Wednesday,
January 6, 2016
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Donato Cieri filled the stat sheet with 8 points, 5 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 assists, as Weehawken grinded out a 46-33 win over Saddle Brook on Tuesday. |
WEEHAWKEN – Having lost all five starters and over 60 points per game from last year's 21-win team that reached the North 2 Group 1 semis, this was supposed to be a rebuilding year for Weehawken. While the Indians lack the size and the offensive firepower that last year's team possessed, they have gotten off to a hot start this season by using sheer hustle to stay within striking distance before hitting their stride.
On Tuesday night against another surprise team in Saddle Brook, Weehawken stuck to its defensive fundamentals.
Donato Cieri and Brayan Padron had steals and turned them into buckets on consecutive possessions as Weehawken pulled away in the final three minutes for a 46-33 win over Saddle Brook at Weehawken High School.
“This wasn't the prettiest win and I'm not happy with the way we played, but at the end of the day it's still a 'W' and you take them when you can get them with a young team,” said Weehawken head coach Jake McNish.
To say both teams struggled out of the gate was quite the understatement as they combined to score just six points in the first seven minutes of the game. Weehawken could not get into a rhythm throughout the first three quarters but did show a penchant for buzzer-beating shots as it ended each of those quarters with a basket at the buzzer.
Leury De La Cruz's only basket of the game came on a contested layup to end the first quarter. The Indians dominated the glass all night and used that to their advantage. Wally Martinez grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it back in at the horn to give Weehawken a 13-8 lead at halftime. That's right, 13-8.
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Andrew Lorenzo led Saddle Brook (3-2) with 12 points and added 4 steals and 4 rebounds. |
“We didn't play well in the first half, but we still felt pretty good being that we only scored 13 points and still had the lead,” said Padron. “We've worked really, really hard to get ready for this season. Things weren't going our way on offense but we had to keep fighting. I had to drive to the basket more in the second half and be more aggressive. We know that it doesn't matter if we're playing really well or we're having a tough time like we did tonight. We're going to give our best and hustle until we figure it out.”
Saddle Brook finally got an offensive spurt going and grabbed its first lead of the game, 18-15, midway through the third quarter on a 3-pointer by Andrew Lorenzo. Weehawken regained control with three straight baskets to end the period. Padron hit a short jumper followed by a steal and layup from Cieri. The sparkplug of the Indians' resurgence between the third and fourth quarters came off the bench from freshman Sebastian Rios. He showed no fear and was active both on the glass and in transition. Rios snatched a rebound in traffic then dribbled the length of the court to beat the buzzer with a layup for a 28-24 lead.
The Falcons hung tough and cut the lead to three on two occasions during the fourth quarter, but never got any closer. Cieri's steal and driving layup while getting fouled gave the Indians momentum for good. Padron followed with a steal and a pull-up jumper with less than three minutes to play that bumped the lead back up to eight and gave the Indians some breathing room down the stretch. Any efforts of a comeback were derailed by the Falcons' six turnovers in the final five minutes.
“The name of the game is consistency and we didn't have that tonight,” said Saddle Brook head coach Dan Gianfredi. “When you have more turnovers than assists or especially more turnovers than rebounds, it's a combination for a loss. I liked our mental toughness and we were scrappy in that we were still in the game in the fourth quarter. This is definitely a 'flush it' game. You learn from it and then you flush it.”
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Freshman Sebastian Rios came off the bench to spark Weehawken, which is now 4-1 on the season. |
Padron led all players with 16 points to go with six rebounds for Weehawken (4-1). Rios finished one rebound shy of a double-double with 10 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Cieri pitched in all areas with eight points, five rebounds, five steals, four assists, and a block along with holding Saddle Brook's dangerous point guard Noel Rosa (25 points per game coming into last night) to just six. The Indians also doubled up Saddle Brook on the boards with a 28-14 edge in rebounds.
Lorenzo was the lone bright spot for Saddle Brook (3-2) with 12 points, four steals, and four rebounds. The Falcons will look to get back on track on Thursday when they face North Arlington (4-2).
For all the youth and inexperience that this year's Weehawken roster has, four wins in the first five games is a solid jumping off point for another successful season under McNish.
“Through five games we have the same record as we had last year so I'm pretty happy about that,” said McNish. “A little bit different level of talent than last year's team had, but we like where we are right now. When you lose 60 points from the team that we had last year, we knew there were going to be nights where we struggled offensively. This was a bad offensive game, but sometimes games are going to be like this and getting a gritty win is something we'll take every time.”
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