Sunday, March 2, 2014
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Nassir Barrino made some huge plays in the second half and in overtime to help Hudson Catholic win its third straight Hudscon County title with a 50-47 win over St. Peter's Prep. |
UNION CITY – Hudson Catholic head coach Nick Mariniello always wants his team to have a boxer's mentality, but not the boxer that dances around the ring, the one that takes control and goes for the knockout right from the opening bell. In the past two Hudson County championship games, Hudson Catholic was never truly threatened in winning the title. The only opponent that has given them any problems along the way was St. Peter's Prep.
The two teams clashed again on Saturday with the Hudson County Tournament title at stake and it was the Marauders who appeared poised to deliver the knockout blow early. Mariniello knew if his team was going to hold onto their crown that they would have weather the storm and take Prep's best punch right on the chin.
Hudson Catholic did just that and used a late second-quarter run to get back within striking distance. The second half went back-and-forth with an overtime period needed to decide a winner.
The Hawks made their first six free throws of the extra session then had to withstand a furious rally that ended with a game-tying 3-point attempt rattling out at the buzzer as top-seeded Hudson Catholic hung on for its third straight Hudson County Tournament title with a 50-47 triumph over No. 2 seed St. Peter's Prep at Union City High School.
“We came into this game as the top seed, but we thought of ourselves as an underdog and had to play with that mentality,” said Mariniello. “We had to gut it out and get back to playing good half-court defense. We took too many 3s in the first half and our shot selection could have been better. I thought we showed a lot of mental toughness throughout this game, especially when we were down in the first half.”
St. Peter's Prep came out on fire, scoring the game's first nine points capped by a 3-pointer from the corner by Nathaniel Pierre-Louis. The lead grew to as many as 13, 26-13, on a jumper by Najja Hunter with 3:28 to play in the second quarter. With the Hawks at a crisis moment, they both clamped down defensively and closed the half on a 9-0 run capped by a 3 from J.R. Lynch to slice the lead down to a manageable four points at the break, 26-22.
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Austin White scored a team-high 17 points for St. Peter's Prep. |
“We executed our game plan early, but that three-minute stretch really set us back and they got some easy ones the other way,” said St. Peter's Prep head coach Todd Decker. “We had a chance there to stretch it out before halftime, but they made some big plays and got right back in it. I like the way we fought back several times in the second half and overtime. That three-minute or so stretch is the only part I really wish we had back.”
Adam Traore scored three consecutive buckets to start the second half to give Hudson Catholic a 15-0 run spanning the second and third quarters and also the team's first lead of the game, 28-26.
From that point on the game turned into an old-school, physical defensive battle that screamed Hudson County basketball.
A scary moment occurred near the midway point in the fourth quarter when Pierre-Louis went down hard and appeared to hit his head on the court. The game was delayed for nearly 20 minutes as he was taken by ambulance to a local hospital.
When play resumed it was more of the same as neither team was willing to give an inch. St. Peter's Prep senior guard Austin White sunk a pair of free-throws to tie the game at 40. However, neither team scored in the final 2:38 of regulation and they headed for overtime.
With Lynch suffering through cramps throughout the second half and into overtime, junior Nassir Barrino became the Hawks' only true ball handler out on the court in the team's biggest game of the year. Despite having his worst half of the season in the first half, he settled down in the second before taking control in the overtime period. He ran the offense swiftly and efficiently as the Hawks stayed patient before attacking the basket and eventually getting fouled. Sammy Friday, Safee Sabur, and Barrino all knocked their two free throw attempts for a 46-40 lead with 2:01 to play.
“I struggled bad in the first half and my teammates picked me up. I had to do my part in the second half and overtime,” said Barrino. “We had to keep fighting no matter what the final score was going to be. Prep wasn't going to give anything to us, we had to go out and earn it. Everyone stepped up from our main scorers to role players. The odds were against us at certain times in the game. But we beat the odds and I'm happy that we did.”
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JR Lynch scored a team-high 14 points for Hudson Catholic. |
Hudson Catholic twice held a five-point lead in the final 90 seconds only to have it cut to two on deep 3-pointers from White. St. Peter's Prep had one last chance to tie the game and got the look it wanted. Hunter was open in the corner with five seconds left and his 3-point attempt was online and did everything but go in the basket. It rattled in and out, bounced straight up in the air, hit the rim again and bounced off with Barrino grabbing the rebound as time expired in one of the greatest games in the history of the Hudson County Tournament.
“It's a great feeling to win a third straight and to win it in a tight game like this,” added Barrino, who shook off a scoreless first half. “We knew it was going to be this type of game and we played smart when it was necessary. This is a goal of ours every year and we did it.”
Lynch led the way for Hudson Catholic with 14 points, while Traore and Barrino each added 10.
White scored a game-high 17 points for St. Peter's Prep with all of them coming either from beyond the 3-point arc or from the foul line. Sophomore forward Veer Singh had a solid performance with 11 points, four rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
This game had all the feel of a 15-round duel from the way it was played to the emotions on both sides afterward, to the mental and physical exhaustion from both the players and coaching staffs. But when you're on the right side of the scoreboard after a game like that, there is simply no better feeling.
“We took their best punch and we got back up and we kept fighting,” said Mariniello. “We grew up a lot as a team and as a program in a half which is a testament to our kids. The last two years, it would have been a huge disappointment if we did not win a county title. This year I don't think any of us, myself included, walked into this school year thinking we were going to get another one. We're not the prettiest team, we're not the most talented, but this teams works as hard as anyone I've coached. When you work hard and you never give up, you have the chance to end up as a champion.”
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