Saturday,
December 21, 2014
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Jihad Wright (left) scored a game-high 28 points as Passaic Valley held off defending league champion Wayne Hills, 59-53, in the season opener on Friday night in Little Falls. |
LITTLE FALLS – Passaic Valley has had much of a chance to work out the kinks in the preseason. Injuries kept the Hornets from putting their full rotation on the floor for any appreciative length of time. So there was really no way to know how a team that is replacing seven seniors from last year's team and one that had a freshman and a sophomore in the starting lineup, would react in late game situations while trying to protect a lead against a quality opponent.
It helps to have an experienced guard who can drive the team home. For the Hornets, that player is junior Jihad Wright, a three-year starter who who took over down the stretch. He hit all six of his fourth quarter free throws to finish off a stellar game and defending league champion Wayne Hills in a 59-53 season opening win on Friday night in Little Falls.
Wright did a little bit of everything with a game-high 28 points to go along with 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals to help seal a win that, even though it came on the first day of the season, could prove important in the race for a league championship and positioning in the Passaic County Tournament.
“Last year when I played with that group of seniors that we had, it really prepared me for this. I feel like I am a leader out there and it is my job to help the newcomers handle the pressure that is going to come in games like this,” said Wright, who scored 9 fourth quarter points. “It was a big win for us. Wayne Hills is a rival, they won the league title last year and they are good again. We had to play with energy right from the start.”
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David Torres made four 3s and finished with a team-high 24 points for Wayne Hills. |
Passaic Valley did exactly that as Wright's open layup off a steal and assist from Spencer Perzely gave the Hornets a 7-0 lead. Wayne Hills caught up as back-to-back 3-pointers by David Torres capped a 7-0 spurt the other way and tied the game for the only time at 7-all. But Tito Ramirez answered for PV with a 3 of his own that gave the Hornets the lead for good at 10-7 midway through the opening period. They led 17-10 after the first quarter, 30-20 at halftime and Wright's 3 off an out/under with 1:06 left in the third quarter gave PV the 45-32 lead they carried into the final eight minutes.
“We haven't practiced with our top 8 all year. [Zach] Mazalewski and [Shawn] Ulrich are just coming back from concussions and a kid that was in our starting lineup for every scrimmage didn't play tonight. We are, no doubt, a work in progress, but this team is really together mentally and they support each other,” said PV head coach Rob Carcich. “The maturity of this group is amazing and we needed all of it in the fourth quarter.”
Just when it looked like PV was going to be able to cruise to the win, Wayne Hills turned up the defensive pressure and made the final seven minutes more than interesting. After Wright made a 3 from the wing to give PV a 50-36 lead with 7:02 to play, Wayne Hills forced turnovers on four of the Hornets' next five possessions and used the suddenly open floor to rip off a 9-0 run to get right back in the game, down five with still 4:49 to play. A missed layup on one end led to a free run out for Wayne Hills' Dorian Hodge, who converted to draw the Patriots to within 50-45.
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Senior Zach Mazalewski finished with 12 points for PV, including a couple of big 3s. |
Enter Wright, who took the ball in his hands and showed the poise that was necessary. The parade to the foul like started with three-and-a-half minutes to go and Wright made four straight to push the Hornets' advantage up to a more comfortable nine-point spread. A 3 by Kyle Hogan followed by a steal and layup by Hodge proved to be Wayne Hills' last push as they drew to within 55-50 with 2:11 left, but Passaic Valley made four of its final six free throws to keep its distance.
“The turnovers late, there are no excuses for that. There are no excuses for poor play, but it was our first game. We'll work on it and we'll get better at it, but we'll take the win. That was the most important thing tonight. We got the win,” said Shawn Ulrich, PV's 6-foot-9 senior who was the pressure release valve in the middle of the floor against the Wayne Hills pressure. “We are a young team. I am one of only two seniors, but the chemistry we have together is very good. We have to improve our decision making and our shot making at the end, but we shot our free throws well tonight and that was big.”
While Wright was the high-scorer by a wide margin, it was because he was the open man many times not because he was forcing shots. The Hornets share the ball well and got important contributions from everyone they ran out there.
Mazalewski, the other senior, came off the bench to score 12 points, including two third quarter 3-pointers that immediately answered Wayne Hills baskets at the other end. After Torres muscled one in to get the Patriots back to within 34-26 with 4:29 left in the third, Mazalewski pushed the lead right back into double digits 14 seconds later. And after Torres scored five straight points on a 3 and a back door layup to make it 37-31, Mazalewski made a 3-from the corner to end the run.
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Dorian Hodge finished with 15 points for Wayne Hills. |
Sophomore Tito Ramirez score 7 of his 11 points in the first half to help PV get off to the fast start, Ulrich added 7 points and provided a presence on the glass and Perzely's free throw rounded out the scoring for the Hornets.
Torres was a handful on the perimeter for Wayne Hills as he finished with a team-high 24, including four 3-pointers. Hodge turned his defensive pressure into a solid offensive night as he finished with 15 points. Leyshawn Askew finished with 5 points, Hogan added 3 and Joey Belli, Joey Kenny and James Kim each made a field goal for the Patriots.
With win No. 1 in the books and with a real look at what worked and what didn't, Passaic Valley is hoping to get on a roll and maybe even into next week's NorthJerseySports.com Top 20 rankings.
“I know it sounds corny, but our goal is just to get better every day. We have a lot add. Our playsheet is maybe only a quarter full right now and some of the younger kids are still getting used to the terminology,” said Carcich. “What I liked tonight is that we really responded out of timeouts. It's something we have worked on and three times tonight we got something out of it. I like this group. They want to learn, they stick together and that is a good place to start.”
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