January
30, 2006
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| Ahmed Hassan scored 34 points on 13 of 17 shooting to get Leonia past a challenge from Hasbrouck Heights in the opening round of the Jambo. | |
EAST RUTHERFORD – For Hasbrouck Heights, just making the Bergen County Jamboree was a feat in itself. In one of the biggest one-year turnarounds in recent memory among Bergen County teams, the Aviators went from 1-21 last season to qualifying for the Jambo for the first time since 2002.
It would have been easy for them to pack it in after they fell behind 13 points early in the second quarter. But the Aviators kept on clawing their way back into the game against 13th seeded Leonia and gave the Lions a scare right down to the final minute.
The Aviators outfoxed, outhustled, and outsmarted their opponent for most of the final three quarters. Unfortunately, when Ahmed Hassan is wearing the opposing jersey and has the hot hand, there is not much an opponent can do but accept its fate.
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| Mike DeSimone and Hasbrouck Heights came back from a 19-6 deficit to make it close. |
Hassan, a junior guard, may have had the best performance of his already illustrious scholastic career, when his team needed him most. He connected on a blistering 13 of 17 shots from the floor, including all five of his shots during the fourth quarter as he helped Leonia hang on for a 54-46 victory over Hasbrouck Heights, the No. 20 seed.
“That’s why he’s an All-County guard because of his capability of playing like that,” said Leonia head coach Fran Orlowski. “When we scrimmaged them, we took over with our full-court man-to-man pressure. I give credit to Hasbrouck Heights though; this was a completely different team than we saw less than two months ago. They handled the pressure well and never stopped playing even when they were down in the first half.”
Leonia, which buried the Aviators by more than 30 points during a pre-season scrimmage, looked to be on that route again with Hassan and Pasquale DeSalvo leading the way. Each of them scored six points during a 19-6 run to open the game.
But the Aviators never backed down and got some much-needed offense from an unlikely source. Looking for any sort of spark, Hasbrouck Heights got it from guard Andrew Duda. He scored a season-high nine points, all of those coming over the final four minutes of the first half. His conventional three-point play capped a personal 9-2 run and tied the game at 23.
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| Pasquale DeSalvo helped Leonia get off to a quick start. |
But Hassan came up big for the first time on the afternoon, stroking a three-pointer from the top of the key on the Lions’ next possession to give them a 26-23 lead going into the locker room.
“It turned out it was nothing like the first time we played them,” said Hassan. “We were in control against them during our scrimmage and then put them away in the third quarter. I give them a lot of credit; they never gave up and made better decisions than we did for the most part. In big games, I know I have to step up. There were some times where we needed a basket and if I got an opening, I was going to take the shot.”
Leonia was able to hold the lead throughout the second half, but the Aviators never let it become a comfortable lead. Mike DeSimone flexed his muscle inside and twice cut the lead to two points with putbacks late in the third quarter.
If the Lions were going to avoid the upset, Hassan, who had already scored 22 points, needed to elevate his game even further. He answered the bell by scoring in one way or another every time his team needed a bucket.
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| Mark Schrobak helped Heights handle the Leonia pressure. |
From an NBA-range three-pointer, to knifing drives through the lane, Hassan did it all through a defense designed to slow him down. His biggest two buckets came a minute apart, each with his team holding a slim two-point margin at the time. With a hand in his face each time, Hassan hit a tough runner off the glass and in to make it a two-possession game with 2:40 to play.
After a Hasbrouck Heights miss on the other end, Leonia ran nearly a minute’s worth of clock before Javier Labrada provided the back-breaking shot. He nailed a three-pointer from the top of the key to make it a 51-44 game and dash any hopes of an Aviator comeback.
“The reason why we’re here is just as a great reward for where we were just a year ago,” said Hasbrouck Heights head coach Bob Ciccone. “If Hassan is not leading the county in scoring, he’s right up there. We did everything we could to stop him. But you can’t do much more than put pressure on their best player and make him make tough shots. He just happened to make just about every one of them. We knew it was going to be tough to win this game. But we certainly didn’t embarrass ourselves. We never gave up and we proved to everyone else that we belonged to be here, which is a real achievement after going 1-21 last year.”
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| Dooley Watts and Leonia will face No. 4 seeded Fort Lee in next weekend's Round of 16. |
Hassan was unconscious from all over the court for Leonia (12-2). He missed just one shot in the second half and also finished 3 of 5 from three-point range and 5 of 6 at the charity stripe. His 34 points is the single high-scoring game in the Jamboree thus far. DeSalvo and Labrada each added eight points for the Lions.
DeSimone was Hasbrouck Heights’ (9-5) most consistent player all night. He finished with team-highs of 15 points and seven rebounds. Tim Thorne and Mark Schroback chipped in with six points apiece, all coming from beyond the arc.
This sets up the most highly-anticipated game in the Round of 16 next week when Leonia will face off against its neighbor fourth-seeded Fort Lee. It will also pit two of the top three scorers in the county Hassan and Pedro Burgos against one another in a battle of ‘Can you top this?’
But for Leonia head coach Fran Orlowski that is not even on the radar yet.
“I’m sure the kids are excited to play Fort Lee, but I want them to focus on tomorrow’s practice,” said Orlowski. “We have Cresskill this week and I’m sure they are going to come in ready to knock us off. Teams are gunning for us, so we can’t be foolish enough to look past anybody. I’m sure the Fort Lee game will be a great one, but we have plenty of work to do before we get to that point.”
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