Monday, January 28, 2013

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Dan Jablonski scored 19 points for 10th-seeded Old Tappan, which spoiled Saddle River Day's Jambo debut, 63-47, in the opening round.

OLD TAPPAN – The Northern Valley/Old Tappan boys basketball team would be a perfect candidate for a time warp photography project. The program has undergone a slew of changes in the past year and seeing how it has changed since it lost to Paramus Catholic in the Bergen County Jamboree's Round of 16 on February 5 of last year to Sunday when, as the No. 10 seed, it hosted Saddle River Day in the opening round of the Jambo.

The head coach is new as Craig Ferraro moved up from the freshman level to take over for Dennis Rossi in a much poured-over departure and the Knights' roster is two players lighter as two front court players that started earlier this season are no longer with the program. There has been a lot to overcome to get back to where this all got started a year ago, but 10th-seeded Old Tappan is right back at the beginning after reaching the Round of 16 with a 63-47 win over Saddle River Day on Sunday afternoon.

The pressure of the Jambo allowed the Knights to focus just on the game at hand and they took control late in the first quarter against Saddle River Day, which had won seven of its last eight games to get itself included in the Jambo for the first time in school history.

Chris Cosgrove scored 10 points for Saddle River Day, which had won 7 of 8 games just to make the Jambo.

“The tough part was coming into the game [was not knowing much about Saddle River Day]. We got some information, but we didn't get the [scouting] look that you would like. So you come in here with that extra pit in your stomach,” said Ferraro. “I thought we played really aggressive on defense, at least in spurts, and we gave them a tough time in letting them do what they were trying to do.”

Saddle River Day had shot better than 50-percent from the field as a team during its run of seven wins in eight games and got off to a 7-4 lead in the first 4:40 of the game, but open looks were hard to come by for the Rebels, who went scoreless for the next 4:29. Mason Vialonga's half court heave that beat the first quarter horn gave Old Tappan an 11-7 lead after the first quarter and Troy McLaughlin's 3-pointer from the wing capped the 10-0 spurt that gave the Golden Knights the lead for good.

“We felt good coming in here. It was great walking into the gym and seeing our roster on the table and all of the other things that come with getting in the Jamboree because we have never been here before,” said Saddle River Day head coach Shaughnessy. “We have been shooting the well, over 50-percent in the last eight games, but today we could not make a shot. I thought our defense and our hustle and our intensity were tremendous, we just couldn't make any shots.”

Troy McLaughlin scored 19 points for Old Tappan, which will face Pascack Hills in the Round of 16.

Old Tappan could and a 10-3 run to close the second quarter gave the Knights a 29-17 halftime advantage just after McLaughlin beat the buzzer with a lay-up. Saddle River Day got as close as nine points in the third quarter after Matt Klein's 3-point play got the Rebels to within 2:04 to go in the period, but McLaughlin scored on a back door cut 22 seconds later and Old Tappan never let SDR back to within double digits the rest of the way.

“We are starting to pick it up as we move toward the end of the season. We still want to be able to get bigger leads on teams and keep them, but we've been winning and we'll take it,” said McLaughlin, a junior and one of four guards in OT's reconstituted starting lineup. “We have four great guards on the floor usually and we have others that can come in off the bench. As a unit we have to play big sometimes, help out rebounding and blocking out so that we can use the advantages that come with having four guards on the floor most of the time.”

Juniors Chris Cosgrove Greg King scored 10 apiece to lead Saddle River Day in its first ever Jambo game, while
McLaughlin and Dan Jablonski each scored 19 to lead Old Tappan, which improved to 11-6 on the season. Vialonga had 9 points and Liam Barry had 8 to go with 9 rebounds. Barry is the lone forward in Old Tappan's starting lineup and has had to carry the rebounding load the past few weeks.

Greg King finished with 10 points for Saddle River Day.

“It puts more pressure on me, but since I am a senior I expected to have to step up this year anyway. There are only three seniors on this team and I am I the only big man in the starting lineup, so I have a bigger role now in rebounding defense and guarding the other team's best big man,” said Barry. “We are confident in every game that we come into. Our coaches do a good job with scouting reports and no matter who we are playing we have been ready and we have been prepared and now we can worry about Pascack Hills in this tournament next week.”

But before the focus fully switches to the Jambo's Round of 16, there is plenty in between and the Knights can't get stuck looking too far ahead.

“We have Hills on Saturday, but we still have to play P[ascack] V[alley] on Tuesday and Demarest on Thursday and we can't have a let down. We have to focus on each game and continue to get better,” said Ferraro. “Honestly, I wish be played a little better today but when we did run our sets we got some good looks, but we played a little more helter-skelter than I would have liked. We played hard and we know what we have to work on.”

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