December
16, 2006
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| Northern Highlands' Taylor Barrise led all scorers with 18 points as the Highlanders opened the season with a 69-51 win over Old Tappan. | |
OLD TAPPAN -- Playing in an away gym on the opening night of the boys basketball season Northern Highlands was at a disadvantage at the onset of Friday night's game at Old Tappan. The home team had the crowd on its side, the adrenalin pumping and a five-point lead after the first quarter.
But once the initial energy wore off for Old Tappan, the reality of the matchup set in. The Golden Knights are the defending NBIL Division 1 and North 1, Group 3 state sectional champions, but graduation sapped five of the top seven players in their rotation and this year Northern Highlands is the deeper and more experienced club.
The Highlanders used their depth, their ability to pressure the ball handler and a share-the-ball approach on offense to pull away early in the third quarter on the way to 69-51 rout and good way to start the season.
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| Sam Hagopian, Old Tappan's lone returning starter, led the Knights with 14 points. |
“It’s like the opposite of what it was against these guys last year,” said Northern Highlands’ Reed Nichol. “Last year they had a lot of weapons and that is the way we feel this season. We have a lot of guys -- big guys and guards -- that can score and move the ball, and tonight we played good defense after the first quarter.”
Senior Sam Hagopian, Old Tappan’s lone returning starter, scored the final four points of the first quarter on two free throws and a post move to give the Knights a 17-12 lead and OT was clinging to a three-point advantage, 25-22, when Bryan Stankiewicz hit two free throws, but the tide was beginning to turn.
Highlands used nine players in the first half compared to just six for Old Tappan and the Highlanders exploited their advantage in the final four minutes of the first half to edge in front. Andrew Weinzoff, who played well off the bench at point guard, hit a 3-pointer from the wing to give NH its first lead since 2-0 at 26-25 and forced an Old Tappan time out.
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| Brian Bovino's putback closed just before the halftime buzzer gave NH a 34-29 lead. |
Highlands head coach Mike Stone then slapped on a pressure defense right out of the huddle. The Highlanders forced a turnover, Brian Bovino scored off a putback and Highlands moved out to a five-point lead, the same advantage they had at the half, when Bovino crashed the offensive glass again to give his team a 34-29 lead at the break.
“I think the fact that we came out and missed a lot of shots early kind of put us on our heels a little bit, and might have made us a little tentative on defense, too,” said Stone. “But once we started to get our defense to start creating our offense, either getting steals, deflections or holding them to one-shot trips, then we started to get into it. Offensive rebounding helped us as well.”
Having wrested the lead back late in the first half, Highlands set about extending it in the third quarter and did so quickly. Mike Librot, the starting point guard, hit a three from the top of the key 15 seconds in and that basket kicked off an 11-2 run. Included was an old fashioned three-point play by Taylor Barrise and a three from the corner by Nichol that gave Highlands its first double digit lead, 44-32, with 4:57 to go in the third.
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| Sophomore Bryan Stankiewicz had 10 points for Old Tappan. |
If the game wasn’t over then, it was when Weinzoff connected for five straight points on consecutive possessions. He teamed with 6-foot-8 Noah Hanback each time using fundamental big guy-little guy basketball. First Weinzoff used the pick and roll as a high screen, took one step past Hanback’s pick and nailed a pull up jumper from just to the right of center.
The next time down the floor Weinzoff set up in the corner and fed the ball into the post to Hanback. When the defense collapsed, Hanback gave it back and Weinzoff nailed a three from the corner to give Highlands a 49-34 lead with 2:23 to play in the third.
“To be able to come off the bench with guards and big guys that can step right in and give us a lift is a positive for us this year,” said Stone. “We had Mike Librot start at point guard and he hit three huge shots for us in the first quarter when we were struggling. Then Andrew Weinzoff comes in, hits a three, gets big steal and hits a couple of other shots. We are fortunate.”
All of the offensive options make life easier for Barrise, a quality shooter who doesn’t have to force shots at the rim, but can wait for open chances. Barrise led all scorers with 18 points and was one of three Highlanders in double digits. Nichol finished with 14, Librot had 13 ( 8 in the first quarter) and Weinzoff and Bovino finished with 8.
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| Andrew Weinzoff scored 8 points off the bench, included five straight points in the third quarter that put the game away. |
“There is no way that teams can double team me or pay too much attention to me because that leaves open shots for everybody else. You can’t leave Reed alone or Mike Librot or Andrew Weinzoff either,” said Barrise, the son of Nets assistant coach Tom Barrise. “Then we have a 6-8 kid [Hanback] in the middle, so we have a lot of options.”
Old Tappan has had to retool after last year’s senior-led postseason run that saw the Knights reach the Rothman Center for the semifinals of the Bergen County Jamboree. Although OT is a different team, it is not likely in rebuilding mode just yet. Game experience will benefit the Knights, who are breaking in a new point guard in junior Max Blank
Stankiewicz handled the ball a lot last year as a freshman, but is better suited on the wing where the Knights are trying to replace some good shooters from last year’s team. Hagopian led Old Tappan on Friday night with 14 points, but 12 of those came in the first half. Stankiewicz finished with 10, Blank had 8 and Dominik Musial provided energy off the bench and finished with 6 points.
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