Monday,
January 18, 2016
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Backing up his 26-point effort in Tuesday's overtime win at St. Joseph Regional, Ramapo's Matt Latka went for 27 on Sunday night in a 66-62 win over previously unbeaten Don Bosco Prep. |
ENGLEWOOD – Interviewed after his team’s dominating win over defending state sectional champion Manchester last weekend, Ramapo head coach Joe Sandberg was asked about his team’s chances of getting the top seed in the Bergen County Jamboree and even its chances of winning it.
He responded, “We’ll find out a lot about ourselves [in the] next week when we play St. Joe’s and Don Bosco.”
Well, the week is over and we know a lot more about the Green Raiders now. After beating St. Joseph Regional on the road in overtime on Tuesday night, Ramapo doubled down with a 66-62 victory over previously unbeaten Don Bosco Prep in the nightcap of the Public vs. Private Showcase at Dwight Morrow on Sunday night.
What we know now is that Ramapo (11-1), barring an unforeseen upset loss this week and maybe even if that happens, will be the top seed in the Jambo and the favorite to win it.
“Everyone kind of said it was the three catholic [schools] and then everyone else and we just kind of wanted to make a statement for the publics,” said Sandberg, whose team did that and more by beating SJR on the road and Bosco on a neutral floor in the span of four days.
Ramapo is not a hard team to figure out. It plays hard-nosed man-to-man defense, it has quality depth that keeps running fresh legs at opposing ball-handlers, it rebounds and executes in the half-court offense, especially down the stretch of games when every possession matters. It is just hard to stop the Green Raiders, a team stocked with 10 seniors that are used to winning
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With his combination of hard drives and outside shooting, Bosco's Brandon Anderson finished with a team-high 26. |
They trailed by a point after the first quarter, by six at the half and by a bucket after three, but once they turned the corner and tied the game on two Jason Oppler free throws and then took the lead on Matt Latka’s pull-up jumper with 5:37 to play, they never gave it back. Ramapo’s biggest lead in the game was five points, a spread it opened three different times, all inside the final 1:28 of fourth quarter. And the Raiders made all eight of their fourth quarter free throws and were 6 for 6 from the line in one-and-one situations in the final 43 seconds.
“Once we got the lead I knew we weren’t going to give up because out team has great composure,” said Ramapo point guard Joe O’Hagan. “We work so hard in practice and that is just what we do; we wear teams down in the fourth quarter.”
Don Bosco Prep (11-1) took an early 11-5 lead and was up 13-8 before settling for a one-point lead after the first quarter when Ramapo scored the final four points of the period on a Keith Woetzel layup off a lob pass from Frankie Aiello and Aiello’s tear-drop floater.
Ramapo completed the 6-0 run when Ryan Curtiss scored on the fastbreak to open the second quarter and put his team in front for the first time at 14-13. Brandon Anderson, Bosco’s senior point guard already committed to Brown University, went on a personal 7-2 run in less than two minutes to give his team the lead back. The first two baskets, including a 3-pointer, were off the dribble and the third was a step-back jumper that put the Ironmen up 22-20 and Bosco then closed the half with a 5-0 run to take a 29-23 lead into the break.
Latka, who had 26 points in Ramapo’s win at St. Joseph, opened the third quarter with a drive to make it a four-point game and neither team led by more than that until late in the fourth. Ramapo led 32-31 after a Latka 3-pointer and at 34-33 when O’Hagan used a stutter step to get all the way to the basket, but Marcellus Earlington (12 points), Bosco’s 6-foot-5 sophomore who made a mark on the game off the bench, scored 7 points in a span of 1:46 to give the Ironmen the lead back at 40-36. Latka and Chris Gordon each nailed 3-pointers to tie the game before Anderson’s floater gave Bosco a 44-42 edge heading into what turned out to be a wholly entertaining final eight minutes.
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Joe O'Hagan finished with 8 points and set up a bunch of big baskets for Ramapo, which improved to 11-1 on the season. |
Anderson, who was brilliant all game long, scored 11 of his team-high 26 in the final quarter, including a free throw that gave his team a 48-44 lead with 6:44 to play. Right after that, Ramapo made it move. Gordon cleaned up a mess under the basket, Oppler went 2 of 2 at the line and Latka hit a tough little pull-up jumper for the 6-0 run that gave the Green Raiders the lead for good at 50-48. Bosco closed to within one point at 50-49, 52-51, 54-53 and 56-55, but Ramapo had an answer every time. O’Hagan, who picked up three first half fouls, played the second half without committing any and his drive to the hoop made it 58-55 with 2:46 to go. Latka followed with a spin move to give the Raiders’ their largest lead of the night at 60-55 with 1:28 to go.
Chris Paul (9 points) got all the way to the basket to make it a one possession game again and then the parade to the free throw line started with 43 seconds left. Latka made both of his to make it 62-57.
After Anderson went coast-to-coast for a layup, Gordon made both ends of his one-and-one opportunity with 27 seconds left. Seven seconds later, Anderson drilled a 3 off the dribble to make it 64-62 with 20 seconds left. Both teams then traded turnovers and, when Ramapo regained possession, the ball ended up in the hands of KC Hunt, the freshman who had not scored through the first 31:50 of the game.
That Sandberg had him on the floor in that situation showed the trust that he has in Hunt and with two free throws to take with 10 seconds left, Hunt proved he belonged. Neither of his free throws even so much as nicked the rim on the way through as he sealed the victory.
“It was stressful, but Chris Gordon helped me through it. He said, “It’s easy, just make them,’ and that was it,” said Hunt. “The seniors have helped me through everything. They work with me and they are great role models for me.”
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Sophomore Marcellus Earlington came off the bench to scored 12 points for Don Bosco Prep, which fell to 11-1. |
One of those role models is Latka, who is on fire. In his last two games against top-notch competition, Latka has averaged 26.5 points and he scored 18 of his game-high 27 on Sunday in the second half.
“We have been waiting for this week the whole [season]. St. Joe’s and Don Bosco are big rivals for us and it is great to come out with a win in both,” said Latka, a senior wing player who is drawing interest from a variety of collegiate programs from Division 2 on up. “We are becoming the hunted now. We have to keep winning, keep our heads on straight and just keep going.”
Behind Latka’s 27, the rest of Ramapo’s points were characteristically spread out. Curtiss finished with 10, Gordon had 9, O’Hagan had 8, Woetzel and Oppler each finished with 4 and Hunt’s free throws accounted for the other two points for the Raiders.
“Our kids played hard. I have a great group of seniors and then I had KC Hunt step up and made two huge free throws. I can’t say enough about these kids. They are warriors,” said Sandberg, who is in his fourth season as Ramapo’s head coach. “Our mindset is that we will take it one game at a time. Our next opponent is Old Tappan and they are a very good team. There is no looking ahead for this group.”
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