Saturday,
March 7, 2015
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Jovani Haskins scored a game-high 18 points, which saw its 19-point first half lead turn into a 62-61 win over Tenafly in the North 1, Group 3 state sectional quarterfinals on Friday. |
BERGENFIELD – At one point late in the second quarter, right around the time Jovani Haskins made two free throws to double up Tenafly on the scoreboard, the home crowd, packed to the gills at Bergenfield High School, started with the old 'Start the buses' chant. There was one member of the student section, however, who shushed his compatriots, gesturing for them to cut it off figuring that it was way to early for that type of thing. That kid turned out to be a clairvoyant.
Haskins' free throws gave Bergenfield a 38-19 lead with 1:59 left in the first half, but the game was far from over and it wouldn't be until Tenafly's last gasp, a full court fling at the final buzzer, bounced off the ceiling. From up 19 and looking dominant, to clinging to the slimmest of leads, Bergenfield held on for a 62-61 win over a game Tenafly team in the North 1, Group 3 state sectional quarterfinals on Friday night.
“Great 16 minutes, terrible 16 minutes,” said Bergenfield head coach Marty Rivard. “We were two different teams. Great in the first half, disappointing in the second half.”
With its 'great half' being the first one, Bergenfield just about buried Tenafly, which had no answers but to burn timeouts and hope to get into the locker room with some shred of hope after being shredded through the first two quarters. Jovani Haskins' drop-step and layup gave Bergenfield a 17-10 lead after the first quarter and the Bears scored the first eight points of the second quarter to push the game to the edge of a blowout. Haskins' elbow jumper sandwiched between 3-pointers by Leonard Bollusa and Herbie Cabral put the Bears up 25-10 and the deluge continued.
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Ben Danzger came off the bench to score 13 points for Tenafly. |
After James Hamilton's 3 and two Haskins free throws, Bergenfield had doubled up the Tigers, 38-19, with just two minutes to play in the first half. Tenafly needed a mini 4-0 run to close the quarter to even creep within 15 at halftime, 40-25.
“It felt like we were down 30, but when we went in the locker room we told them it was only 15 and was not that bad, considering how we had played,” said Tenafly head coach Jeff Koehler. “We just had to chip away, play good defense and we played every defense under the sun. We went man, 2-3, a little box-and-1, but man was the only way we were going to be able to get back.”
All it took to change the momentum was a quick 7-0 run to start the third quarter to restore Tenafly's confidence. Amit Yona, the Tigers' senior 1,000-point scorer, scored his first points of the game came on a spinning layup to start the second half and it was followed by five straight points by Blake Berne, whose 3-pointer got the Tigers back within single digits in a hurry.
With both Haskins brothers, DJ and Jovani, and Tenafly center Nakia Griffin in foul trouble for the majority of the second half, the game was played with a spread floor on both sides and little guys trying to get to the rim or drive and kick. With height not being much of a factor, every rebound was up for grabs. It was wide open.
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James Hamilton had 17 points for Bergenfield, which will play Garfield in the semifinals on Saturday. |
Ben Danzger, who played one of his best games of the season off the Tenafly bench, scored on a putback and Jake Spadaccini made a 3 to keep Tenafly within single digits heading into the fourth quarter at 49-41 and the Tigers kept creeping closer. Anthony Breakfield's two free throws made it 52-48, Spadaccini's steal and layup made it 52-50 and Berne's 3-pointer with 3:16 to go in the game put Tenafly in front, 53-52, for the first and only time in the game.
It took Tenafly 14:46 to turn an 19-point second quarter deficit into a one-point lead, but it lasted only nine seconds as Bollusa made a free throw to tie the game for the only time and Hamilton hit a 3 to put Bergenfield back in front for good at 56-53, but the final two minutes were anything but comfortable for the home team.
“With the home crowd that we had here tonight there was no way we could lose this game,” said Hamilton, one of 10 seniors on the Bergenfield roster. “We always talk at halftime about starting the second half like it is 0-0 no matter what the score is, but they got that 7-0 run to start the third quarter and instead of trying to build our lead we were trying to contain them. Fortunately we had one more point at the wire.”
Yona converted a 3-point play to cut Bergenfield's lead to 57-56 with 58 seconds to go before Hamilton answered with two free throws. Down three with 29 seconds left, Tenafly rushed a 3-pointer that was blocked, but Danzger read the ricochet and tapped it in. Cabral made two free throws and Yona and Jovani Haskins made one apiece, so here is the reset: Bergenfield was up 62-59 with 12 seconds left and Tenafly had the ball.
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Tenafly's Blake Berne had 10 points, including the 3-pointer with 3:16 to go in the fourth quarter that gave the Tigers their lone lead of the game. |
Tenafly put the ball in Yona's hands and he launched a 3-pointer with six seconds to go. It was short and Jovani Haskins, up near the rim looking for a rebound, nearly goal-tended the shot, but the referees had the best look and did not blow a whistle and Tenafly's last gasp was an 85-foot heave off a missed rebound that hit the ceiling as the buzzer sounded.
Jovani Haskins (18 points), Hamilton (17 points) and Cabral (11 points) combined for 46 of the Bears' 62 points. Danzger and Breakfield scored 13 each for Tenafly while Berne, Spadaccini and Yona all finished with 10.
It was a wild finish that Bergenfield will have to put behind it quickly as it prepares for the North 1, Group 3 state sectional semifinals, which will take place on Saturday at 1 p.m. against Garfield.
How will the Bears deal with the quick turnaround?
“I don't know. Last time it happened to me I was at Cresskill and we played a triple overtime game in the state tournament on a Friday night and we had the 12 o'clock Saturday game at the [Bergen County] Jamboree and it was tough,” said Rivard. “Fortunately the other team is in the same boat and it is the same playing field for everybody.”
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