Sunday, February 22, 2009

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Joe Efese (right) was a difference maker inside for St. Joseph and hit the two free throws with four seconds left that sealed the Knights' 61-57 upset of top-seeded Pascack Hills in the Jambo semifinals.

HACKENSACK – It was halftime, it was a two-point game and St. Joseph Regional was right where it wanted to be. Any lingering doubts that the Green Knights could play with top-seeded Pascack Hills that were planted by a 30-point loss early in the season were long gone by the time SJR hit the locker at intermission on Saturday night at the Rothman Center on the campus of Fairleigh Dickinson.

And once its confidence was assured, St. Joseph used the second half to showcase its ability to play at both ends of the floor. Kai Dominguez’s three-pointer with 3:04 left in the third quarter broke a 36-all tie and St. Joseph never trailed thereafter on its way to a 61-57 win and a spot in the Jamboree final where it will take on No. 3 Teaneck on Monday night at FDU.

“It think the psychological aspect clearly was what we had to contend with in the first half, but then it boiled down to playing 16 minutes of not flawless ball, but pretty darn close because Pascack Hills does not make many mistakes,” said Mike Daugherty, who is one win away from his second Jambo title as SJR’s head coach and the fourth in the school’s history. “All three of our junior guard showed great composure, ran the floor well and really kept us right where we wanted to be until we could make a run.”

Michael Friedberg finished with a game-high 23 points for Pascack Hills, which lost for the first time in 23 games this season.

Those junior guards are Alex Aitkens, Mike Marchman and Dominguez, whose athleticism and hot shooting made the difference. He made two free throws to start the fourth quarter in the midst of an 8-0 run that the Knights used to take control as they went from up by a point with 1:23 to go in the third quarter to up 49-40 after Andrew Belizaire knocked down a wide open jumper from the wing courtesy of a kick-out pass from Nick DeLango with 5:30 to play in the game.

Dominguez made the prettiest basket of the night, using a spin dribble to blow by a defender at the foul line before hanging in the air and dropping in a floater that gave his team a 51-42 lead with 3:57 to play and he requested and was granted the assignment of guarding Pascack Hills’ standout senior Jake Wolfin on the defensive end.

St. Joseph prides itself on its stout defense and usually tries to force opponents into halfcourt sets. But when that strategy was proved ineffective in the Knights’ early season loss to Pascack Hills, they changed things up and pushed the ball at every opportunity. That was made easier with Joe Efese controlling the defensive glass and making quick outlet passes that got SJR moving down the other end of the floor quickly.

“The one thing we knew we had over them was speed. Coach Daugherty told us to keep pushing the ball, keep pushing the ball and that they would get tired. We knew that if we could do that they would get tired in the fourth quarter and we’d have the game,” said Dominguez, who scored 9 of his team-high 19 points in the fourth quarter. “That is exactly what happened. We wore them down.”

Kai Dominguez hanging in the air before his basket with 3:57 left in the game gave St. Joseph a a 51-42 lead.

Dominguez’s free throw with 3:05 to play gave St. Joseph its largest lead of the night at 52-42, but Pascack Hills, which came into the game having won all 22 of its games made one last bid to save its perfect season. Wolfin turned the corner and made a layup with 2:28 left and Mike Friedberg made a layup, blocked a shot on the defensive end and then drained a three-pointer to get the Cowboys back to within 54-50 with 1:47 to play.

Dominguez answered with a fastbreak basket and two free throws to restore the SJR lead to 8 points with 43 seconds left, but Pascack Hills almost reeled the Knights back in. Another basket and two more free throws from Friedberg had the Cowboys with four points with 22 seconds left and, after an Efese free throw, Wolfin actually got his team to within one possession at 59-57 with a trey with 10 seconds to play.

“The guys on St. Joe’s did what they can do. Efese was big in the middle, Dominguez hit a lot of tough shots. They made it hard on Wolfin to get going, but he battled through it,” said Pascack Hills head coach Chris Kirkby. “We were down nine with about three minutes to go and how many games have you seen where that stretches out to 15? The fact that we got it back to a one-possession game is a credit to these guys. I don’t think we lost this game, I think St. Joe’s won it. They just played better than we did tonight.”

Jake Wolfin's 3-pointer with 10 seconds left to play got PH to within 59-57.

But to seal the win, Efese found himself on the foul line with four seconds left. He took two deep breaths, then drained both to suck the life out of any miraculous comeback hopes that the Cowboys might have had left.

“I’ve taken a lot of free throws this season and had all the confidence I needed to make those last two. I didn’t even feel that much pressure,” said Efese. “When we saw the bracket and we knew we would have a chance to play Pascack Hills in the Final 4 if we got there, we really wanted to get here. We wanted to play them again because they embarrassed us last time we played them. We wanted to show that that game was not St. Joe’s basketball, tonight was.”

Dominguez’s 19 points led St. Joseph and Efese pulled down 12 rebounds to go with his 11 points. Marchman (11 points) and Aitkens (10 points) made it four Green Knights in double digits and Belizaire chipped in with six points for SJR, which improved to 20-4 as it earned its spot in the Jambo final against Teaneck. The same teams will also meet later in the week in an NNJIL regular season game.

“I am just so happy for our kids. That [30-point loss] was a big cloud hanging over them and a big burden to carry. First of all I am thankful that we had the opportunity to atone for our last game, but I am just so proud of our kids for being able to carry that through,” said Dougherty. “Teaneck is going to be another challenge to say the least. They are faster than fast and they have all the momentum in the world. We are going to have to find a way to neutralize or at least limit their outside attack and their quickness because they are clearly faster than us.”

Andrew Belizaire (11) and SJR will take on Teaneck in Monday night's Jambo final.

Friedberg led all scorers with 23 points for Pascack Hills, while Mike Horn added 12 and Wolfin finished with 10. But with its first loss of the season coming so late in the season, Pascack Hills’ resiliency will be tested. The Cowboys will host defending Tournament of Champions winner St. Anthony on Thursday and then back that up with a home date against Ridgewood on Friday, the regular season fair well to the 10 seniors on the PH roster. Then it is off to the state playoffs where they are the top seed in North 1, Group 2.

“We have a couple of days to regroup. We have a couple of guys sick and banged up, but we’ll know right away about how the rest of the season is going to go by the way we come out and practice on Tuesday,” said Kirkby. “We’ve got some tough games. We’ve got St. Anthony, we have Ridgewood and then the state tournament. There are no gimmies left. We can finish the season at 22-4 or we can actually regroup and make a run at the states.”

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