February
28, 2004
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Tyrell Biggs hit his last eight field goal attempts as Don Bosco won its second Jambo title in the last threee years. |
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HACKENSACK - Early on in the championship game of the 48th Oscar F. Thompson Memorial Basketball Jamboree, Don Bosco's Tyrell Biggs sent up a three-point try from the top of key and caught nothing but air. The St. Joseph faithful in the crowd began the expected chant of "air ball, air ball," not knowing that it would be the last shot that Biggs would miss the rest of the game.
As has been the case all season, the junior found himself with the ball in his hands at crucial moments and he caught nothing but net each time, hitting all eight of his final field goal attempts as the Ironmen took home their fifth Jamboree title and second in three years with a 53-33 win over the Green Knights.
Unlike
last Sunday's 57-55 Bosco win in a regular season game, this one had little
of the excitement and intensity of that game, thanks in large part to a stifling
defensive effort by the Ironmen.
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| Gerald Inman led SJR with 15 points. |
After playing them man-to-man in the regular season game, Don Bosco (23-3) went into a zone defense in the final, partly out of necessity due to some early fouls but also by design, according to DB head coach Kevin Diverio.
"We didn't want to show them (the zone in the first game)," Diverio said. "We told them at halftime that they had played great defense. They had allowed six of the 12 points on putbacks, so we had to do a better job on the boards."
In fact, the Green Knights (19-6) had only two field goals in the first half that were not on putbacks among their miserable 4 of 24 shooting woes, of which head coach Mike Doherty said, "I thought that we got some good looks, but we couldn't hit them."
The looks
were all outside, though, as Bosco denied any penetration by the McCourty
twins, Devin and Jason, from the guards and played help defense on Gerald
Inman down low.
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| Bsco's James Bryant pulling up from long range. |
Meanwhile, the Ironmen were being prudent with their shots, and overcame a slow start to take the game over midway into the first period.
After Tim Klein snuck back door for a St. Joseph layup to put the Knights up 6-4 with 4:47 left in the first period, they would not score another field goal for the next 11:36, a stretch that saw Don Bosco make a 15-2 run.
It began with back-to-back three point field goals by Chris Rose to give the Ironmen the lead for good, and it ended with Rose laying one in to make it 19-8 in favor of the Dons. SJR got the final two baskets of the half to stay in range at 19-12.
"Considering
how bad we shot, we felt fortunate to be down only seven," Doherty said. "We
had a lot of painful rolls out on some shots, and I thought we'd get it going,
but it was a very poor shooting night. We couldn't take advantage of the opportunities,
and eventually a team like Don Bosco is going to make you pay for that."
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| A Jason McCourty three-pointer had SJR to within seven points heading into the fourth quarter. |
The Knights got it back to within 22-19 after an Inman jumper with 4:30 to go, but Biggs came down and ended the momentum with a three-pointer, starting a 6-0 run that he finished with a short jumper.
"He never ceases to amaze me," Diverio said of Biggs. "He's just so comfortable taking the shot."
"I knew my legs weren't under me yet," Biggs said of the early air ball, "but I knew I just had to keep shooting it."
"A lot of times it comes down to big plays," Doherty assessed, "and he's been doing that all year for them. He did it in the first game and he did it again tonight. He's a very special player."
Rose
put a dagger into the Knights when he was fouled on a three-point try and
hit all three free throws with 1:02 left in the third quarter, putting Don
Bosco up by 33-21. A Jason McCourty three-pointer had it down to 33-26 at
the onset of the fourth quarter, but again it was Biggs making the big shot,
dropping in a jumper to start a 12-2 spurt that had many of the 4,000 plus
fans at the Rothman Center heading for the exits with three minutes to go.
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| Carl Augustin driving the baseline for Don Bosco Prep. |
The Ironmen were 9 of 14 from the field in the second half and finished 17 of 31 for the game, and added 16 of 21 free throws. Biggs had a game-high 19 points and added five rebounds and two blocked shots while rose scored 11 points and had five rebounds and four assists.
Inman was the lone Green Knight in double figures with 15 points and he also had seven rebounds. St. Joseph was just 11 of 51 shooting (3 of 17 from three-point range) and 8 of 16 at the line, including 4 of 11 in the first half.
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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