Tuesday, March 11, 2014

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Joe Slattery scored 11 of his team-high 15 points in the second half, including two key 3-pointers, as Cedar Grove overtook Cresskill, 55-51, in the North 1, Group 1 state sectional final.

CRESSKILL – In a game where neither team was interested in running up and down the floor and forcing the pace, one sustained run either way was probably going to be the difference in Monday night's North 1, Group 1 state sectional final. Cresskill, the top seed playing on its own home court, had worked hard to patch together a six-point halftime lead as it stuck to a short rotation, stayed out of foul trouble and made five 3-pointers through the first two quarters. The Cougars, who wanted to play the game somewhere in the 40s, were on track for that defensively as they held Cedar Grove to 24 first half points.

And then bang, right out of the locker room and in just the first two minutes of the third quarter, Cedar Grove undid all of that. A 3-pointer by Mike DeAngelo, another by Joe Slattery and drive to the basket all in the first two minutes of the second and all unanswered turned the game in the Panthers favor and they made it stick as Cedar Grove took the state sectional championship with a 55-51 victory.

“Our guys are just kind of known for that. We don't let up, we keep coming at you and I told them at halftime to just keep attacking,” said Cedar Grove head coach Rob Gogerty. “Mike [DeAngelo] hit that first 3 and it turned into eight straight [points] and that was huge.”

Cresskill head coach Mike Doto saw it the same way.

Cresskill junior Matt Flood scored a game-high 18 points.

“I truly believe that the way they started the second half against the way we started the second half was truly the turning point in the game,” said Doto. “Other than that we played even if not better, it was just that one-and-a-half minute run right there was a killer.”

In the first half it was Cresskill that had the answers. Austin Cardo and Matt Flood hit 3-pointers on either side of a DeAngelo 3 late in the first quarter as the Cougars forged a 17-4 lead after one period and got up by as many as eight point in the second quarter. Cardo took a kick out from the post by Adnan Jaloudi and nailed a 3-pointer that gave the Cougars a 24-18 lead. After a Cedar Grove free throw, Zac Garcia knocked a ball loose, dove after it and got it ahead to Sean Kelly, who scored on the fastbreak and added a free throw for the 3-point play that gave Cresskill a 29-17 advantage, the largest spread of the game for either team, with 2:11 to go in the first half.

Flood's 3-pointer from the wing matched it at 30-22 before Paul Rufo scored off a backdoor cut to get Cedar Grove within 6 at the break and it carried the momentum right through into the third quarter.

What the Panthers did tactically in the second half was switch senior Mike Bocchino onto Flood, which slowed the Cresskill attack. Finding other options were difficult as David Njoku, the University of Miami-bound football recruit, controlled the middle. An elite Division 1 athlete, Njoku, almost by himself, limited Cresskill to just one shot on most possessions, got his hands on a couple of shots and changed a bunch of others.

David Njoku controlled the interior for Cedar Grove, which will play Bloomfield Tech in the Group 1 state semifinals.

“It was a hard-fought game and Cresskill is a great team. I just tried to use my athleticism to my advantage and do whatever I could to help us,” said Njoku. “We were desperate at times in that game and desperate to keep this season going so we had to do whatever we could. We kept fighting, kept running, kept hustling and I am glad we were able to get that lead and then keep it in the second half.”

Kelly scored inside to tie the game at 36 with 2:21 left in the third quarter and then made a free throw on the next trip to give the Cougars their final lead of the game, but Cedar Grove scored the next three points to take a 40-37 lead heading into the fourth. Flood, who was held scoreless in the third quarter, found his rhythm in the fourth as he completed a 3-point play and got Cresskill even for the final time at 40-40 with 7:47 to go.

The next time down the floor, Joe Slattery sliced through traffic and flipped in a lay-up and was fouled. He made the free throw and Cedar Grove was in front for good with 7:18 to play.

“We are just so used to play with each other and sticking together as a team. In these types of games we don't get nervous, we don't breakdown and we just had to stay after it and we knew that we would find a way to win eventually,” said Slattery, one of four seniors in Cedar Grove's starting lineup. “When we are down [on the scoreboard] we don't get down on ourselves. We just have to come back with that much more fire and I feel like our team did that today. We got some good bounces and we were in the right places in the right times to get out of here with a win and we get to keep playing.”

If there was a dagger that ended Cresskill's hopes it was the 3 that Slattery hit with 3:52 to play. Kelly had just scored in transition to get the Cougars back to within 50-47, but Slattery nailed a triple from the wing 21 seconds later to make it a 6-point spread and the Cougars were never again able to make it a one possession game.

Sean Kelly is one of three starters that Cresskill will have back next season.

Slattery scored 11 of his team-high 15 points in the second half and Njoku (14 points) and DeAngelo made it three Panthers in double figures. Rufo added 8 points, Bocchino had 4 and Chris Wynne's first quarter 3-pointer accounted for all of the bench scoring for Cedar Grove, which improved to 23-4 on the season heading into the Group 1 state semifinals where it will play North 2 champion Bloomfield Tech.

“These guys deserve this. There are a couple of three-year starters, there are a couple of great football players, a couple of great baseball players, just great athletes that keep grinding and they love to compete,” said Gogerty. “It's a great group and I am just proud for them.”

Flood, the junior who was named third team all Bergen-County earlier this week, led Cresskill with 18 points. He had three first half 3s and then scored 9 in the fourth quarter to try to keep his team in it. Kelly, also a junior and a second team All-County selection had 12. Austin Cardo (9 points) hit one 3-pointer in each of the first three periods, Jaloudi battled his way inside for 8 points and Garcia scored all 4 of his points in the first half for the Cougars (24-6), who got all of their scoring from their starting five, 60-percent of which will be back next season.

“I have a lot of juniors on the team that are strong players and they are all coming back. I told them to remember this feeling because we are going to be back here next year and we don't want to have this feeling again,” said Doto. “And then I apologized to my seniors that they had to go out like this, but they had great careers. Our program has a lot of tradition and these guys are right up there with one of the best groups that we have had. They gave everything they had and I couldn't ask for anything more.”

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