February
19, 2005
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| Tyrell McKenzie helped lead Paramus Catholic into the Jambo semis for the first time since 1976. | |
HACKENSACK -- There was a "guarded" optimism on the Paramus Catholic basketball team as it prepared to face rival Don Bosco in the semifinals of the Bergen County Jamboree on Friday evening. The Paladins knew that they owned a matchup advantage at the guard spot, and they exploited that edge right from the start.
Both Luis Guzman and Terrell McKenzie were sharp defensively, and they forced numerous turnovers in the first half, allowing PC to take a sizeable lead and then hold off a hard-charging Ironmen team.
With Abib Gueye drilling one of those oh-no, oh-yeah three point field goals with 1:05 left, the Paladins regained control and eased out to a 60-49 win that sends them into the championship game for the first time since 1976.
Paramus
Catholic (17-3) will be in search of its first on-court title when they face
another NNJIL foe, top seeded and undefeated St. Joseph Regional. They lost
the 1976 game to Englewood but were awarded the title when Englewood was forced
to forfeit the game.
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| Bosco's Carl Augustin had 7 of his 17 in the third quarter as the Ironmen cut their deficit to 44-38 entering the fourth. |
"We believe that we should be here," said PC head coach Tony Campbell. "We have that confidence and we're not just happy to get here, we want to come out victorious."
A 17-point Paladin lead in the opening moments of the second half was whittled all the way down to one point in the fourth quarter, and Paramus Catholic was holding a precarious 50-48 lead when McKenzie went to the foul line with 1:13 to go.
He missed both shots, but the Paladins got the rebound of the second miss. The ball ended up with Gueye on the left side, and his three-point shot swished through
"A couple of plays before that, we got called for a charge but I made the shot, so I knew I was hot," Gueye said of the events leading up to his trey.
"That killed them, that was the dagger right there," teammate Lawrence Williams said of Gueye's shot.
"That
was probably the biggest play of the game," DB head coach Kevin Diverio agreed.
"We were down 2, they miss a free throw, they rebound, reverse it, bang, three,
and we're down five. It was such a turning point in the game, even late as
it was, because it was such a key possession."
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| Abib Gueye's 3-pointer with 1:05 left in the game sealed PC's upset win. |
"Coaches always want to be geniuses, so when a shot like that goes in we'll be the first to throw our hands up and yeah," Campbell joked, "but my heart was in my throat when he threw that up. It was an ill-advised shot.
"We wanted to get into a set offense, but he was very confident he could make that shot. When it goes in, you look like a genius, and tonight it went in."
Williams followed with back-to-back dunks off transition that finally subdued the defending champion Ironmen, who are now 17-3 on the season and will face PC on Tuesday in a regular season game and again in the first round of the state tournament March 4.
They'll need to do a better job of getting ball up court and working it inside. Both of those facets went against them, as Guzman and McKenzie created a combined 10 steals, many off of pressure in the front court.
"Our
guys had their hands out in a good defensive posture, and they threw the ball
right in our hands," Campbell said of the frontcourt turnovers.
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| Tyrell Biggs' short jumper with 1:23 to go, go Bosco to within 2 points. |
"Poor decision making," Diverio countered. "We tried to force balls into spots that weren't open. Would I expect us to play like that again? No. We came back and played well in the second half, but 12 first half turnovers against a good team like that is hard to overcome. Hopefully, our guards learned from this."
Down 8-7 in the first quarter, Paramus Catholic went on a 15-2 run over a 4:43 stretch spanning the first and second quarters to take a 22-10 lead. Guzman had nine of the points, including a three-point field goal to open the run and put PC ahead for good.
"In the beginning (of the game), I felt pretty good (about my shot)," Guzman said, "and I thought everything I threw up was going in. In the second half, I started getting everybody the ball."
The Paladins increased their lead to 33-19 at the intermission, with Williams throwing down a pair of dunks. The Ironmen were not getting a presence inside from Tyrell Biggs or Pete Brown, as they had a combined 1 point (a Biggs free throw) and 4 rebounds.
"We practiced
all week with guys reenacting Biggs, so we knew what we had to do," Williams
said of the defense on the Ironmen star, and Guzman added that, "we watched
film on him and we knew he liked to stay outside a lot and look to shoot outside."
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| Lawrence Williams (21) led Paramus Catholic with 19 points. |
Bosco's second half comeback began after Gueye opened the third quarter with a three-pointer. Both Biggs and Brown became more active inside and Carl Augustin continued to provide the offense. Biggs had 8 of his 13 points and Augustin 7 of his 17 in the third quarter as DB cut their deficit to 44-38 entering the fourth.
"We just had to keep playing, not get ahead of ourselves," Williams commented. "We got the big lead and we got ahead of ourselves."
A Biggs jumper with 3:07 left in the game had the Ironmen a point away at 47-46, but two free throws by Williams and one by Wayne Mack made it 50-46. Biggs again dropped a short jumper with 1:23 to go, setting up Gueye's big bomb.
Williams led the Paladins with 19 points, and Guzman (17 points) and McKenzie (12 points, 5 assists, 7 steals) also reached double figures. Gueye had 11 rebounds along with 7 points, as PC shot 22 of 46 from the floor and just 11 of 24 at the free throw line.
Brown finished with 9 rebounds and Biggs 8 for Don Bosco, which committed 17 turnovers compared to 8 for the Paladins. The Ironmen were 21 of 46 from the field and only 4 of 13 from the foul line.
FOR MORE PHOTOS OF THIS GAME OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS STORY, CHECK OUT THE NJS.com SCHOOL STORE!
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