Saturday, February 28, 2015

By Cory K. Doviak
Editorial Director

Alex Willoughby scored 12 points for Bergen Catholic, which held off Northern Highlands, 51-49, to win the Bergen County Freshman Tourney.

RIDGEWOOD – In a perfect world all 18 players that suited up for Bergen Catholic in the finals of the Bergen County Freshman Tournament on Friday night will go on to make their mark at the higher levels of high school basketball. But the reality is that roster spots at a place like Bergen Catholic, which attracts top athletes in every sport, are hard to come by and there will be attrition over the next three years as the Class of 2018 makes its way through.

For that reason, and because they were playing in a championship game with a trophy at stake, the freshman Crusaders were focused on the goal of winning now and letting the future take care of itself.

“We have had that discussion and the attrition and change over rate at Bergen is great. The encouragement that I gave these boys was that, freshman year, if you are not playing it does not mean you will not be playing as a sophomore or a junior and if you are playing, it does not guarantee you anything. This season, and tonight especially, was about making this moment count,” said Frank Muggeo, BC's head coach. “The greatest part of this team is the passion and the enthusiasm that these boys have for this team. It was never about the individual, but the team and I couldn't be happier.”

Muggeo and his squad were happy because they built a 15-point fourth quarter lead with 3:13 left in regulation and still has two points to spare as Northern Highlands made a spirited late game charge to get within 51-49 just as the final buzzer sounded. It was a fun game to watch in a charged-up atmosphere in a pretty near packed house at Ridgewood High School.

Kevin Griffith scored 14 points for Northern Highlands, including the 3-pointer that made it a two-point game at the final buzzer.

One day after the Bergen Catholic's varsity team won the program's first Bergen County Jamboree title since 2003, the freshman Crusaders followed suit with another as they closed the season with a 19-1 record.

“It's Part 2, right? Varsity last night, freshman tonight...It is so surreal I don't even know how to describe it,” said Brian Rice, a starting guard. “Coach [Muggeo] has been preaching all season that we could do this and we believed him. This has been our goal since Day 1 of practice, we had it written on the board, it was our vision and we succeeded. It is the best feeling in the world.”

Winning the title was also the ultimate goal for Northern Highlands and it was right in the game through the first half. Kevin Griffith's pull-up jumper to open the second quarter scoring gave the Highlanders an 11-10 lead and Evan Casalino's bucket to close the quarter had them within two points, 21-19, at the break.

But as mentioned earlier, Bergen Catholic brought 18 players to the dance and its depth made a difference as it started to pull away in the third quarter. A 9-0 run started by a Ryan Starr 3-pointer from the wing and finished off by Isiah Givens' basket inside off a feed from John Schwartz took the Crusaders from a 31-26 lead to a 14-point advantage in the space of just 2:22 of running clock.

“A lot of times that is what happens. We use a lot of energy and a lot of guys in a game and we can break teams down by just keeping up the pressure,” said Starr. “We have a lot of depth, we go 10 deep in a lot of games and we keep coming no matter who is in the game for us.”

BC's Ryan Starr scored all 9 of his points in the third quarter.

Starr hit a step-back jumper just before the third quarter horn to give BC a 42-30 lead with eight minutes to play. Bergen then scored 7 of the first 9 points of the final quarter and it looked like there was nothing left but the handshake when Alex Willoughby scored off a Rice assist to make it 49-32 with just 5:12 remaining.

But if Northern Highlands was worn out at that point, then it suddenly found a new and ample supply of wind as it had those in attendance doing a lot of math down the stretch to figure out just how many more possessions it might need to pull off what would have been a ridiculous comeback.

It started innocently enough with Charlie Ratner's putback of a missed shot and then Griffith turned a turnover into a fastbreak basket. Bergen Catholic missed the front end of a one-and-one and Tommy Fox nailed 3-pointer on the other end. That made it a 10-point game at 49-39 with 1:17 to play, still a healthy margin to try to make up, especially after Rice scored with 1:03 to play to make it a 12-point game, but that bucket actually were the two points that made up the final margin.

Ratner made a 3 with 48 seconds left, Fox made a field goal with 36 seconds remaining and, with two seconds to go, Ratner put back a missed shot to make it a five-point game and Highlands forced one last turnover to get the ball out of bounds underneath their own basket.

Although there was not enough time for the two possessions that the Highlanders would need to get a chance to tie it, head coach Dan Gianfreddi called a time out, drew up a play and saw it executed to perfection as Griffth hit a 3 at the buzzer. Although it was a bucket short at the end, Highlands closed the game with a furious 12-2 charge.

Evan Casalino scored 10 points for Northern Highlands, which finished the season with a 16-4 record.

Because of the way it ended, because Highlands realized how well it had played and how close it was at the end, both teams walked off the court with smiles on their faces and giving high-fives all around.

“They worked so hard from Day 1 all the way to the final game of the season and all the way to the final second of the final game of the season and I couldn't be prouder. That 12-2 run was heart, it was effort and they are freshmen, so they have a lot of basketball left to play,” said Gianfreddi, whose team finished with a 16-4 record. “The hardest thing to do as a freshman coach is to keep the kids into it, to keep them working hard and looking to get better while still looking for wins. But looking to improve is the No. 1 goal. Growing as men, growing as friends, growing together as a team are the important parts of freshman basketball.”

Ratner scored 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter and Griffith, a slick point guard, also finished with 14 to top the Highlanders. Casalino (10 points) made it three starters in double figures and Fox and Greg Novak evenly split the other 10 points for Northern Highlands.

Vin Tricarico (13 points) led a balanced attack for Bergen Catholic. Willoughby added 12 points, Starr, who battled first half foul trouble, scored all 9 of his points in the third quarter, Schwartz had 8 points off the bench, Rice finished with 7 and Given's third quarter field goal rounded out the scoring for Bergen Catholic.

“It's why I came to Bergen Catholic, to have a chance to win a county title,” said Tricarico, an Oradell resident. “I have great teammates, a great coach and I am so happy to get to experience this with these guys.”

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