January
31, 2005
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| Briant Nixon (4) was one of four Pal Park players to reach double figures in points in its overtime win in the opening round of the Bergen County Jamboree. | |
RUTHERFORD -- Many times when a team gives up a big second half lead, it doesn't have the gumption to reestablish control of the game. Palisades Park saw a 15-point lead evaporate, then fell behind in the fourth quarter. The Tigers extended the game to overtime, then found that second wind in the extra session, scoring the first 10 points on the way to a 62-53 win that sends them to the round of 16 against second-seed Don Bosco next Saturday at 7:00 p.m. at Northern Highlands High School.
"One
thing I can tell you about this team is that always make it exciting," said
Palisades Park head coach Joe Galeazza. "We made some bad decisions and let
them back in the game. We got back to our game in the overtime and got the
job done.
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| Pascack Hills wiped out a double digit deficit in the second half to force overtime. |
"It's great to be here, it's great to get a win, but we'll worry about next week after we get through the two league games we have this week."
The Tigers missed out on an opportunity to win the game in regulation when a front end of a one-and-one rimmed out with 16.5 seconds to go, but they took immediate control of the overtime when Ulises Centano made a steal and a layup 12 seconds in.
Pascack
Hills (9-4) turned it over again and also missed a free throw chance in the
next two minutes before Palisades Park (10-4) went on a tear, beginning with
a layup by Aladdin Valdez.
"We stopped
getting stops on defense, we got a little lazy and we turned the ball over
a couple of times," PH head coach Chris Kirkby said of the extra session.
"We looked like we got nervous, it snowballed and a two-point game became
a 10-point game."
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| Hector Martinez and Pal Park earned a shot at No. 2 seed and defending champion Don Bosco Prep in next weekend's Round of 16. |
Two more inside buckets by Tyrell Rocke and Centano were followed by a pair of free throws by Valdez with 26 seconds left that pushed the game out of reach. Charles Princiotto made three free throws for the Cowboys' only point in OT and Hector Martinez closed the scoring with a layup.
That the game even got to overtime was somewhat surprising considering the way it started out. Ahead 13-11 early in the second quarter, the Tigers put an 8-0 run together, with Rocke scoring half of the points, to go up by 10. Briant Nixon had a pair of baskets off steals down the first half stretch to make it 30-19 at the break.
"If we don't play hard for the full 32 minutes, we can't win," Kirkby assessed. "We have a pattern of falling behind teams in the first half. We dig ourselves a hole and against good teams you can't come out of it."
Hills shot only 8 of 25 in the opening half, despite getting the ball in the paint for some good looks.
"With
all the success we had getting the ball inside, we couldn't make a layup,"
Kirkby lamented. "That's why we had 19 points."
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| Evan Lampert scored 10 points and added 9 rebounds for Pascack Hills. |
Their struggles continued at the start of the third quarter, but with Pal Park also going cold, the Cowboys found themselves down 34-19. Over the final 3:30 of the third quarter, Hills scored 15 straight points to tie the game up.
"We came out of halftime thinking we could increase the lead with a different kind of defense, but they made adjustments and got themselves back in the game," Galeazza explained.
Pascack continued to be able to get inside, only now the ball was falling as John Palumbo scored 7 points and Evan Lampert converted an offensive rebound. When Corey Friedman hit a foul shot with 33.6 on the clock, the comeback was complete. The Cowboys grabbed their first lead of the game on a Charles Princiotto jumper with 6:33 to go that made it 38-37, and they got their second lead when Lampert scored off a putback with 2:46 left to make it 46-44.
Valdez knotted the game on jumper, and Nixon scored on a drive for a two-point Tiger lead. Palumbo evened the score again for Hills, and Nixon put PP up a deuce with a basket. Alex Weiss then made a steal and a layup with 53 seconds left that produced the 50-50 tie that would hold up until overtime.
Palisades Park shot 25 of 56 from the floor and 9 of 13 at the free throw line, with Centano (15 points) Rocke (12), Orestes Medina (11) and Nixon (10) all scoring in double figures. Rocke also had 10 rebounds while Nixon had 5 assists and 4 steals.
Palumbo had a season-high 21 points, 11 rebounds and 4 steals and Lampert contributed 10 points and 9 boards for the Cowboys, who shot 21 of 57 from the floor and 11 of 14 at the line.
FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS GAME OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS STORY, CHECK OUT THE NJS.com SCHOOL STORE!
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