Monday, February 13, 2012

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Steve Sobo gave his team the lead for good just 34 seconds into game and Tenafly never trailed in a dominating 59-49 win over Bergen Catholic in the quarterfinals of the Bergen County Jamboree.

MAHWAH – There is no doubt that Tenafly is among the Bergen County elite this season. The Tigers, who have already wrapped up a league title, were shown respect on a county wide level when they got the No. 5 seed in the Bergen County Jamboree, the first round bye that went with it and lived up to it with an impressive win over highly regarded Ridgewood in last weekend's Round of 16. But how far can the Tigers take this thing? After all, the program has not been to the Final 4 in the Bergen County Tournament since 1955 and Bergen Catholic, which took out Wood-Ridge, another public school with high aspirations, in the Round of 16, was waiting in the quarterfinals on Sunday.

If Tenafly had any questions left to answer, lets' get them out of the way right now. No, the Tigers are not a one-man team. No, they were not afraid of the traditional parochial powerhouse that has won eight Jambo titles and has a winning percentage of just under .700 in the 42 times it has qualified for the Jambo. And no, this game was never close.

Tenafly scored the first 13 points of the game, went up 18-2 on a Kyle Hioki three-pointer just over five minutes into the game, led by 20 at halftime, by 23 after three quarters and by as many as 26 before calling off the dogs in a dominating 59-49 win at Ramapo College. It was the high school basketball equivalent of a no-hitter, just short of a perfect game broken up by a meaningless error.

Nadi Beciri scored 10 of the 12 points that Bergen Catholic got from its starting five.

“That was definitely not the way we planned it out, but we were making shots early and we just tried to ride it as long as we could,” said Tenafly's Chris Orozco, the senior who will play net season at the University of New Hampshire. “I don't know what else to say. All of our guys stepped up, we had a lot of guys knocking down threes and we shot the ball pretty well in the first half. The second half was all about not turning the ball over and keeping our cool down the stretch.”

Tenafly was the opposite of cool in the opening minutes and set the tone on its very first possession. Steve Sobo delivered an entry pass into the post and then cut off it. Zach Rush then returned a back-handed bounce pass in stride and Sobo took it in for the game's first points. Just 34 seconds had been played and already Tenafly had the lead for good. Marco Baratta made a three-pointer from the corner to make it 5-0, Orozco followed with two free throws, Rush scored on the fastbreak and Kyle Hioki made a jumper from the foul line. With just 3:32 gone off the first quarter clock, Tenafly had a 13-0 lead, all five of its starters had a field goal and all five of them came via an assist.

“You don't win 18 games with one player, that's for sure. We have some kids around [Orozco] and tonight they all stepped up, which is great,” said Tenafly head coach Joe Finizio. “I am real happy for the kids. It's their team, they are the ones that are performing and I am just happy to be along for the ride.”

Tenafly senior Chris Orozco scored a team-high 17 points.

John Tsimis's foul line jumper gave Bergen Catholic its first points of the game 4:22 in and Tenafly answered that with a Hioki putback and his three-pointer that made it 18-2. Tenafly led 23-8 after the first quarter and never let the Crusaders get off the deck.

“When you see the first shot fall, then another one falls, you just get that confidence that you can start making shots, too. All of a sudden everything was falling and everything was going our way,” said Baratta, Tenafly's senor forward. “Once we got that 13-0 lead we just wanted to keep our foot on the gas pedal. We couldn't let up at all because we saw their game last week against Wood-Ridge, we saw how they came back and we knew we had to keep it going.”

Tenafly kept it going on both ends of the floor. For as well as it passed the ball, caught it and shot it, the Tigers also locked up BC on the defensive end. By the time it was all over, the Crusaders' starting five had accounted for just 12 total points, 10 of them from 6-foot-6 center Nadi Beciri. Chuckie Wingate's two first quarter free throws were the only other two points scored by a BC starter and Kyle Quiero was the Crusaders leading scored with 19, but 11 of those came in the fourth quarter with the game long decided.

Tenafly was balanced as Orozco scored a team-high 17, Sobo followed close behind with 16 and Baratta (10 points) made it three Tiger starters in double figures. Hioki scored all 8 of his points in the decisive first half, Yaniv Cohen had 6 points off the bench and Rush's first quarter field goal accounted for the Tigers other two points.

Kyle Queiro came off the bench to lead BC with 19 points.

Tenafly has made progress in the Jambo in each of the last three years. In 2010, the Tigers reached the Round of 16. Last season it was the quarterfinals and a tough loss to Don Bosco Prep and this year they find themselves in the Final 4 for the first time in 57 years and as far as the program has ever been. It will get no easier, however, as next up is top-seeded and defending champion who has been beyond reproach against Bergen County competition this season.

It will be a tall order, but just being in the semifinals certainly beats the alternative.

“We are going to come out confident and see what happens,” said Sobo. “We look at it as a game we want to win. We might not have the most talent, but we are definitely going to play as hard as we can. You want to play the best teams, you don't want to hide from anyone.”

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