February
14, 2005
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PARAMUS -- There was no doubt that Cliffside Park was going to look to create a slow pace in their quarterfinal game against Englewood in the Jamboree on Sunday. After all, they had already tasted the Maroon Raiders run-and-gun game in a lopsided regular season loss.
Englewood knew it was coming and they spent the first few minutes of the game assessing the Red Raider offensive scheme. Once digested, they went about taking CP out of its game and literally running off to a 74-39 win that moves the fourth-seeded Raiders into Friday's semifinals against St. Joseph at 7:45 p.m. at the Rothman Center.
The game is one that many thought would have had a first chapter in the Indian Hills Christmas Tournament, except Englewood fell to Emerson of Union City, their only loss in a 17-1 campaign to date.
"Their very tough, 20-0," Englewood head coach Gerald Akridge said of the Green Knights. "We like the full court tempo, they like the half court. We like the green light, go. They're very tough, though."
Englewood center Alvin Mofunanya, who almost looked like he was giving St. Joe's center Gerald Inman some early chatter as SJR warmed up for their game (he wasn't, they are friends from AAU ball), said that, "we're confident, but not too confident. We have to make them play our kind of game and get them out of that half court offense."
Which is exactly what they did to Cliffside, blowing out to a 21-6 first quarter lead after a 12-0 run in 2:18 in the latter half of the opening period. They did it with defense, creating a trio of turnovers, and were 6 for 6 shooting (and actually made eight in a row at one point in the quarter).
"They tried to force the tempo," Akridge said of the Red Raiders. "For the first two or three minutes, it was their tempo, but once we opened up, we changed the tempo."
What hurt CP was its inability to capitalize on their its chances. They twice worked the ball for layups down the center, but had four other chances where they either pulled up for a jumper that didn't go or turned it over on the drive.
"Obviously, Englewood is a great team, they're deep, and we're not," Red Raider head coach Frank Connelly said. "I thought for the first time, we played nervous, which I tried to tell my kids before the game that no one expected us to be here and we should be very loose. They made us do everything we didn't want to do.
"Once they got up by 15 or 20, it was just, go play, and against them, that's not good," Connelly said.
Michael Thompson, who missed last week's Round of 16 game with illness, was the key contributor early, dropping in seven points while coming up with three steals and two assists in the first quarter. After that, it became another track meet for the Maroon Raiders, who rotated 10 players throughout the first three quarters before putting the starters on the bench for the entire fourth quarter.
Eleven of the 15 Englewood players hit the scoresheet, and while the game was not in doubt, the Maroon Raiders were putting on a very unselfish show, with players passing up good shots to teammates with even better opportunities.
"We talked about sharing the basketball," Akridge recalled, "and making the extra pass, only we said make the correct pass. They moved the ball real well and I thought that was great."
James Anderson led Englewood with 15 points, and he was joined in double figures by Mofunanya (12) and Darnell Carter. Thompson closed with 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals, while Mofunanya had 7 boards and 2 blocked shots. Englewood was 33 of 68 from the floor (29 of 52 after three quarters) and just 4 of 12on the foul line.
Tony Schmitt, who was the best player on the floor for the Red Raiders on the evening, had 10 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Matt Emerson topped CP with 11 points and Stephan Barton had 8 rebounds. The Raiders were 16 of 50 shooting and 5 of 10 at the line while committing 24 turnovers to just 11 for the Maroon Raiders.
"The only thing that makes this game go away is looking at my daughter," Connelly said of his three-year-old trailing behind him on the way to the locker room.
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