Wyatt Eglington-Manner had 16 points, including 10 in the first quarter, for Ramapo, which advanced to the Jambo quarterfinals with a 70-46 win over Fair Lawn.
ALLENDALE – The trajectory of Ramapo’s Big 3 has been a rare one to watch over their high school careers on the basketball court. Peyton Seals, Wyatt Eglington-Manner, and Chris Cervino have all been on the same path from the time they first put on a Ramapo uniform. After being on the varsity bench as freshmen and getting used to the speed of the game, they all cracked the starting lineup as sophomores before taking the Green Raiders all the way to a Group 3 state championship last year. With this being their last go-round playing together, only one thing remains missing from their resume, a Bergen County Jamboree title.
Facing a Fair Lawn team with plenty of shooters and nothing to lose, there were no nerves as Ramapo’s ballyhooed trio once again came up clutch.
All three players scored in double-figures led by Seals’ 19 points, as third-seeded Ramapo led from start to finish in a 70-46 win over No. 14 seed Fair Lawn in a Bergen County Jamboree Round of 16 game on Saturday afternoon at Northern Highlands High School in Allendale.
Right from the opening tap Ramapo put on a clinic based on ball movement and player movement. That led to Seals, Eglington-Manner, and Cervino all hitting first-quarter 3s. Eglington-Manner did not miss from the floor in the opening stanza with 10 first-quarter points as the Green Raiders led by 14 at the end of one quarter.
“We came out with good energy, which is very important in a game like this,” said Eglington-Manner. “Coming off a solid week we wanted to keep that momentum going. It starts with our defense. Getting stops allows us to control the pace of the game. We have total trust in each other and that helps us run our offense well.”
Fair Lawn’s best spurt of play came in the opening three minutes of the second quarter when Jianni Moran, who just scored his 1,000th career point in the Cutters’ first-round Jambo win over Dwight Morrow on Thursday, hit a 3-pointer to cap a 7-0 that cut Ramapo’s once comfortable lead in half, 24-17.
Jianni Moran, who just scored his 1,000th career point in the opening round, finished with a team-high 17 points for Fair Lawn.
Charlie Wingfield answered right out of the timeout with a bucket with a basket inside and Seals canned a three from the top of the key on the next possession to bump the lead up to double-digits at the half, 37-23.
Any hopes of another Fair Lawn comeback were quickly vanquished. Wingfield (7) and Seals (6) combined for 13 third-quarter points as Ramapo stretched its lead out and methodically put away the Cutters.
Seals hit four 3-pointers on his way to 19 points for Ramapo (11-7). Eglington-Manner had 16 points and Cervino finished with 12. Wingfield scored seven of his nine points in the third quarter. Ryan Goldman and Peter Keith chipped in with seven points apiece.
Moran led the way for Fair Lawn with 17 points. Austin Peluso and Tim Smith added 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Ramapo heads back to the Jambo quarterfinal round, where they will take on No. 6 seed Northern Valley/Demarest. Realizing that the number of games they will play together again are dwindling, the focus is not about individual achievement. It is about winning another game and keeping this ride going for as long as they possibly can.
“There are no egos or selfishness on this club, we’re all about making the right play and coming out with a win,” said Seals, who will play at Princeton University next year. “We’ve played a lot of good teams this season and we’ve learned from all those games. Demarest is going to be a tough game. But if we come out playing good defense and giving the same kind of energy, we had today we’ll be all right.”
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