March
2, 2006
MONTVALE -- The St. Joseph basketball team had to be questioning itself. After a 16-0 start, with almost anyone with an opinion calling them the best team in Bergen County, the Green Knights were summarily bounced from the Jamboree, lost a difficult game to nationally ranked St. Anthony and dropped a buzzer beater to Pascack Hills.
Certainly not the best way to embark on the postseason, especially with arch-rival and Jamboree champion Don Bosco coming to Montvale. It was time for someone to step up.
Enter Joe Efese, the sophomore center who has seen limited minutes in recent games. Efese was probably the last person that was expected to be the lynch pin, but there he was, giving the Knights exactly what they needed.
He teamed with Noruwa Agho to steer St. Joe’s to a 53-47 victory that puts the Green Knights into the North Non-Public A semifinals against another familiar foe, Bergen Catholic. The Crusaders defeated Marist, 62-57, to earn their trip to Montvale on Saturday.
Efese came in averaging two points a game and had scored a total of 49 (with a high game of six), but he became a focal point in the second half when he scored eight points over the final 9:14 and added four rebounds and a blocked shot.
“You never know which matchups, which combinations are going to be key,” SJR head coach Mike Doherty said. “We’re blessed with a strong bench, and Joe did a great job tonight. You can’t say enough. He made some big plays.”
Bosco (23-6) had taken a 38-35 lead on an A.J. LoRusso three-point field goal before Efese hit a jumper in the lane and beat the third quarter buzzer with a putback of an offensive rebound to put St. Joe’s a point up entering the fourth quarter.
“Once I hit that first jump shot, I felt comfortable,” Efese said. “I got rebounds, blocked shots and my coach and teammates showed confidence in me.”
The final five minutes of the game belonged to Agho, who did not score his first point until the second quarter and had only three rebounds in the game.
“Even though he wasn’t hot in the first half, he kept his groove up,” Efese noted. “He was the leader, giving us all confidence out there.”
“In the second half, I wanted to take over, put it all on the line,” Agho said.
That he did, beginning with an assist inside to Efese for a layup that put SJR up 43-40 with 4:51 to go.
“Hitting Joe, I knew that
was two points, I didn’t even think twice about it,” Agho added.
“Coach Doherty knows how to use (players) and today was a perfect example.
We practice so hard, and they stepped in and did what they’re supposed
to do.”
LoRusso answered with a jumper, but Agho rocked the home crowd, first with
a 14-foot jumper and then with a baseline three-pointer from the deep right
corner, after which he reacted with a big-time fist pump right in front of
the Bosco pack.
“Maurice (Fulford) hit me with a good pass, and that’s what I practice,” Agho said of the huge trey. “This is it, and if we lose my senior season is over. I felt I could make it, it went in, and that’s all I could ask for. I believe that big shots make a big difference, and even if they were to come down and score, we’d still have the momentum.”
“It speaks to his maturity, he let things come to him,” Doherty said. “He did a great job of spacing to get those shots when they were in that zone, and he’s the guy you want to step up and take those shots.”
Doherty was fine with Agho’s choice of a three bomb there, a spot where most coaches would be of the “oh, no” mentality.
“Because they play such good defense, we had to stay loose (offensively),” Doherty commented. “Anybody who had a shot had to take it. They know us to well.”
Georgio Milligan stole the ball from Agho and scored to make it 48-44 with 2:01 left in the game, but Agho was unfazed, coming down and again feeding Efese inside for a basket with 1:20 left. The Ironmen had a three-pointer clang off, with Agho grabbing the rebound before getting fouled and making one of two free throws with 50.2 to go.
A Bosco miss and a turnover cost them two possessions, and Agho made a steal and a layup with 12 seconds to go to end the drama.
“The kids had to question some things after the recent losses, but we’ve said from the beginning of the season that our margin of error was almost nothing,” Doherty said. “When we’re playing well, we feel we can beat anybody.
“You get off to a 16-0 start, and you think things are going to happen automatically. These last few days, they’ve had to go through some soul searching and to go back to the drawing board and realize we’re still capable of doing things.”
“Every game is a new game,” Agho countered. “Just because you lose the last game, it doesn’t add or subtract any points from the game you’re about to play. Every game is a whole new game.”
The Green Knights (22-3) also got important minutes from David Cooke, whose putback with 5:24 to go gave St. Joseph the lead for good at 41-40. He also had three rebounds and a steal in the second half and was a presence in the high post area.
“He’s had an up and down year with injuries,” Doherty related, “and you’ve just got to hand it to him. We felt that a tremendous on the ball defender would really help us with Milligan and (Kyle) Smyth.”
Milligan did score 20 points and had six rebounds, two blocked shots and three steals, but Smyth was held to 8 points and 6 boards. LoRusso had 16 points for the Ironmen, who were 16 of 36 from the floor (4 of 9 on threes) and 11 o 18 at the free throw line.
Agho had 18 points as the lone Knight in double figures, and Fulford had a team-high four rebounds off the bench. St. Joseph shot 18 of 42 (4 of 10 behind the arc) and hit on 13 of 20 free throws.
TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.
|
|
|
| About Us | Contact Us | Home |
Questions?
E-mail the editor editor@northjerseysports.com
All contents © copyright 2003-2006 HSSportsWeb.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
