Sunday, March 4, 2012

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Steve Thorworth had 9 points and 13 rebounds as Pascack Hills got contributions from everyone on the way to a 75-66 win over Manchester in the North 1, Group 2 state sectional semifinals.

MONTVALE – With Cole Dorfman and Jared Shill, two three-year starters, in the backcourt plus a talented third guard, Brian Horn, in the starting lineup, Pascack Hills boys basketball team has pretty much been immune to full court defensive pressure all season long. In fact, the Cowboys generally embrace the challenge as any of their three starting guards are more than capable of grabbing an outlet pass and leading a break the other way and finishing it, either with a hoop or an assist.

It set up perfectly in the North 1, Group 2 state sectional semifinal as Manchester showed up in Montvale determined to create a frantic 32 minutes of end to end basketball. But everything changed for Pascack Hills with one head fake, too good a head fake as it turned out, just 1:32 into the game.

Shill, who had opened the scoring with a three-pointer, faked a jumper from the left wing and beat his defender baseline before dropping a back-handed bounce pass to Dorfman, who took possession and used an up-fake of his own against Manchester’s Rgzeck Guyton, who was closing fast. Guyton left his feet and as Dorfman went to put the ball on the floor he was kicked square in the right side of the face by the right foot of Guyton, who was flying by.

Dorman never lost consciousness, but he was knocked for a loop and spent the rest of the game on the end of the bench, the second half in street clothes, needing the same 23 points to reach 1,000 career points in what has been a stellar high school career. That meant that Pascack Hills’ usual game plan was null and void and it would have to wing it as the game became a track meet.

Manchester's Tuhray Smith made 6 three pointers and finished with a team-high 20.

“Losing Cole so early, I thought, was really going to hurt us. He is a first team all-league kid, he is a three-year starter and he is our floor general,” said Pascack Hills head coach Kevin Kirkby. “When he went down, I had a feeling that the game was going to turn a little frenetic and it did.”

It was fast, it was fun to watch as top-seed Pascack Hills, despite being a key man short, led the whole way, but had to fend off a Manchester team that just kept coming. When it finally ended after a parade of fourth quarter free throws, Pascack Hills, the defending section champ, had a 75-66 win and a spot in Tuesday’s state sectional final against Mountain Lakes.

“That was a lot of fun. Playing in front of all those people in a close game like that against a great team, there was a lot of pressure out there,” said Shill, who will play next season at Connecticut College. “That was one of the top three most competitive big games I have played in my career, right up there with last year’s sectional semifinal and final.”

Shill’s game-opening three-pointer gave the Cowboys the lead for good just 30 seconds into the game, but playing from behind all night just added to Manchester’s desire to speed the game up. The Falcons, the No. 5 seed, were not all that interested in running offensive sets. They wanted early offense and often got it from point guard Tuhray Smith, who has unlimited range on his jumpshot and doesn’t even need to have his feet set. Pascack Hills led 16-11 after the first quarter and Manchester’s first nine points came on three three-pointers by Smith.

Pascack Hills' Brian Horn picked up his scoring in the absence of Cole Dorfman and finished with a game-high 23 points.

Pascack Hills threatened to break the game open with a 9-0 run to start the second quarter to go up 25-11. Horn hit a three-pointer and a free throw to cap the run, but Pascack Hills would need more than its two remaining starting guards to hold off the Falcons, who closed the second quarter on an 8-2 run to get within 31-26 at the break. They opened the third quarter with a Smith three-pointer and his assist on Devin Swinney’s fastbreak bucket and just like that, Manchester was back to within a single point at 31-30 with just 32 seconds played in the second half.

Pascack Hills has had well-defined roles all season. The guards score and the big guys rebound and play defense. But senior center Steve Thorworth played the third quarter of his life on Friday night, scoring points, blocking shots, grabbing rebounds and throwing outlet passes like Ralph Sampson reincarnate. Thorworth scored three straight points to extend the Cowboys’ lead to 34-30 and in a  7-0 run later in the quarter, he scored inside off an entry pass by Shill, grabbed three rebounds, two on the offensive end, blocked a shot, broke up a full court pass and then threw a three-quarter court outlet pass to Andy Kovner, who made the layup and forced Manchester to call a timeout down 46-38 with 3:00 left in the third quarter.

“That was awesome. The best was when [the fans] were chanting M-V-P for me. I am never that guy,” said Thorworth, who finished the game with 9 points and 13 rebounds. “I don’t know what was going on. It was like I had a ball magnet on me. It just kept working out where I was on the opposite side of the basket and the ball kept finding me there.”

Jamir Williams scored 7 points for Manchester, which finished the season with a 17-9 record.

But even that was not enough to bury Manchester, which came out of the time out and resumed the chase. Guyton’s basket from the block got the Falcons back to within 50-46 heading into the fourth quarter.

“Pressing, denying, double-teaming and trapping. We did everything we could to try to take away No. 30 [Shill] and No. 4 [Horn] and we did a good job of it in the third quarter. We not only made it tough for them to score, but even to touch the ball,” said Manchester head coach Rich Sponzilli, whose team held Shill and Horn to a combined five points in the third quarter. “But to do it for a quarter is one thing, to do it for a whole half is a lot tougher.”

It also cost Manchester in the fouls department and Pascack Hills got into the bonus with 28 seconds left in the third quarter and it kicked off a 6-0 run to start the fourth quarter when Chris Marini made both ends of a one-and-one. Brett Pontillo’s offensive rebound and assist to Kovner put the Cowboys back up by double digits 56-46 with 7:13 to play and it was a struggle for Manchester from there.

The Falcons got as close as 62-57 on a Guyton three-point play with 4:07 left, but Pascack Hills closed out the game from the free throw line. The Cowboys were 29 of 45 from the stripe in the game and 17 of 24 in the fourth quarter while Manchester shot eight free throws in the game, making just three.

Horn (23 points) and Shill combined for 42 points, while Kovner and Thorworth each added 9. Pontillo made five of his six second half free throw attempts to finish with 8 points while Marini scored 5 of his 7 points from the line.

Andy Kovner scored 9 points for Pascack Hills, which will play Mountain Lakes in the section final.

Smith scored all but two of his team-high 20 points from behind the three-point line and Guyton (18 points) Na Fer Lighty (11 points) gave Manchester three double-digit scorers. Swinney scored all 8 of his points in the third quarter, Jamir Williams added 7 points and Kani Gouldbourne had the Falcons’ other field goal.

A couple of months ago, neither team was a lock to make it this far. Pascack lost 10 seniors and three starters from last year’s sectional championship team and Manchester had to regroup early after losing 6-foot-5 center Nazmi Maliqi to a knee injury after just eight games.

“We started 7-1 when we had our big guy and as soon as he went down we lost five out of our next six games. I didn’t even know if we would finish with a .500 record this year,” said Sponzilli. “But everybody else stepped up and we just came together as a team. We won 9 out of our last 11 games and we had a great season at 17-9. I didn’t expect it and I am very proud that the kids did it.”

Pascack Hills improved to 23-4 with a home game against Mountain Lakes being the only obstacle left between it and a second straight state sectional title.

“If Dorfman is out, a state sectional title game is going to be very tough, but we will see what happens. He is going to the doctor on Monday and we will hope for the best. But with the way Thorworth played tonight, Pontillo, Marini, Drew Mann, Kovner… they are all such great kids. I am happy for them I’ll take my chances with whatever combination we have out there on Tuesday,” said Kirkby. “The team had a player’s only meeting at the beginning of the year and they set their own goals. The top one was to repeat as sectional champions and now we are here with a chance to do it.”

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