Sunday, February 2, 2014

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Jeff Ross (34) made four straight free throws in the fourth quarter that were the turning point in Glen Rock's 59-55 upset of Cresskill in the opening round of the Bergen County Jamboree.

OLD TAPPAN – At first no one was sure what the call would be. Glen Rock senior Jeff Ross had just set off from the elbow on a direct route toward the paint and then the basket. There was a pileup in the paint, there was a loose ball and then there was the whistle blown from behind the play. Cresskill was hoping it was going to be a travel, but when a foul was called instead the turning point of the opening round Bergen County Jamboree game had just announced itself with a bang.

Not only was Ross awarded a trip to the free throw line for a one-and-one opportunity with his team trailing by two points early in the fourth quarter, but he also got two bonus shots courtesy of technical foul called against the Cresskill player that had disagreed with the original decision a bit too vociferously.

Ross is not known for his free throw shooting, but this was the Jambo, he is a senior and it was time to step up and be counted.

“I have been struggling from the line. I have been shooting around 50 or 60 percent, but Coach [Jason Mittelman] have been putting in the time working on my form, working on my technique and I just tried to keep focused and keep calm,” said Ross. “I knocked them down.”

He did. Ross made four straight free throws without any of them so much as nicking the rim on the way by just after scoring on a low post move for Glen Rock's first points of the fourth quarter. Throw in the lay-up that Dan Frissora made on the bonus possession granted by the technical foul and it added up to an 8-0 run that covered just 1:38 of game time. When it started, the 23rd-seeded Panthers trailed by two; when it was over they led by four points and never gave it back on the way to a 59-55 win and a rare Jambo victory for a program not known for county tournament success.

Cresskill's Matt Flood finished with a game-high 21 points.

“Those four three throws were huge and it was something I had to think about statistically. Jeff [Ross] is not the team's best free throw shooter and the chances of him making four straight were not very good. We thought about maybe switching him out, but since he was feeling it, because he is a senior in a big moment, we decided to let him step up and take the technicals. He made them and you saw how important they were to the outcome,” said Mittleman, who is in his fourth season as the GR head coach. “This is a huge victory. I don't really know the history too well, I am not a Bergen County guy. I know Glen Rock has been to the county tournament before, but I don't know if we have ever won before. If we have, it has been a long time.”

Cresskill, the No. 10 seed, looked like it had taken control the 10-0 run that spanned the the final 1:57 of the first half and the first 24 seconds of the second. Austin Cardo and Matt Flood make back-to-back 3-pointers and Flood hit another long jumper from the top of the key to give the Cougars a 32-24 lead at halftime and Tyler Eilenberg's steal and coast-to-coast layup made it an 8-point advantage 24 seconds into the third quarter. Cardo scored on the fastbreak to make it 38-31 with 3:48 to go in the third period, but Glen Rock answered with a 7-0 run to close the quarter and firmly plant itself back in the game.

Frissora hit a 3-pointer and Zach Lucca scored the other four points as the Panthers drew to within 40-38 entering the fourth quarter, which started with Eilenberg's put back opened the Cresskill lead back to four. But the next time down the floor Ross backed down a defender for a basket and then the scenario that led to the four straight Ross free throws happened. By the time the Cougars finally got the ball back, they were behind by four points, 46-42.

Glen Rock's Khalil Williams hit three first quarter 3-pointers on his way to a team-high 18 points.

“I have been talking to my team about being disciplined and sacrificing for the betterment of the team, but today, to be honest, I am a little embarrassed by the way we acted. Getting a 'T' in that situation, up two in a county tournament game, you can't do that. That was a six-point swing, they made all four free throws and got the ball back and scored,” said Cresskill head coach Mike Doto. “It's a different level of play in the Jamboree. Glen Rock was ready to get after it and they came fired up. We came out slow, we weren't into the game like we should have been and it showed. We lost a lot of 50-50 balls on hustle and that can't happen in the Jamboree.”

Still, Cresskill had its chances down the stretch. It was a one-possession game when Zac Garcia made one of two free throws with 40 seconds left to get the Cougars to within 55-52 and got a break when Glen Rock followed with an empty trip to the free throw line, but a missed Cresskill layup at the other end gave the Panthers another chance and Khalil Williams made two free throws to extend the lead to 57-52 with 21 seconds to go.

Flood made a 3 with 15 seconds left and could not have asked for better fortune than having Lucca miss both free throws with 12 second to go. But showing just how much Glen Rock was willing to do to win, Lucca got his own rebound of the missed free throw that all but ended the drama. Williams made two from the stripe with seven seconds left and Glen Rock (12-2) was on to the Round of 16 where it will play seventh-seeded Dwight-Morrow.

“It's a dream come true. When we saw that we got the 23 seed we were a little bummed, but we just said, 'Hey, let's go play.' The pressure was on Cresskill, no one thought we could win and we just came out here to have some fun,” said Christian Vila, one of eight seniors on the Cresskill roster. “We definitely feel like we are laying the groundwork for the program for the future and the only way to really do that is to get into the Jamboree and win, so this feels great.”

Sean Kelly scored 13 points for Cresskill, which fell to 10-3

Of the six Glen Rock players that scored in the game, four of them finished in double figures as the Panthers showed off their unselfishness. Williams carried the load early as he hit three first quarter 3-pointers and then finished strong by making 5 of his 6 fourth quarter free throws in his way to a team-high 18 points. Lucca added 11 points, while Ross and Antony D'Onofrio each finished with 10. Frissora and Vila evenly split the other 10 points for Glen Rock, which was shot just one free throw in the first half, but went 16 of 23 from the stripe in the second half.

“When I moved to Glen Rock all I heard was that it was a football town, basketball was low-man on the totem pole, but I questioned that. We had to put the time in and these kids have done it, some of them I know since they were in sixth grade,” said Mittelman. “We run clinics all year round for the younger kids and we are really trying to build a basketball culture in town. That is starting to pay dividends and today was a validation of that.”

Flood led all scorers with 21 points for Cresskill, which fell to 10-3 on the season. Sean Kelly added 13, but no other Cougar made more than two field goals.

“My hat go off to Glen Rock. They played hard, they played aggressive, they made shots and we struggled shooting wise. It's been a problem all season and now we are out,” said Doto. “We'll go back to focusing on getting ready for the state playoffs and finishing out the league. Hopefully we can get better and get another sectional title this year.”

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