Monday,
February 22, 2016
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Brandon Anderson led Don Bosco Prep to a big early lead and the Ironmen beat back all of Teaneck's challenges to reach the Jambo final with a 67-57 win on Sunday night at Fairleigh Dickinson University. |
HACKENSACK – Teaneck has been rolling the dice in the Bergen County Jamboree. In the first two games they played in this year’s tournament they fell behind before battling back for victories. First it was against River Dell in the Round of 16 when the scare lasted well into the fourth quarter. Last week they gave up the first 9 points of the game before rallying to beat Ramsey. But the longer the gamble, the better the chance the odds will eventually favor the house and, in this instance, it was Don Bosco Prep that finally forced Teaneck to fold its hand.
Bosco raced out to a 16-2 lead six minutes into Sunday night’s semifinal matchup and, despite feeling the heat of another Teaneck comeback attempt in the second half, held the lead for all but 28 seconds and never trailed before posting a 67-57 win at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Bosco, the No. 2 seed, earned a spot in Friday night’s Jambo final against No. 4 St. Joseph Regional.
“Why we continually come out in the first quarter not prepared to play is beyond me. I just don’t understand it,” said Teaneck head coach Jerome Smart. “We can’t keep digging 10, 13, 14-point holes and expect to come out of it, especially against a good team because you have to fight so hard to get back in it and as soon as you take a deep breath you are back down again.”
There was a lot of huffing and puffing then in the first quarter when Bosco came out firing. Omar Mostafa hit a 3-pointer to get things going and by the time Teaneck had burned through its second timeout with 2:02 left in the first quarter, it was in arrears by 14 points. The Ironmen used a zone defense to stay in front of Teaneck point guard Ja’Quaye James and aggressiveness on the offensive end to take control. Manley Dorme took off from the middle of the lane for a dunk that made it 9-2 and he scored inside again to make it 11-2. Brandon Anderson’s pull-up 3-pointer and Charlie Bagin’s driving lay-up made it 16-2.
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Teaneck's Jawuan Daniels made four 3-pointers as part of his game-high 27. |
Teaneck is going to trap the ballhandler often enough in games that it is not on the verge of getting blown out of even before a full quarter is played, but down by so much so early, the Highwaymen had no choice but to turn every Bosco possession into a full-fledged scramble.
The Highwaymen forced nine first half turnovers and started to climb back in the game late in the first quarter. Jahlil Kure’s tap-in and James’ 3-pointer at the buzzer got Teaneck back to within a more respectable 19-9 after one.
“We did lose a little bit of rhythm after coming out strong, but we kept our heads in it and we kept fighting,” said Bosco point guard Brandon Anderson, who was the target of the Teaneck traps coming from every angle. “We knew it was going to be a battle no matter how much we were up or how much we were down.”
Bosco used it early cushion to sustain Teaneck’s numerous runs without ever giving up the lead. The Highwaymen got as close as five points twice in the second quarter but could no better than hold steady at 10 points behind, 38-28, at halftime. It was Jawuan Daniels who was keeping Teaneck within shouting distance. He scored 21 of his game-high 27 points in the middle two quarters and did it inside and out and off the glass. Daniels went on a personal 7-1 run that got the Highwaymen to within 41-37, he tapped in a miss to pull closer at 43-41 and his pull-up jumper with 29 seconds left in the third quarter forged the first and only tie of the game at 43-all.
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Charlie Bagin scored 7 points for Bosco, which will play St. Joseph Regional in the Jambo final on Friday night. |
Anderson answered with a pull-up jumper of his own in a last shot situation to put Bosco back in front at the end of the third quarter and it was never caught again. Daniels’ 3-pointer from the corner with 4:33 left made it a one possession game for the final time at 51-48, but Bosco’s ensuing 8-1 run highlighted by Chris Paul’s dunk put the game out of reach with 1:56 to go.
“If they had jumped even one point ahead of us it could have been a momentum changer, but I thought we did a pretty good job of minimizing their runs. We didn’t turn the ball over too much, more than I would have liked, but we settled down in the fourth quarter in terms of taking care of the ball,” said Bosco head coach Kevin Diverio. “Brandon [Anderson] played great in the fourth quarter handling the pressure from their double-teams and obviously we are going to need another effort like that on Friday [in the final].”
Anderson led Bosco with 21 points and made all six of his fourth quarter free throws to help put the game away. Dorme (4 points) and Earlington, Bosco’s big man rotation, both battled foul trouble but Earlington still managed to finish with 15 points, 10 in the fourth quarter. Paul tried to dunk everything he could get his hands on and his aggressiveness led to a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds. Bagin finished with 7 points and Mostafa and Ronald Harper each added 5 for the Ironmen, who are back in the county final for the fourth time in the last six years. Bosco is looking for its first Jambo title since finishing a run of three straight from 2006-08.
So it’s Bosco versus St. Joe’s on Friday night for all of the marbles.
“I think [St. Joseph] is playing great right now. Chauncey [Hawkins] and [Nate] Garvey are at the top of their game right now, [Joseph] Radi is shooting the ball well and they are getting real good contributions from [Isaac] Hippolyte and [Bryan] Griffin is playing like a man inside,” said Diverio. “We have our work cut out for us on Friday.”
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