Friday,
March 11, 2016
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Nick Whitaker, back at full strength after missing a month with a broken hand, scored a team-high 17 points for Teaneck in a 48-36 win over Warren Hills in the Group 3 state semifinals. |
EAST ORANGE – It was probably too early to try and definitely ill-advised. Just a minute-and-a-half into the second quarter of Thursday night’s Group 3 state final, Teaneck point guard Ja’Quaye James found himself ahead of the field, but instead of taking the layup himself, he tried one of those off-the-backboard alley oops where a teammate, in this case Jawaun Daniels, was supposed to swoop in from behind and dunk the basketball. It went all wrong and probably should have gone down as two missed shots and a turnover all in one.
On second thought, why not have some fun even at that early juncture? Teaneck already had a 16-point lead and it was quite apparent which way the decision was going to go. It was no contest as Teaneck held Warren Hills to just eight first half points and led for all but 14 seconds of the game to win a spot in the Group 3 final with a decisive 48-36 victory at East Orange Campus High School.
Pay no attention to the final score, this game was never even that close and when it was over Teaneck had finally burned down its house of horrors. This was the fifth time in the last six seasons that the Highwaymen have made it to this round in this gym, but the first time that they have walked out smiling. They had been 0-4 in Group 3 semifinals under head coach Jerome Smart and now they are one for their last one.
“To get here four times and come up short you feel like you are snake-bitten. We were like the Buffalo Bills until today,” said Smart. “We faced our demons and we came out victorious.”
Warren Hills has been everyone’s favorite team all year. The whole state got behind the school after the tragic death of Evan Murray, the quarterback who succumbed to injuries suffered in a football game this past season. They play with his name on the backs of their jerseys and have carried his memory through this state tournament run, which included a double overtime upset of top-seeded Chatham in the North 2, Group 3 sectional final.
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Anthony Veneziano finished with 13 points for Warren Hills, which won its first ever state sectional championship earlier this week with a double overtime win over Chatham. |
The Blue Streaks won their first-ever state sectional title with that shocker, but they ran into a program on a mission in Teaneck, which knocked off a No. 1 seed of its own when it beat Ramapo on the road for the North 1 title. Warren Hills struck first when John Bamford scored on a driving layup 11 seconds in, but James drilled a 3-pointer 16 seconds later. If there was a turning point in the game that was it as Teaneck took the lead for good and just kept watering it.
“From the start of the game I knew they couldn’t play with us and I knew they didn’t scout us real well because they were guarding us man-to-man, they were letting us get into our zone and then I started creating for my teammates,” said James, who finished with 8 points and 10 assists. “Juwaun played really well and Nick [Whitaker] had a heckuva game and we finished it out early. I just wanted to make sure we got this CHIP (short for championship) for Coach [Je]Rome. Now we can say that we are the first team to get him there, so, baby, let’s go!”
The Highwaymen closed the first quarter on a 9-0 run to take a 14-4 lead and added the first two baskets of the second quarter to go up 20-4. Soon after came the mess of an alley-oop attempt and there was a thought that it might be a momentum changer when Anthony Veneziano scored at the other end and the ample Warren Hills crowd jumped right back into the game.
The moment was fleeting, however, as Warren Hills was held to just two more points over the final 5:38 of the second quarter and Teaneck took a commanding 26-8 lead into halftime. Daniels then got his dunk when he made a steal and went in uncontested to start the second half scoring and there was not much more to write about after that. Teaneck led 39-21 after the third quarter and by as many as 21 points in the fourth. It took a game-closing 8-0 run with the benches cleared for Warren Hills to make the final score look a bit more appealing.
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Jawuan Daniels had 14 points for Teaneck, which will play Winslow for the Group 3 state title. |
“We have been trying to play better at the start of games. That is something that we have really been working on in practice,” said Whitaker, whose return from a broken hand has coincided with Teaneck’s recent run of top form. “When I got injured I thought that was it for me, but now I am back and I have figured out where I belong on the team.”
Where Whitaker belonged on Thursday night was at the top of the scoring pile as he finished with a game-high 17 points and his three first quarter blocked shots also sent a message. Daniels scored 10 of his 14 in the first half to help Teaneck pull away and James’ eight points left him just 9 short of 1,000 for his career in just his sophomore season. Adrian Baucom had 7 points and Jahlil Kure made a first period field goal. Veneziano (13 points) led Warren Hills with 13 points as the lone Blue Streak in double figures.
So now it is off to Rutgers where Teaneck will play Winslow on Sunday for the outright Group 3 state championship in a 2:00 p.m. start. The Highwaymen are just one win away from their first trip to the Tournament of Champions since 2003.
“We want to make the statement that not only can we win a state CHIP and then just give up when we make it to the TOC. We want to go out and prove to people that we can go out and make the TOC, too,” said Daniels, the junior forward. “Let’s make it big!”
The opportunity at hand was never a sure thing this season, especially early on when no one was exactly sure what to expect after the abrupt transfer of Leondre Washington, who left for Roselle Catholic. Washington led the Highwaymen to Bergen County Jamboree and state sectional titles in 2014 and had another outstanding season last year before swapping uniforms. While his season is still alive as well, Teaneck is keeping pace.
“I don’t have any animosity toward anybody who left, but I know we would have been a better team with them. Good luck to everybody who left. I am just worried about the people who stayed. This is my new family now,” said Smart. “It’s like having a wife and your wife leaves you for another guy. You can’t cry over spilled milk, you have to go find another wife.”
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