Friday,
January 25, 2014
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Zach Bernstein scored a game-high 23 points for Pascack Hills, which improved to 8-3 with a 53-36 win over Mahwah on Thursday. |
MONTVALE – With two games left before the cutoff for the Bergen County Jamboree, Pascack Hills' boys basketball team was in a position to determine what kind of weekend it was going to be. A win on their own home floor on Thursday night would have put the Cowboys on Easy Street, safely in the county tournament with a game in hand to improve its seed. A loss to Mahwah would have meant that Pascack Hills would have faced a do-or-die trip to Group 4 Passaic on Sunday with its postseason hopes hinging upon the outcome.
Despite continuing injury issues that have depleted its frontcourt and an illness that took out a third starter against Mahwah, Pascack Hills made sure there would be no nail-biting over the next couple of days as it took the lead on a Zach Bernstein 3-pointer 2:30 into the game and only built on it from there as the Cowboys officially punched their Jambo ticket with a 53-36 victory.
“We are in the Jambo and we are happy about that. To get in is a goal we set every season and with the way we have been fighting injuries and illness, it is nice to know that now we are going down to Passaic just playing for a better seed,” said Pascack Hills head coach Kevin Kirkby. “It's an accomplishment because we have guys that I thought would be playing between five and eight minutes, guys who I thought could give us energy off the bench no playing 20 or 25 minutes a game. It's good that we can bring kids in and have confidence in them, but it is going to be fun when we get our whole team back together.”
Pascack Hills has been without starting center Noah Tucker (leg injury) since the first game of the season and without forward Jordan Lazarus, who is still over a week away from returning from a sprained ankle. That has made the Cowboys even more dependent on their guard play and the backcourt came through once again against Mahwah. Bernstein made five 3-pointers in the game and the first two were of special significance. The first one opened the game's scoring and the second one wiped out Mahwah's only lead of the night as it gave Pascack Hills a 6-5 advantage. Nick Hallowell's steal and lay-up while Mahwah was trying to hold for the last shot of the first quarter gave the Cowboys an 18-12 lead.
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Mahwah's Joe Deer tied for team-high honors with 8 points. |
Bernstein, a role player last year behind Brian Horn, the now graduated All-County point guard, is now starting at the point, a junior running the show in a senior laden lineup.
“Last year I was playing behind Brian Horn and he was a great player here. I was more of a guy who would come in for a couple of minutes, play good 'D' and maybe hit a 3 every now and then, but this year as the starter, I really want to play with no hesitance,” said Bernstein. “My job now is still not to force anything, but to look for my shot more and distribute the ball because we have a lot of good players on this team.”
What Pascack Hills is collectively is good passing team. There are a lot of backdoor cuts and a lot of interior passing from little guys to big guys and vice versa. Rob Tonelli, a forward, hit Hallowell, a guard, with a bounce pass on a cut from the wing that led to an easy layup with 1:07 left in the second quarter and a 34-22 halftime lead.
Tonelli and Andrew Nathin are holding down the fort inside in the absence of Tucker and Lazarus while in years past it was Tonelli that was on the sidelines. He was set to be called up to the varsity in the middle of his sophomore season and last year he was slated for the starting lineup before going down in the preseason with a another injury that cost him his entire junior season. Back healthy now, Tonelli is a key contributor and he finished with 8 points and 11 rebounds against Mahwah.
“It feels great to be out on the court. I don't have a 'next year' so this is it and I want to enjoy it, but it is a bummer for guys like Laz and Tuck to be on the sidelines watching. I know exactly how they feel. It's a shame, but hopefully we'll get them back soon,” said Tonelli. “We have a strong sophomore class that have stepped in. They have given us good minutes and it is only going to help our depth when we have everybody back. Hopefully we get healthy and make a run.”
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Pascack Hills' Rob Tonelli, back healthy this year, scored 8 points to go with 7 rebounds. |
Mahwah never sliced the lead back to single digits in the second half, but it did get to within 10 points at 36-26 when Kyle Remo scored on the fastbreak with 3:44 left in the third quarter, but Bernstein answered that bucket with the last of his five 3-pointers to push the lead back to 13, the same margin it was at the end of the third period, 43-30. The fourth quarter was all about taking time off the clock and making some free throws, which Hallowell did. He took all six of the Cowboys' fourth quarter foul shots and was a perfect 6-for-6, leaving Mahwah with no way back into the game.
Mahwah was held without a double-digit scorer as Joe Deer and Tahid Townsend shared team-high honors with 8 points apiece. Kevin Tremblay finished with 7, Brad Stiles had 6 and Remo added 5 for the Thunderbirds.
Bernstein finished with a game highs of 21 points and 7 assists, while Hallowell (11 points) also reached double figures to go along with 5 rebounds and 3 steals. Tonelli scored 6 of his 8 points in the first half, Nathin and Josh Saira had 4 points each, Gavin Murphy made a fourth quarter field goal and sophomore Steve Steiger, playing the first meaningful varsity of his career, made a second quarter 3-pointer.
With their Jambo spot now secure, Pascack Hills can now focus on making some noise in it.
“I think the Jambo is so wide open that the team that is going to make a run is the one that gets hot at the right time. There are a lot of teams capable of doing it and I hope we are one of them,” said Kirkby. “Could be [Pascack] Valley, could be Ramapo, could be St. Joe's, which might not have a great record but is as athletic as anyone or Bergen [Catholic]. There are others too, and then you have Bosco and Teaneck. It's going to be a fun tournament and I am glad we are in.”
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