March
2, 2005
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| This scrum led to the jumpball that was one of the major points of contention in the final minute of PV's come-from-behind win. | |
HILLSDALE -- One game, one outcome, two entirely different ways of seeing the final minute of Tuesday night's North 1, Group 2 state sectional playoff game between Pascack Valley and River Dell. On the PV side of the scorer's table, Mike Oppler's putback with :02 remaining on the clock was seen as the capper of a miraculous comeback and a 51-50 win.
The River Dell side saw Oppler's basket as the last straw in a final minute marred by no calls, blown calls and other factors that piled up and ended the Golden Hawks' season.
To decide for yourself which side had the better view, you have to look at the last 57 seconds of the game. That was when River Dell, the team with the lead, took only its second free throw of the fourth quarter. It missed, Jon Marciani hit a hanging runner in the lane to get Pascack Valley back within four points with 44 seconds to go and that is when things got sketchy.
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| Mike Blackgrove led Pascack Valley's balanced attack with 14 points. |
On the ensuing inbounds pass, three PV players sprung a trap in the corner, aggressively pursuing a steal. With River Dell already in the bonus, the Indians would not have minded giving up a foul to stop the clock, but did themselves one better when Alex Mendelson was credited with a steal. He fed Matt Atler, who was fouled while making a shot, and Atler's three-point play got PV to within 50-49 with 33 seconds to go.
"You tell them to play hard 'D' and when they pick up their dribble to deny hard and try to get a 5 (second call) or a turnover, and they did," said Pascack Valley head coach Keith Onderdonk. "That was all guts and the senior Alex Mendelson going in there for defense and getting a steal at the end, that was huge."
Still needing to foul as RD was running its spread offense, PV (15-7) sprung another trap, this time near the hash mark as three defenders converged on Mark McManmon. But instead of the whistle to indicate a foul that normally accompanies such a tactic, a jump ball was called and the possession arrow gave the ball back to the Indians with 15 seconds left.
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| In his final high school game, River Dell's Travis Long led all scorers with 22 points. |
From there, Mike Blackgrove took the inbounds pass, drove deep into the lane and kicked the ball back to the three-point line where Marciani got a good look. He was obviously run into just after releasing his shot, but this time the no call hurt the Hawks as Oppler grabbed the rebound and put it home for the game-winning basket with two seconds left. The River Dell bench was screaming for a timeout after the made basket, but its calls went unheeded and the clock ran out.
"Jon's (shot) looked good, but we needed to crash the boards and I got the rebound and put it in," said Oppler, who was the offensive replacement for Mendelson, who was switching in on defense with every stoppage of play in the waning minutes. "I thought they called timeout, I thought there was still time left, so I wasn't ready to celebrate. And then, boom, it was awesome."
To River Dell head coach Brian Long, the final minute was anything but awesome and he wasn't about to bite his tongue after seeing his team's season end without a single favorable whistle in the final minute and with Pascack Valley trying to give a foul.
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| Bryan Baker scored 9 points for PV, which advanced to the North 1, Group 2 quarterfinals. |
"You mean to tell me that they were not reaching in with three guys? They are not reaching in? I've never really seen that. They are not reaching in? A jump ball? They are not on (McManmon's) arms? They are fouling on purpose at that point," said Long, whose team was awarded just four free throws in the game to 16 for PV. "They took it away from these kids and the game should be won on the floor. That is the way I feel. I am just disgusted with it, just disgusted."
While there was certainly merit to Long's point, there was no taking away from PV's comeback that started with the four straight points it scored from the free throw line to start the fourth quarter.
Leading by two points at the break, River Dell (12-12) took over on the floor in the third quarter and its sizable crowd made it sound like a home game for the Hawks, who responded with a 19-6 run that ended with Travis Long's coast-to-coast layup that put his team up 39-26 with 1:53 left in the third.
Marciani hit two of three free throws to pull PV within single digits, 39-30, heading into the fourth and the lead was 8 when Travis long finished a baseline drive to put RD up 48-40 with 3:40 to go. Marciani hit a reverse layup to pull PV to within 50-44, the score entering the wild final minute.
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| Dino Koutsouris scored 9 points for River Dell, which finished its season with a 12-12 record. |
Travis Long led all scorers, putting in 22 points in his final high school game. McManmon knocked down three 3-pointers to finish with 9 points and Dino Koutsouris also finished with 9 for River Dell. Brett Carroll (6 points), Kevin Groarke (2 points) and Tyler Byrne (2 points) accounted for the rest of the Hawks' points.
Mike Blackgrove's 14 points led PV and Oppler finished with 10. Bryan Baker and Marciani had 9 points apiece while Atler added 7 points and Andrew Camporeale had field goal.
PV has been on some kind of roll since early February when a loss at the buzzer to Old Tappan put the Indians on the brink of state playoff elimination. They responded by knocking off Mahwah in overtime to get to 7-7 on the day of the state cutoff and haven't lost since.
Tuesday's win made it nine in a row, but the turnaround is quick as the top-seeded Englewood awaits in tonight's state sectional quarterfinal.
"We're going to try to go down there and play, but on back to back nights…this was a grueling finish for us. We'll do the best we can do," said Onderdonk. "We're tired, so we'll go home and drink some Gatorade and go play."
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