Ryan Sabot scored 11 points for NV/Demarest, which improved to 4-2 on the season with a 66-50 win over Bergenfield on Tuesday night.
DEMAREST— For all of the things that the truncated 2021 high school basketball season will be remembered for Northern Valley/Demarest hopes to leave a bit of a positive legacy. Slowed by two separate 14-day shutdowns, limited to just two practices in the span of 33 days and having played just four games, the least in North Jersey before the start of this week, the Norsemen have somehow been able to keep their focus on what should truly matter to a basketball team.
Despite its limited schedule, Demarest is shooting for a league title in a wild week-long sprint to the end of the season.
“I see what they right that there are going to be league titles, that there are going to be committees to decide league titles and if we win out we would be 4-0 in the league,” said Demarest head coach Kevin Grimes. “In a weird year, with us having only played six games as of right now, and with all that we have been through, I really think that my guys deserve it. I have told them that if you treat the game the right way, if you respect it, the game will find a way to reward you back and that would be the reward.”
Demarest put itself in a position to stake its claim by taking its season from 0 to 100 miles per hour in a 24-hour stretch.
On Monday night, in their return to action after a singular Sunday practice, the Norsemen opened up a 22-point lead on rival Old Tappan before hanging on for a three-point victory. Then, in a potential leg-sapping, NBA-style back-to-back, Demarest instead excelled down the stretch.
Bergenfield's Amari Davis made four 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 14 points.
With a 16-0 run that lasted for 4:36 of the fourth quarter, the Norsemen blew by Bergenfield on the way to a 66-50 victory that moves Demarest to 4-2 on the season with two games to play. Next up is Indian Hills on Thursday and then a Saturday showdown with Teaneck that, with a victory, would give Demarest a valid claim at a league title.
“Being seniors, we are excited to try to be the seventh team up on that [league championship] banner. We pointed to it a couple of times during the game tonight and we want to be up there,” said Demarest’s Aidan O’Connor, who was brilliant on the offensive end all night, finishing with a game-high 28 points. “We are motivated to get whatever [championships] we can. Obviously we got the short end of the stick, but we are excited to be here, we have two games left and we want to finish our business.”
Bergenfield was also playing the second leg of a back-to-back, but showed some spring in its step by scoring 7 of the game’s first 10 points. Despite the early deficit, Demarest had the pace of play to its liking. With no identifiable post presence, the Norsemen want to get up and down the floor and fire off 3-pointers at a rapid clip. Demarest scored 15 of its 16 first quarter points from behind the arc, but, led by seven points each by Donavan Anderson and Justin Suarez, Bergenfield finished the first period with a 22-16 lead.
Demarest made only one two-point field goal in the first half, an O’Connor putback midway through the second quarter. John Wu’s triple from the corner forged the first tie of the game at 27 and Ryan Sabot’s two free throws with 13 seconds left in the period made it a 29-all game at halftime.
Bergenfield, which scraped by Rutherford in overtime on Monday night, showed it still had gas in the tank with its third quarter energy. A Suarez basket on the fastbreak sandwiched between two Amari Davis 3-pointers, made up a quick 8-0 run that gave the Bears a six-point lead, 39-33, and they held a 43-39 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
Senior Aidan O'Connor finsihed with a game-high 28 points for Demarest, which has two games left in its season.
They were up 47-46 with 5:18 left in the game when Davis got all the way to the basket and made a twisting layup, but the next time Bergenfield scored a point the game had long been decided.
O’Connor’s 3 from the wing with 5:05 left kicked off a 16-0 run that came out of nowhere. Demarest went 11 of 14 from the free throw line in that stretch and held Bergenfield without a field goal or even a single point for 3:57. By the time Davis broke the schneid with 1:21 left in the game, Demarest had built a 15-point advantage at 62-47.
“We all worked together. Coach did not anything up on the board [during a timeout]. He just wrote the word ‘defense.’ That clicked in our heads and we just dialed in on the defensive end,” said Demarest senior John Buckley. “That mindset carried us right through to the end of the game.”
The two teams took opposite approaches offensively as Bergenfield had three players finish in double figures. Davis led the way with 14 points and hit four of the Bears’ eight 3-pointers. Suarez finished with 13 points and Anderson scored all 11 of his in the first half. Jason Suba added 6 points and Nick Lane and Nick Pro each made a 3-pointer for the Bears.
Meanwhile, Demarest leaned on O’Connor, who made three first quarter 3-pointers and five in the game. He also went 9 of 10 at the free throw line in the fourth quarter on his way to a game-high 28 points. Demarest finished 21 of 27 from the free throw line in the game and Sabot went 8 for 8 from the stripe and finished with 11 points. Wu (8 points) and Chris Larose (7 points) each made two 3-pointers, freshman Brandon Srebnik contributed all 6 of his points in the second half and Sean Vadis scored all 4 of his points in the fourth quarter.
Senior Jack Fine put the cherry on top of the win with his first-ever varsity bucket. Fine pump-faked a defender, went up strong and closed the game’s scoring that would have set off the crowd had one been allowed in the gym.
“It’s just so different. We have to create all of our own energy because we don’t have fans anymore.” said Buckley. “The fans could carry you when you are playing, but Coach always says we have to find a way to create our own energy and we have been able to.”
The 2021 season will be remembered for so many reasons, not the least of which is the effect it has had on the high school athletes, especially the seniors, who never got to revel in the joys of that final hurrah.
“It sucks, to be honest. When we got shut down the first time we came back with our hopes up and that made the second shutdown a really big blow. But we are still here and we are still fighting,” said O’Connor. “Luckily we are still playing and we still have an opportunity to win our league and make some history.”
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