Thursday,
February 26, 2015
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Logan Santiago had 17 points for Marist, which earned its spot in the Hudson County Tournament final with a 78-60 win over Dickinson. |
JERSEY CITY – When Dickinson upset third-seeded Snyder in the Hudson County Tournament quarterfinals, it could have been interpreted as an easier road to the final for Marist. But all of that went out the window quickly as the Rams made it clear that they were looking to pull another upset at Marist’s expense. Leading throughout the first half behind electrifying point guard Anthony Florence, Dickinson had plenty of steam as time was winding down in the second quarter. Marist was struggling to find any kind of consistency until its defense took over.
The Royal Knights forced four straight turnovers to close the half and using them to produce 7-0 run to take the halftime lead. Behind the backcourt of Asante Gist and Logan Santiago, second-seeded Marist never gave it back and pulled away in the third quarter en route to a 78-60 win over Dickinson, the No. 6 seed, on Wednesday night at the Yanitelli Center on the campus of Saint Peter’s University in Jersey City.
“The more aggressive we got on both ends, the more we saw success,” said Marist head coach Jyron Brooks. “We usually make outside shots but we weren’t making them tonight. We usually play good man-to-man defense but we didn’t do that well in the first half either. So we had to change our gameplan. We started trapping in the half-court more to speed up the pace and make an effort to get the ball inside and get to the rim on offense.”
Dickinson needed a late charge in the final minutes to upset Snyder, but did the opposite against Marist. The Rams came flying out of the gate and caught the red-hot Royal Knights with their guard down. Devaughn Fishburne was huge off the bench scoring all nine of his points in the first half, highlighted by a runner off the glass from a tough angle followed by two free throws from Florence as the Rams doubled up Marist late in the first quarter, 14-7.
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Anthony Florence had 16 points to lead the way for Dickinson. |
Marist took its first lead since the opening possession on a steal and layup from Santiago with 4:44 left in the second quarter. Behind Florence, a 5-foot-5 point guard, the Rams quickly grabbed it back. He dazzled the crowd with his ball-handling skills and daring drives through traffic in the paint for layups, including two in a row to put the Rams up by four.
That lead remained until the final two minutes of the half when the Royal Knights turned it up defensively. They forced four turnovers in a row and turned them all into baskets. One off of a drive by Asante Gist and another on a basket inside from Mark Thomas as Marist made a late push to earn a 30-27 halftime lead.
“I looked at the guys and told them that we had to turn it up,” said Gist. “Dickinson plays with a lot of confidence and it would have turned into a dogfight if we didn’t start forcing some turnovers. Our defense makes our offense go and we feed off of that. Once we get on a roll, we’re pretty tough to stop. We had to play with that sense of urgency that you need to get to a county final.”
Behind Gist and Santiago, the Royal Knights were able to force the ball out of Florence’s hands and force the other Ram players into numerous turnovers. After committing just six turnovers in the first half, the Rams had 11 in the third quarter alone. Marist turned that into a 23-10 showing in the period.
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Asante Gist and Marsit will be the underdog, but a live one against Hudson Catholic in Friday night's Hudson County Tournament final. |
Dickinson’s Troy Lopez closed out the third quarter and opened the fourth quarter on layups to get his team within 11 at 53-42, only to watch as the Royal Knights pulled away. Gist had a nice drive for a reverse layup and Santiago threw down a one-handed dunk a minute later as Marist put to rest any thoughts of another miracle comeback by Dickinson.
Marist had a balanced scoring attack with Gist and Santiago each dropping in 17 points with Brown adding 15 for Marist (20-4). Florence led the way for Dickinson (15-9) with 16 points. Lopez and Justin Thompson, who battled foul trouble all game, each added 11 points.
Marist now gets a showdown with top-seeded and three-time defending champion Hudson Catholic in Friday night’s Hudson County final. That game will also be played at Saint Peter’s University with an 8:00 P.M. tip-off. Marist has already made quite a leap into the upper echelon of Hudson County, now it is only more step to the top of the mountain.
“We know we have an opportunity in front of us that we’ve been working hard for all season,” added Brooks. “We want to show Hudson Catholic and the rest of the county that this is not the same team they played earlier in the season (a convincing 56-20 romp by Hudson Catholic back on January 4th). Our kids know that we have to play hard every possession for the full four quarters. We’re a better than we showed the first time against Hudson Catholic and we expect to come ready to compete for a county title.”
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