Wednesday, March 11, 2015

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

The first made 3-pointer in the career of senior AJ Gentile tied the game with 4.2 seconds left and Cresskill went on to beat Wood-Ridge, 72-60, in the North 1, Group 1 section final.

CRESSKILL – Cresskill had already given back all of its 13-point second half lead and had just seen Wood-Ridge's Ashby McLeod make two clutch free throws. Down three and with just 12 seconds left in regulation, Cresskill head coach Mike Doto had no time outs left to call and had to leave his team to its own devices. Whether Cresskill would continue on toward its stated goal of reaching the Group 1 state final or if it would lose in the North 1, Group 1 state sectional final on its own home floor for the second straight year rested in the hands of his players.

How did it all play out? Doto had the best seat in the house from which to describe the next six-and-half seconds.

“When [McLeod] made that second foul shot we wanted to run our sideline break, but they took [Matt] Flood away,” said Doto. “The play broke down a little bit and the ball just ended up in the hands of AJ [Gentile] behind the 3-point line.”

Gentile, for his part, knew that was not how things were designed to go.

“I think if Coach Doto could have anyone to take that shot he would have chosen Flood, [Zac] Garcia, Nick DeCandia, [Sean] Kelly, [Luke] Kushner or Matt Ferrara over me,” said Gentile, grinning ear to ear. “I am sure that I would have been dead last on the list.”

Will Cook scored a team-high 18 points, including the 3-pointer that gave Wood-Ridge a 56-55 lead with 27 seconds left in regulation.

But alternate options were running out, as was the game clock and Gentile, a senior, let it fly. With a hand in his face, with 4.2 seconds remaining and one step to the right of the top of the key, Gentile banked in, yes banked in, not just his first 3-pointer of the game, nor of the season but the first 3-pointer of his entire varsity career to tie the game and send it into overtime.

DeCandia, another senior higher on the shooting chart, but one who had not scored a point through the four quarters of regulation, nailed two 3-pointers in the extra session and Cresskill survived to cut down the nets with a 72-60 victory on Tuesday night. The win gave the Cougars their third state sectional title in the last six years and a trip to East Orange Campus High School on Thursday night for the Group 1 state semifinals where they will play University, the North 2 champion.

DeCandia's first points of the game came on a 3-pointer 16 seconds into the overtime and gave Cresskill the lead for good. Flood then sliced through for a layup, Kelly made a free throw and then DeCandia buried another triple midway through to make it 67-58.

“I was just going through my normal game. I am not much of a scorer, my job is to guard the best player on the other team and he wasn't doing much, so I didn't even play a lot in the fourth quarter. I came off the bench in the overtime with fresh legs,” said DeCandia. “Every time I got the ball and was open, I shot with confidence.”

The intangible that is 'confidence' swung back-and-forth all night long. Cresskill came out firing and went up 10-5 before Wood-Ridge, which was blown out in the regular season matchup against the Cougars, showed that this time was going to be different. David Guerra's driving layup gave the Blue Devils a 14-12 lead after the first quarter and Will Cook's step-in 3-pointer with 2:33 to go in the first half gave Wood-Ridge its largest advantage of the night at 23-15.

Nick DeCandia scored all 7 of his points in overtime, including the 3-pointer that finally gave Cresskill the lead for good.

Cresskill had gone cold, but rallied with a 10-0 run in the final 2:15. Flood kicked it off with a 3-pointer and Kushner finished it with a 3 that beat the buzzer and put the Cougars up 25-23 at the break. It looked like Kushner's shot was going to be the one that propelled Cresskill to a comfortable victory as a 16-4 third quarter run pushed its lead to 43-30 with a minute to go in the third quarter.

Nick Belgiovine's two 3-pointers in the final 43 seconds of the third kept Wood-Ridge within striking distance heading into the fourth, but it was still down nine, 52-43, after Kushner hit a jumper with 3:52 left in regulation.

