March
11, 2005
EAST ORANGE -- The jab was open all night long and the Ramapo boys basketball team landed plenty of them on Thursday night against Malcolm X. Shabazz in the Group 3 state semifinal.
There was Jimmy Taranto's how'd-he-do-that spinning layup that gave the Raiders a 12-point first quarter lead, Bill Bronander's fastbreak layup that put them up 11 in the second quarter, AJ Pisarri's three third quarter 3-pointers that quelled two different Shabazz runs and there was Shooter Hunt battling under the basket all night long against players to whom he was giving up at least four inches.
But when it came time for the knock out blow, that belonged to Shabazz and it came in the form of a 22-6 run to open the fourth quarter. Alray Blackman's 3-pointer from the corner at the tail end of yet another Bulldog fastbreak with 5:07 to play in the game gave Shabazz its first lead since the score was 2-0 and Ramapo never got it back in a 64-59 loss at East Orange Campus.
"We played with them the entire game, we were right there, but we just got unlucky at the end," said Taranto after his final high school contest before heading off to play soccer at the University of Virginia. "I didn't think about it at the time, but that (Blackman) three was probably the shot that did it. Collectively all of their fastbreaks hurt at the end. They beat us down the floor."
But for the first three quarters, Ramapo (21-7) was giving as good as it got when it came to wide open basketball. Taranto repeatedly drove the lane and kicked the ball to open shooters and Hunt gave Ramapo a legitimate inside presence. Hunt scored 14 of his game-high 33 points in the first quarter and, in front of a shocked crowd, the Raiders built a 16-4 lead when Taranto spun through the lane and hit a ridiculous flip over two airborne defenders.
"We are young and we had never been in this position before," said Shabazz head coach Lou Grimsley, who coached the Bulldogs to within one point of the Tournament of Champions title in 2001 before retiring and returning last season. "Yesterday was the first sectional finalfor our kids and this team hadn't won more than 10 games since 2001. Ramapo was very quick and they came out here to win this game."
After Shabazz (23-6) cut the deficit to 21-17 at the end of the second quarter, Hunt opened the second with a 3-pointer and an inside bucket right after a Shabazz time out to give him 19 points in the game's first 10 minutes and the Raiders a nine-point lead.
The lead was eight, 30-22, at the half before Shabazz made its first real run. Dashawn Barrino's bucket gave the Bulldogs six of the first seven points in the second half, but Pisarri hit the second of his four 3-points to provide the answer. Ramapo was in further trouble when a turnover led to a Blackman putback, a 34-all tie and a Raider timeout with 3:42 left in the third.
But Pisarri then hit two straight threes and Ramapo closed the quarter on a 12-4 run that gave it a 46-38 lead with just eight minutes standing between it and a first-ever trip to a State final. They were still up nine, 50-41, after Taylor Van Orden scored of an inbounds play with 7:03 to go.
"I think they knew they were in a game. We represented ourselves with pride and character and I think we did a great job today," said Ramapo head coach Joe DelBuono. "Those two guys (Taranto and Hunt) are all world players, but this team is not just about those two. We needed everyone to help out and we got that tonight and we got that all year."
But down the stretch, Shabazz started to pound the ball inside and that, along with the open looks it kept generating with its up and down style, eventually took its toll. The Bulldogs ripped off a 14-1 run in a span of 2:32 to take a 55-51 lead. A Hunt free throw temporarily stemmed the tide, but Shabazz got right back at it with a 5-0 run that gave it a 60-52 lead with 1:33 to go.
Ramapo got back to within four on Hunt's back to back baskets and three on his three-pointer with 31 seconds to go before time ran out on Ramapo's dream season that saw the Raiders win their first state sectional title since 1995 and reach the Bergen County quarterfinals where they put up a fight before losing to eventual champion St. Joseph.
Hunt, who will also attend UVA on a baseball scholarship, led all scorers with his 33 points and Pisarri added 14, all but two of them from behind the three-point line. Taranto registered 6 points, Bronander had 4 and Van Orden's bucket accounted for the rest of the Raiders' scoring.
"We should be proud of what we've done, it was a season of accomplishment. We are champions and no one can take that away from us," said DelBuono. "The legacy of this team is that it established a level of play this year for all other Ramapo teams to follow and that to me is as good as any championship."
Shabazz got all of its points from its starting five. Barrino, Horace McGloster and Saladine Collins all finished with 14, Blackman added 13 and Charles Smith had all nine of his points in the second half. Shabazz now moves on to the Group 3 final where it will take on Camden on Sunday at Rutgers.
"Each step has been a learning experience and tonight was another lesson in how to win a big game against a good team that came right at us," said Grimsley, whose team might be the underdog moving forward. "My mother always told me that when you get into a fight, you never know who is going to win and we will be in the fight."
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