January
30, 2006
 |
PARAMUS -- When the seedings came out on Friday for the Jamboree, there were more than a few eyebrows raised at the inclusion of Northern Highlands in the 21-team field. With a 7-5 record, the Highlanders themselves were unsure if they would even get a bid.
On Sunday at Paramus Catholic, Highlands showed its worthiness as a Jamboree team, getting a tremendous first half out of Taylor Barrise and a team effort in the second half to defeat Ridgefield by a 70-59 score.
Northern Highlands, the 14th seed, now gets to play on its home court next Saturday night against third-seeded Paramus Catholic in the Round of 16.
“We were thrilled to get in,” NH head coach Mike Stone said of his team’s selection. “I could have seen them not inviting us, and I would have understood that, but we had won 6 of 8 and the two losses were to the 6 and 7 seeds (Old Tappan and Ramapo). We’re glad to be here.”
They get to stick around for another week thanks to an outstanding first half out of Barrise, who scored 20 of his 22 points before the intermission. He canned four three-point field goals and shot 6 of 9 from the field and 4 of 4 at the free throw line.
“He was a bit down on his offensive game last week, when he had only 10 points against Bergenfield and Wayne Hills,” Stone related. “Teams were starting to key on him, and we just told him let the offense come to you.”
They needed every one of those points just to hang on to a lead, however, as the two teams played up and down the floor. There were eight lead changes and seven ties in the entertaining 16 minutes.
“That is not our game,” Stone explained. “We try to hold teams to 12 or less points a quarter because we don’t score in bunches. For us to score 70, that’s not like us. We were in it because Taylor happened to be very hot.”
The Royals (9-5) countered with 12 points each from George Schultz and Derek Picinni along with a 6 of 9 second quarter shooting performance. The third quarter saw Highlands score seven in a row, with Reed Nicol dropping in five, but Ridgefield hung tough and entered the fourth quarter trailing 47-43.
A pair of foul shots by Schultz (game-high 26 points) had the game even at 49 with 6:34 remaining, then Northern Highlands strung together eight straight points to take command. It began with a running jumper by Matt Zanedis and continued with six straight points by Nicol, with the middle two finishing off a steal.
From there, it became a free throw fest for the Highlanders, as they made 10 of 12 in the final 1:42 to keep their distance and take the victory.
“Free throw shooting has not been a strong point for us,” Stone admitted, “and we’ve been working on that. We lost two games in overtime early in the year because of missed free throws. In the last couple of games we’ve been much better.”
Barrise had 7 rebounds to go with his 22 points, while Nicol had 15 points and 7 boards and Zanedis added 12 points. Michael Librot hit 9 of 10 foul shots in the game, including seven of eight in the fourth quarter, and Noah Hanback topped Highlands with 9 rebounds.
The Highlanders shot 22 of 48 from the floor (5 of 12 from three) and 21 of 29 at the line, while Ridgefield countered with 21 of 48 (4 of 13 threes) and 13 of 18. Picinni had 19 points and 6 rebounds for the Royals.
|
|
|
| About Us | Contact Us | Home |
Questions?
E-mail the editor editor@northjerseysports.com
All contents © copyright 2003-2006 HSSportsWeb.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