And then things went kablooey.

Cresskill committed ill-advised fouls on three straight defensive possessions and Wood-Ridge made all six free throws to draw within three and Ernie Day's left-handed layup with 1:12 left cut the Cresskill lead to 55-53. A Wood-Ridge timeout and then two in a row taken by Cresskill set up the wild final 40 seconds.

Wood-Ridge sprung a trap near the hash mark to force a Cresskill turnover with 33 seconds left and Cook was left open in the corner from where he buried a clutch 3-pointer that put Wood-Ridge up 56-55 with 27 seconds left. Cresskill then forced a 3 and missed it leading to the two McLeod free throws that put the Devils up 58-55 with 12 second to go.

David Guerra scored 17 points for Wood-Ridge, which finished the season with a 17-11 record.

Having burned through all of its timeouts, Cresskill's next best option was to get a 3-pointer from anyone with enough space to take one. That was Gentile, who banked in the biggest shot of his career and one of the biggest in Cresskill hoops history. (More on that later).

There were two ways to play it for Wood-Ridge and head coach Ed Rendzio thought about both of them. He could have fouled with the three-point lead and forced Cresskill in a make-the-first-miss-the-second type scenario or he could have let the game play itself out. He chose the latter and could not have asked for a better outcome as his team forced the ball into the hands of a player who had never made a 3-pointer in his career with time winding down and a hand in his face.

And then Gentile's triple kissed the window and fell through.

“We could have fouled them, but at that time I liked our chances playing straight up. I couldn't believe it when that shot banked in, I am still stunned, but give that kid [Gentile] credit. He made the shot and he showed the courage to take it,” said Rendzio. “My guys showed great heart and I could not be prouder of any team I have had in all of my years here. We were down 13 and could have packed our tents, but we came back and made some big shots and some big plays. Up 3 with 12 seconds to go and I could have fouled, but who knows what would have happened and I guess we will never know.”

Cook led Wood-Ridge (17-11) with 18 points and Guerra was outstanding once again in the secondary scoring role as he finished with 17 points. Belgiovine added 10 to make it three Blue Devils in double figures. Day finished with 8 points, McLeod had 5 and Josh Peaz's first quarter field goal rounded out the scoring for Wood-Ridge, which was an incredible 15 of 16 from the free throw line in the game as a team and 10 of 11 in the fourth quarter.

Matt Flood scored a game-high 21 points for Cresskill, which will play University on Thursday night in the Group 1 state semifinals.

Flood finished with a game-high 21 for Cresskill, which improved to 27-3 on the season. Kelly (17 points) and Gentile (15 points) made it three double digit scorers for the Cougars. Kushner added 9, DeCandia scored all 7 of his points in the overtime and Zac Garcia's third quarter 3-pointer accounted for the rest of the points for Cresskill, which is one win away from its ultimate goal of playing in the Group 1 final at Rutgers.

“We are not satisfied yet. I mean, I am over the moon right now, but we are not done,” said Flood. “Our goal has always been the RAC and I think we are going to do it.”

NOTES: OK, back to Gentile's shot and its place in Cresskill boys hoops history. A discussion ensued on the court as the crowd dispersed and assistant coach Andrew Badurina served as our impromptu tour guide through Cougar lore. He put Gentile's banker as No. 2 because, technically, it was not a game-winner even if it certainly saved Cresskill's season.

“From the history books, Brian Fuhrmann hit one in the state sectionals in '75-76, but because the ball had laces back then we really don't count that one. The best shot in Cresskill history was to win the section title in '94 and it was made by Garett Kreitz to win it against Park Ridge,” said Badurina, a 1996 Cresskill graduate who had 1,035 career points. “It was the last second, fourth quarter. We threw the ball to the middle, ball goes to Garett on the wing and, from five feet behind the arc, sinks it...game over. By the way, greatest assist in Cresskill history? On that play...Andrew Badurina.”

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