February
5, 2007
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| Corey Raji put up 33 points as Westwood became the fifth No. 16 seed in Jambo history to knock off the No. 1 in the Round of 16. The Cardinals beat St. Joseph, 68-58. | |
TENAFLY -- Everybody knew the deal coming into Sunday afternoon’s Round of 16 finale between St. Joseph, the undefeated top seed, and 16th-seed Westwood. The best player was on the underdog, but could he get enough help?
The fact that Corey Raji scored 33 points means that his teammates were able to get him the ball. The fact that his teammates also scored 35 points means that Westwood joins the likes of St. Cecilia (1978), Ridgefield (1979), Cliffside Park (1984) and North Arlington (1985) in Jamboree annals.
The Cardinals’ 68-58 victory marks the fifth time the No. 16 seed has upset the top seed, and it gives Westwood the chance to avenge one of its losses next Sunday against ninth-seed Ramapo in the quarterfinals at 5:00 p.m. at Ramapo College.
“A tremendous, tremendous effort all around,” Westwood head coach Frank Connelly beamed. “We had to play a perfect game (to win), and I think we came pretty close to that.”
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| Noruwa Agho scored a team-high 25 points, but St. Joseph suffered its first loss of the season. |
“I’d have to say it is,” Raji replied when asked if it was the biggest win of his career. “Everybody thought we were going to get killed, but we played our hearts out and proved everybody wrong.”
What Westwood (13-4) did well was play with the lead, which never left it in the position of having to chase after the Green knights (16-1). The Cardinals scored the final nine points of the first quarter to go up 16-8 and, after SJR closed to within 26-25 at halftime and tied the game at 32 in the third, they scored six in a row to reestablish an advantage.
“We use a six man rotation, and we talked about (St. Joseph) playing in spurts because of their defense’” Connelly related. “They went on that one spurt at the end of the second quarter, but we were still able to go into the locker room up one. We held them off.”
The game within the game featured Raji and St. Joseph’s Noruwa Agho. Raji owned the first quarter, scoring 12 points while Agho was shut out, but Agho owned a 12-2 advantage in the second quarter.
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| Westwood's Kyle Hourigan scored 7 of his 11 points in the second quarter. |
The difference was that Raji got help from Kyle Hourigan, who hit for seven of his 11 points in the period, including a big three-point field goal.
“He made a few early mistakes, but bounced right back into the game,” Connelly said. “I told them its okay to make aggressive mistakes, and those were the mistakes we made.”
“At halftime, coach told us there’s no pressure on us, everybody’s expecting us to lose and we’re up by one,” Raji recalled. “We fed off that and we came out and kept the lead.”
The support continued in the third period as Max Padula set up Raji with one of his nine assists for a layup to get the Cards back in front. Hourigan followed with a layup off an offensive rebound and Dylan Cacciola drove for another layup.
“Everybody contributed by doing something to help us get this win today,” Raji said.
St. Joseph hung close and when Agho (25 points) hit two free throws with 5:59 to go, it was a three point game at 48-45. The Cardinals then went on a 10-2 run to assume a 58-47 lead with 3:03 to go, and Jason Hrbek got it started with a short baseline jumper and also had a pair of free throws.
“He is the person on our team that goes unnoticed more than anyone,” Connelly said. “Those who know the game appreciate all the little things he does, the boxing out on every possession.”
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| Max Padula had nine assists for Westwood, which will face No. 9 Ramapo in next weekend's quarterfinals. |
From there, it was Raji imposing his will on the game, grabbing six of his 15 rebounds in the final 2:30 and scoring 8 of the final 10 Westwood points.
“Tonight, he wanted that basketball every time down the floor and that makes it easier for our guards to get him the ball,” Connelly remarked, and Raji concurred, saying, “every time I could get it, I wanted it.”
Agho had 9 rebounds and 3 steals for St. Joseph, but he got no help on the boards where Westwood owned a 35-20 margin. They also were off from the field, hitting just 19 of 54 shots, including only 10 of 34 in the second half.
Hakeem Williams had 14 points, but after hitting a pair of three pointers to start the game, he was relatively quiet offensively. Marc Mandara had 10 points for the Knights, who were 17 of 26 at the free throw line.
Westwood hit on 24 of 45 shots, with Raji making 12 of 18, and was 16 of 22 from the foul line, and its good shooting helped offset 17 turnovers.
The Cardinals will be making their fourth straight quarterfinal round appearance, and this might be their best opportunity to advance to the Final 4, though Ramapo knocked them off in the Indian Hills Christmas Tournament, 67-66.
“I really think we can (get there),” said Connelly. “The kids will be the first ones to tell you, we’ve been somewhat underachieving up until a week ago. I think we just sort of snapped out of it.”
“I look at it this way,” Raji added. “Every game in the counties is the last chance I have to prove to everybody what we can do.”
FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS GAME OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.
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