Sunday,
February 7, 2016
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Ja'Quay James scored 15 points in the final 8:01 of the game to help Teaneck take over in a 65-50 win over River Dell in the Round of 16 of the Bergen County Jamboree on Saturday in Allendale. |
ALLENDALE – Teaneck is used to it. Because it has been to the Bergen County Jamboree championship games in each of the past five seasons and because it has won four of the last five championships, the Highwaymen know that they are always the favorite and always the team that is going to get the best effort from its opponent. River Dell, the No. 14 seed, was no different in the Round of 16 on Saturday.
“These are all winning teams that expect to win. In the regular season, sometimes you play teams that are downtrodden. Teams that are beat before they even get in the gym,” said Teaneck head coach Jerome Smart. “All of these teams [in the Jambo] have good records, they are all very confident.”
River was all of that as it held a lead after the first quarter, trailed by just three points at the half while holding Ja’Quay James, Teaneck’s all-county caliber sophomore guard to just two points over the first 16 minutes of the game. River Dell basically reduced Teaneck to a one-man show starring Jawuan Daniels in the first half while using its share-the-ball approach to give the Bergen County juggernaut fits.
It continued for the entirety of the third quarter, too. River Dell was keeping the scoreboard from spinning like a pinball machine; it was hitting shots and carried a one-point lead into the fourth quarter. But there were some warning lights during that third quarter when there were three lead changes and three ties. James was heating up and was ready for a sprint to the finish.
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Mike Fasano scored a game-high 13 points for River Dell, which carried a one-point lead into the fourth quarter. |
James turned the game around in the matter of 80 seconds. His floater just beat the third quarter buzzer and he came up with steals on River Dell’s first two possessions of the fourth. He turned both of those into 3-pointers to take his team from down three to up five and ahead for good as the Highwaymen advanced to the Jambo quarterfinals with a 65-50 on Saturday at Northern Highlands High School.
“In the first half they were shading my side with the zone and we needed someone else to step up. Jawuan Daniels did when my shot wasn’t really falling early,” said James. “My coach just told me not to get frustrated, let it start on defense and everything would come. He was right. I got two steals, I got two 3-pointers and I started to get in my groove and getting to the foul line.”
James undid all of River Dell’s good work, and there was plenty of it, with his personal 8-0 run that spanned the third and fourth quarters. And when Daniels reasserted himself in the fourth, Teaneck had all the offensive firepower it needed to go along with its rock solid and aggressive man-to-man defense. After Nick Sirico made back-to-back field goals to get River Dell back to within 40-39 with 6:05 to play, Daniels scored five straight points, the last of them on a conventional 3-point play after a fastbreak run-out.
River Dell got as close as 50-46 with 1:39 to go on a Matt Coppola 3-pointer, but, forced to foul after that, the Golden Hawks could only watch as Teaneck made 15 of 18 free throws in the final 1:24 to pull away.
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Jawuan Daniels scored 17 of his game-high 26 points in the first half to keep Teaneck afloat early. |
For the second straight year Teaneck had its hands full in the Round of 16. Last season the Highwaymen fell behind Ramsey 16-3 before rallying to win and this year River Dell had a lead entering the final eight minutes. The explanation for that is that even though the name on the front of the jersey stands for Bergen County powerhouse, the players inside those jerseys are continually changing and even a Highwayman needs to learn how to handle postseason pressure.
“A lot of what happened last year was very similar to what happened this year. Even though we have played a full varsity schedule so far, a lot of our kids have never played in the Jamboree and they don’t know what the level of competition is going to be,” said Smart. “It’s like going to the playoffs in the NBA or the NCAA Tournament or the NFL playoffs. Teams go to another level and you have to match that.”
Teaneck certainly did that and more down the stretch as James, who scored 7 points through the first 23:59 of the game, finished with 22. Daniels scored 17 of his game-high 26 in the first half. Korey Pettie made the most of the late game foul shooting contest as he went 7 of 9 from the stripe in the fourth quarter. Jahlil Kure and Ge’Ani Bannerman each made field goals and Adrian Barcum and Kyle Lawrence made a free throw apiece to round out the scoring for the Highwaymen.
River Dell’s scoring was much more balanced as Mike Fasano (13 points), Pat Robertson (11 points) and Coppola (10 points) all finished in double figures followed closely by Connor Belthoff and Sirico, who added 7 points each. Dave Angione had the other field goal for the Hawks.
So now it is on to the quarterfinals for Teaneck and there they will find a rematch with Ramsey, a senior laden team that is sure to remember the big lead that it let slip away last season.
“I just think we have to come out with good effort, play hard for 32 minutes and try to wear them down a little bit,” said Smart. “I saw them play five or six guys most of the game today [against St. Mary] so if we can get them in a little foul trouble or get them winded playing at our pace maybe we can be successful.”
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