February
5, 2007
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MAHWAH -- Rob Monaco had scored a grand total of 26 points in his previous 11 games before last Thursday night, when he dropped in a career-high 18 against Paramus. On Sunday night, Monaco made his presence felt again, this time on the grand stage of the Jamboree.
He matched his 18 points from the previous game, giving Bergen Catholic some instant offense in the first quarter and some much-needed scoring in the third quarter. Combined with a foul shooting clinic by Ricky Carroll, it was enough to put BC into the Final 4 for a Jambo record 24th time.
Their 59-53 conquest of Hackensack means that the second-seeded Crusaders will face third seed Pascack Hills in the semifinals on Sunday at the Rothman Center in an 8:15 p.m. tip off after Don Bosco and Westwood do battle in the opener at 6:30 p.m.
Resiliency and perseverance may be the by-words of a Crusader team that has spent the majority of the season shorthanded due to injuries.
“To not have had Colin (Lewis, knee) all year, to have Nolan (Hill, knee) go down, (Kyle) Kahler is playing on a badly sprained ankle for the last two weeks, (Jon) Rigg’s been in bed, Ricky (Carroll) is hurting, we’ve had two or three guys miss practice this past week because we’ve got a bug going around,” rattled off, BC head coach Joe Dionisio. “And for us to get through this and get to the semifinals, this is a pretty tough group when it comes down to it.”
One of the toughest was Monaco, whose back-to-back three-pointers midway through the first period helped Bergen maintain a 19-17 lead at the quarter’s close.
“Injuries and hard work in practice are what gave me the shot,” Monaco remarked, “This is my dream, the biggest game of my life. To have an opportunity like this, I can’t even describe it to you.”
The Comets (13-7) continued to stay close thanks to Keon Williams, who threw down 13 of his game-high 27 points in the first half. His jumper with two seconds left had Hackensack within 31-29 at the intermission.
While the score was close, the Crusaders were getting the Comets into some foul trouble. Both Justis Oliver and Reggie Sowell spent significant time on the bench with fouls, part of Bergen Catholic’s strategy coming in.
“I can’t tell you how long we spent this past week on ball faking and boxing out this week,” Dionisio related. “It was almost all we did. We felt if we had opportunities we could get them up in the air and create some fouls. It was important to get them in foul troubles and we were fortunate we were able to.”
Williams imparted himself on the Crusaders in the third period after BC opened with a Carroll three-point play. He scored the next eight points to put Hackensack up 37-34, and they had the opportunity to shift the momentum.
Enter Monaco, who came down and scored two baskets to retake the lead for Bergen and stem the Comet spurt.
A trio of free throws, the last two by Williams with 1:52 in the third, regained the lead for Hackensack at 40-38, but Carroll was fouled and hit a pair to tie the game. Monaco then put BC up with one of two at the line with 1:17 to go and stretched it to a four-point lead with his third trey of the game with 20 ticks.
When Bob DiPiazza beat the buzzer with an end-to-end drive for a layup, Bergen Catholic had a 46-40 lead entering the fourth quarter.
“I’ve always had confidence in my shooting,” Monaco said. “It was my turn to step up and help my teammates. They got me the ball land had confidence I me.”
“He’s one of those guys who works hard all the time,” said Dionisio of the senior. “He’s quiet about everything, waiting for his opportunity. Three weeks ago, he started doing thing in practice where we just said we’ve got to throw him in the mix.
“We started losing guys to injuries, Rigg just got out of bed after five days to play in this game, and Rob got a lot of reps in practice all week and he practiced well. He had to learn the sets so he was comfortable, but we figured that once we got to the Jamboree he was going to play a role for us.”
The fourth quarter was all about Carroll as he scored 9 of his team-high 20 points, including seven at the charity stripe. Bergen needed every one, as Hackensack scored the first seven points of the final stanza to take the lead again at 47-46 with 5:41 remaining. Danny Watts’ three-pointer put the Comets on top before Dan Marconi hit a free throw to tie the game.
Triatan Haines scored inside to put Hackensack ahead and Oliver added a foul shot with 3:47 in the game before Carroll took over. He it a pair of foul shot, then put the Crusaders ahead with a steal and layup with 2:25 on the clock.
Sowell fouled out on a charge with 2:07 to go before Carroll hit two more freebies with 1:39 left to make it 53-50. After a Hackensack miss, Watts fouled out and Monaco hit a pair to up the lead to five.
Williams scored inside, but Marconi hit one of two and Carroll hit three of four, the last one coming with 22.9 to go to ice the game. Carroll ended up 14 of 17 at the stripe, part of Bergen’s 24 of 33 as a team.
“Percentage-wise, he our best guy, and it’s always nice to get him to the line,” Dionisio noted.
Williams had 10 rebounds for Hackensack, which was 18 of 45 from the floor and 12 of 19 at the line. The Crusaders shot 15 of 36 on field goals and were led on the glass by Kahler’s six rebounds, four of them offensive.
“I thought we’d have to fight our way through this (Jamboree),” Dionisio said. “I felt any of the eight (quarterfinalists) here today could win it, and you just hope to get to play again. Now we’re down to four and we’re happy to be one of them.”
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