February
5, 2007
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| Ridgefield Park's Pat Panetta had 16 points, including a three-point play that capped the 8-0 start to the third quarter that put his team up by 11 points. | |
TENAFLY -- Midway through the first quarter of their Round of 16 Jamboree game against Ridgewood, Ridgefield Park found themselves trailing by a 15-4 score. The Scarlets were a possession or two away from being run out of the gym.
“I was really worried,” RP head coach Chris Gaskin said. “They’re a tremendous team and they shoot the ball very well.”
The Scarlets are a good team, too. They did not wilt under the pressure, outscoring the Maroons 11-2 through the rest of the first quarter before assuming a 32-29 halftime lead. From there, it was too much John Tello and company for Ridgewood, as Ridgefield Park advanced to the quarterfinals next Sunday with a going-away, 76-57 victory.
The fifth-seeded Scarlets (13-3) will take on fourth-seed Don Bosco in the opener at Ramapo College in a 12:00 p.m. tipoff.
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| Tobin Haase scored 20 points for Ridgewood, which fell to 9-10 with the loss. |
Tello had the hot hand, sinking five of six three-point field goals on the way to a 27-point, 9-rebound performance. Two of the treys came in the third quarter when they extended their slim halftime advantage to a 55-39 bulge.
“Once we got our flow going, I felt we could put them away. Early in the third quarter, we got a few stops and converted at the other end of the floor and it changed the tempo of the game,” Gaskin commented.
That basically doomed Ridgewood (9-10), which was playing with out point guard Randy DeFeo. He suffered ligament damage in his right hand in practice on Thursday and, despite gutting out a Friday game playing exclusively left handed, he could not make a go of it.
“We’re not the same team without him,” Ridgewood head coach Mike Troy said of DeFeo. “I’m so proud the way (Justin) Greenstone played, but he’s not a point guard.”
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| RP senior John Tello had the hot hand, sinking five of six three-point field goals on the way to a 27-point, 9-rebound performance. |
Greenstone scored 20 points, 13 of them in the first half as Ridgewood tried to capitalize on its early fortune.
Tello would have none of that, however.
“I’m John’s biggest fan,” Gaskin said, “and there people who sometimes question whether he deserves all the credit he gets, but he proved it today with his confidence on the floor, his ability to take a game over when needed and the fact that he’s so unselfish.”
“They were kind of pushing me out,” Tello offered, “and it was hard for me to get down low where I usually start off and stepping outside. My shot was dropping, so they just kept getting me the ball.”
He had three of his three-pointers in the first half, the first giving the Scarlets the lead for the first time at 18-17 and the second putting them up 27-24. A Greenstone trey tied it, but Nico Velez matched it with a three of his own, putting RP ahead for good.
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| Justin Greenstone stepped in a point guard and scored 20 points for Ridgewood. |
“John (Tello)’s ability to be inside-outside obviously opens up a lot of things for everybody,” Gaskin noted. “(Patrick) Panetta played one of his best high school games today, and Brian Haynes really stepped up in helping to defend (Tobin) Haase. You give him the assignment off the ball to defend, and he’ll be in his face the whole time.”
Panetta had 16 points, including a three-point play that capped the 8-0 start to the third quarter tat put Ridgefield Park up 40-29. Tello finished off a second 8-0 spurt in the third period with a trey that upped the lead to 53-37.
Velez had 16 points as well and Mike Berrios added 12, with three of his baskets coming off steals.
“Defense always gets us going,” Tello said, “and Mike was big for us. Haynes coming off the bench and helping down on defense was also big.”
Haase had trouble getting untracked as he launched a trio of failed three point shots early before getting back in the paint. He did score 20 points, but had only 5 rebounds and was effectively neutralized by Haines, who stepped in for foul-plagued Balawal Sohail.
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| Brian Haines gave Ridgefield Park quality minutes off the bench. |
Justin Akridge had 12 points for Ridgewood, which definitely missed DeFeo’s offense.
“We’re a three point shooting team, and you look at the numbers tonight (3 of 15) and our three-point shooting wasn’t very good at all,” Troy related. “We kept jacking them up and they weren’t falling. We should have gone down low more.”
The Maroons were 21 of 51 on field goals and 12 of 21 at the free throw line, while the Scarlet hit 16 of 26 second half shot to go 29 of 51 in the game (7 of 13 on threes). They were also 11 of 14 at the charity stripe. Velez had 11 rebounds and 4 assists while Berrios dished off six assists and had four steals.
FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS GAME OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.
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