February
6, 2006
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TENAFLY -- It was a matchup that had rout written all over it in the Jamboree Round of 16 at Tenafly High School. Second seed St. Joseph taking on an Elmwood Park team that was shorthanded by injury. When it was only 7-5 at the end of the first quarter, there were more than a few curious eyes on the Green Knights.
By the end of the second period, the Knights had exerted their dominance both offensively and defensively, breaking down the Crusaders on the way to a 40-10 lead before cruising home to a 55-40 victory. The triumph sends St. Joe’s, the defending champion, into the quarterfinals next Sunday at Paramus High School against 10th seed Ridgefield Park.
While exiting the Jamboree, Elmwood Park (10-7) gave a credible performance despite missing starter Eli Tillerson (hip fracture) and two other reserves. They played hard after going down 30 in the first minute of the second half, outscoring SJR 30-13 the rest of the way.
“It presents different challenges when you break out to a big lead early,” SJR head coach Mike Doherty assessed. “Nonetheless, it doesn’t take away from the fact that they played hard. They deserve credit.”
The slow start to the game was offset by a Green Knight second quarter splurge, when they outscored the Crusaders 27-5. Noruwa Agho had 13 of his 15 points in the period, as he began to control the paint.
“I thought Noruwa, in a very quiet way, had a good game for us,” Doherty commented. “He kept working hard in the middle of the zone and let things come to him.”
The Knights opened with the first eight points of the quarter to go up 15-5, with James Bryant scoring five and punctuating the spurt with a three-pointer.
After a bucket by EP’s Jared Forestieri, SJR ran off nine more with Agho sandwiching baskets around a three-pointer by Erol Belizaire. They closed the half with six points in a row to make it 34-10, then had back-to-back threes from David Zuber and Marc Mandara to open the second half.
A major factor was the Green Knight defense, which forced 13 first half turnovers and limited Elmwood Park to just 14 shots, of which they made just four.
“Our defensive pressure allowed us to build up a big early lead, and that was good to see,” Doherty added.
With the big advantage, St. Joseph relaxed a bit, shuffling players and the Crusaders capitalized by getting the deficit to a reasonable margin.
“We need everyone who goes on the court to have the same level of intensity,” Doherty said, “and when that doesn’t happen, it’s tough to get continuity.”
Steve Herget led Elmwood Park with 14 points and Forestieri, a freshman, dropped in 13 points. Dennis Klinger had 9 rebounds for the Crusaders, who shot 16 of 35 from the field (1 of 9 from three-point land) and were 7 of 11 at the free throw line.
Ten different players scored for SJR, with Mandara joining Agho in double figures with 10 points. Agho added 8 rebounds and a blocked shot for the Green Knights, who shot 23 of 51 overall (5 of 16 threes) and 4 of 8 at the stripe.
“You can’t beat yourself up over a double digit win over a quality opponent,” Doherty summarized.
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