Bryan Hernandez blocked the game' final shot to preserve Ridgefield Park's 38-35 win over New Milford at The Brian Long Classic..

RIDGEFIELD PARK – In addition to being important off the floor for the causes they support, the benefit games that have become a welcome staple in North Jersey high school basketball are also making an impact on the floor because of the moments they are creating.

For the second straight year in the finale of The Brian Long Classic in Ridgefield Park, the host Scarlets were matched up against New Milford and for the second straight year the game went right down to the wire. Last season New Milford hit a fourth quarter buzzer beater to win in regulation. This time around the Knights were trying to storm back from a double-digit halftime deficit and they were making some headway.

New Milford got as close as a single point on Jaiden Ortiz’s lone field goal of the game, a 3-pointer off the dribble with 2:01 remaining in the final period and the Knights were still in it in the waning seconds with a chance to tie with one last 3-point attempt from the corner.

This time, however, it was Ridgefield Park that made the final play. Bryan Hernandez rose up and blocked the last gasp jump-shot and the Scarlets held on for a 38-35 victory on their own home court.

“Last year was hard. We lost to this same team on this same day on this same occasion. A buzzer beater…that was tough,” said Hernandez. “Last year was tough overall and that game was a part of it. The thing that is in the back of our heads is that we were 5-21 last year and this year we are pushing for more.”

With the win, Ridgefield Park (5-8) has now equaled its win total from last year, this one against a quality opponent that came in having won 10 of its 12 games played.

Luis Blacido finished with a team-high ( points for New Milford, which is now 10-3 on the season.

“We knew that this was not going to be easy. We saw the scouting report, we know they play hard and they just beat Mahwah last week and we lost to Mahwah by a point,” said Diego Echevarria, another member of Ridgefield Park’s senior class. “We knew they were going to be competitive, we knew they had shooters and closing out on them was going to be big for us defensively.”

While the game was played at an up-and-down pace and New Milford uses four guards around center Jake Johnson, points were actually at a premium. Ridgefield Park’s 13 first quarter points were the most by either team for one quarter and 13 was the exact total of New Milford’s first half output. The Knights’ only lead came at 2-0 when Johnson scored as the roller in a pick-and-roll 16 seconds into the game and the lone tie was at 2-2 when Hernandez finished a drive with a layup.

Ridgefield Park led by as many 12 points in the first half after Erind Kukaj made a 3-pointer from the corner with 1:58 to go before Luis Placido’s two free throws drew New Milford to within 23-13 at the break and RP had a 30-23 advantage after three quarters.

From there it was a matter of trying to hold on with both hands as New Milford chipped away.

“You can see that we struggle to score at times, but the one thing that everyone has said about our team all year is that we play hard,” said Ridgefield Park head coach Chris Gaskin, who organized The Brian Long Classic to honor the memory of his childhood and lifelong friend. “This was not a pretty game, but the fact that we played the entire 32 minutes defensively with some effort that is why we came out on top.”

Hernandez opened the fourth quarter scoring to give the Scarlets and 9-point lead, but New Milford then scored 9 of the next 11 points with Johnson starting the run with a conventional 3-point play and Amaurys Beato finishing it with a steal and layup that got the Knights all the way back to within 34-32 midway through the final period.

Francisco Then scored 6 points for Ridgefield Park, which improved to 5-8 on the season.

With New Milford cranking up the tempo, Johnny Bak was able to defeat the press with a layup in transition to RP back up by 4, but that Ortiz 3 made it a one-point game with 2:01 left. Ridgefield Park missed the chance to close things out by going just 2-of-6 from the free throw stripe in the final 29 seconds, but Jordan Impalli grabbed one of the misses and then made 2-of-2 from the line with 27 seconds left to make it 38-35.

New Milford took an ill-advised 3 with 19 seconds left, but got a reprieve with two more missed free throws, before Hernandez’s block turned away the Knights’ final chance to get even.

Kukaj (10 points) was the leading scorer for RP and the lone player from either side to reach double figures. Hernandez finished with 9, Francisco Then had 6, Back had 5 and then Echevarria, Impalli, Parker Choea and Cam Hanna had 2 apiece in what was a big win for Ridgefield Park, which certainly could use the power points associated with victory over a 10-win team.

Placido (9 points) topped New Milford (10-3), Beato and Daniel Liranzo each finished with 8, Johnson had 7 and Ortiz’s 3 rounded out the scoring for the Knights.

It was an exciting finish to a long day of hoops, six games in honor of Brian Long, who was taken by cancer at the age of 46.

“Brian Long was if not my best friend, he was one of my best friends. He was like a brother. My mother and father considered him to be like a third son,” said Gaskin. “When we started this event it was just Ridgefield Park, Bergenfield, where we grew up, Park Ridge, where Brian was raising his family, and New Milford where he was a police officer. To be able to grow it to what it was today, a six-game day that was well-attended is just amazing. I am so thankful that I get the support here in Ridgefield Park to have such an event in honor of a great person who left us way too soon.”

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