Monday, January 31, 2011

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Harun Tolbert outscored Demarest by himself in overtime after St. Mary had overcome a 14-point fourth quarter deficit in a 71-62 win in the opening round of the Jambo.

WESTWOOD – After the Bergen County Jamboree field was announced, the St. Mary (Rutherford) players felt slighted by the No. 18 seed they received in a field of 24 teams. However through three quarters of their first-round game, the Gaels might have felt like they did not even belong in the tournament. They were staring at a 14-point deficit early in the fourth quarter against No. 15 Demarest, a team that got in based on its strength of schedule, unlike St. Mary, which had the prerequisite .650 winning percentage.

But even trailing by double digits, St. Mary still had had hope because: A) there was still time left on the clock; and B) the Gaels had not yet played their best basketball, especially when it came to the intangibles that have made St. Mary a consistently successful program under head coach Matt Stone.

The Gaels climbed all the way back to pull within three points before it looked like they had finally run out of time. But a hustle play by Tom McPherson gave them one last opportunity to send the game into overtime. With a hand in his face, Connor Cuccinelli did just that by nailing a three-pointer with 10 seconds left.

It was all Harun Tolbert from there. The point guard scored seven of his game-high 24 points in the extra session as St. Mary never trailed in overtime and pulled off a 71-62 upset over the Norsemen in the opening round of the Jambo on Sunday at Westwood High School.

“The end result was what we wanted, but the way we got to that point was pretty crazy,” said Tolbert. “When you’re down, you just have to find ways to get back in the game. It took all five guys on the court to get the job done and this was definitely our biggest win of the year.”

The first quarter pace was fast and furious as both teams shot over 60 percent from the field. But it was Northern Valley/Demarest that seized control early in the second quarter. Center Dan Crimmins stepped out and hit a pair of three-pointers, one of them coming in an 11-0 run, that helped the Norsemen grab a 33-23 lead at the half.

Tolbert scored two straight baskets to cut the lead down to four early in the third quarter. The Norsemen responded with another big run, including three buckets from Loran Kaleci in an 11-2 spurt that boosted their lead up to 14 by the end of the third quarter, 50-36.

“We were clearly in a tough spot, but we kept fighting until we dug our way out of it,” said Stone, who is also the program’s all-time leading scorer with over 1,700 points during his scholastic career in the early 90’s. “It started with getting some stops defensively and we climbed back in a little at a time. We have well-conditioned athletes and we had that competitive drive right until the very end. Our team wasn’t going to give up until the final buzzer sounded.”

It was a crisis moment for the Gaels, who needed a spark from anyone just to get things started. They got it from everyone, but it was David Capriola who seemingly made big play after big play on both ends to get the Gaels within striking distance. He scored on a conventional three-point play, then followed with a pair of free-throws to get the Gaels within three, 54-51 with 2:33 to play.

The Norsemen had the chance to put the game away in the final minute, but faltered at the charity stripe. After an intentional foul was called on St. Mary’s and the Gaels had to foul following the ensuing possession. But the Norsemen hit just one of two free-throws on the intentional foul and missed the front end of a one-and-one. After a runner by Tolbert cut the lead to two with 31 seconds left, the Norsemen again hit just one of two free-throws. That kept it a one-possession game and gave the Gaels an opportunity to tie the game.

Demarest guard Luis Montalvo appeared to dive on a steal that would have iced the game with the possession arrow in the Norsemen’s favor. But St. Mary’s Tom McPherson leaped over Montalvo and quickly wrestled the ball away and called timeout to give the Gaels another shot at a game-tying three-pointer.

Connor Cuccinelli inbounded the ball just below the foul-line extended, then came all the way around the court off of a perfect screen from Capriola. Tolbert hit Cuccinelli curling off the screen and there never was any hesitation. He quickly pulled up for a shot that was just over the outstretched hand of Kelegi that hit nothing but the bottom of the net with 10 seconds to play to knot the score at 56. Demarest was unable to get off a good look in the waning seconds and the game went to overtime.

“I knew I was getting the ball and I had to shoot it if I had an open look,” said Cuccinelli, a 6-foot-5 sophomore. “It felt pretty good when it left my hand. I didn’t have much time to react when it went in because we had to get right back on defense. We felt pretty confident if we could get the game to overtime that we could win it just because of the momentum we had.”

Montalvo, who was the best player on the court during the first half, fouled out on St. Mary’s first possession of overtime. Tolbert followed on the ensuing possession with a driving layup and the momentum had permanently switched over to the Gaels. Tolbert, a senior point guard, outscored Demarest in the overtime by himself, 7-6, as St. Mary’s moved into the second round in thrilling fashion.

“I felt like in overtime, I had to be more aggressive on both ends and it worked out,” added Tolbert. “The key is that we never quit defensively and that eventually got our offense going in the right direction. We started gaining confidence through the fourth quarter. When we got to overtime, it was a brand new game and we felt more relaxed than anything else. I think that helped us get off to a fast start and we never looked back.”

Tolbert finished with a game-high 24 points along with five assists and five steals for St. Mary (12-2).  Kyle Dadika added 16 points, while Cuccinelli and Capriola added 13 and 11, respectively. Kaleci scored 12 of his team-high 20 points in the second half for Demarest (9-7). Crimmins added 15 points and eight rebounds, while Montalvo had 12 points, all but two coming in the first half.

St. Mary moves into next week’s Round of 16 where it will face second-seeded and defending Bergen County Jamboree champion Paramus Catholic. That game will be the last of a quadruple-header on Saturday at Northern Highlands High School with a 4:45 start. The Gaels will be a heavy underdog in the contest, but feel that playing with nothing to lose can only be a positive.

“We knew we could win this game, even when we were down big in the fourth quarter,” said Capriola. “We know Paramus Catholic is going to be tough and they are the defending champs. But we look at it as an opportunity to prove ourselves. We aren’t going there to not get embarrassed, we’re going into the game thinking that we can win. If we don’t play all (32) minutes like we did today, it will be tough. But if we play just as hard and as well as we did in the fourth quarter and in overtime, we feel like we have a shot against anyone.”

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