points between them, but the rest of the Indians scored just two points.
"We knew that they (Martini and Warshaw) were the focus," Doherty said, "and we were able to counter their points with key baskets on the other end and keep the pressure on them."
The Green Knights opened up with a 9-3 lead in the first five minutes, with both Devin and Jason McCourty scoring off offensive rebounds and Tim Klein hitting a three-point field goal. The Indians (16-3) closed to 9-8, but Klein again buried a three, and after a Martini basket, Gerald Inman hit a jumper and Jason McCourty drilled a three with four seconds left to make it 17-10 after one quarter.
Pascack stayed within striking distance throughout the second quarter, getting within four at 20-16 at one point, but Inman hit back-to-back jumpers on the way to a 23-point effort. He was complimented by Jason McCourty (18 points), who once again hit a basket with seven seconds left to make it 28-20 at the half.
Inman got the second half started with a dunk on an offensive rebound that gave St. Joseph (17-3) its first double digit lead of the game, and they were able to keep the Indians at bay, never seeing their lead drop below six points.
Valley did make a run in the fourth quarter to get within 42-36 courtesy of three straight baskets by Warshaw (16 points), the last of which came off a steal at midcourt with 4:54 to go. The Knights then went to the patient offense, and when Inman scored inside with 3:36 to go, PV was forced to foul.
Jason McCourty hit 9 of 10 from the line in the final period, including 7 of 8 in the last 2:05 of the game to help St. Joseph pull away. Martini hit a pair of three-pointers at the end to finish with a game-high 24 points, including a 5 of 8 game from behind the arc.
"I am very proud of our guys," Valley head coach Keith Onderdonk said. "We came in here and battled. They're a very good team and we never quit, getting within six, but a couple of possessions went against us and that was it."
"We wanted to come out and take control of the game," Jason McCourty said. "We missed a lot of shots last week, and we were much more comfortable with the half court offense this week."
Inman agreed, saying that, "we just had to adapt to the game and play within ourselves."
The Green Knights were 20 of 42 from the floor and 11 of 16 from the foul line, while Pascack Valley shot 18 of 43 and took just five free throws, hitting only one. St. Joseph outrebounded PV by a 29-15 margin, and Inman had nine rebounds and Jason McCourty added five assists, while Greg Lippert topped the Indians with eight rebounds.
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