Jariel Garcia scored 12 of his 14 points in the second quarte as Eastside pulled away for a 77-48 win over Clifton.
CLIFTON – Last season, Eastside and Clifton had four memorable showdowns. The teams split a pair of one-point regular-season meetings before Eastside eliminated the Mustangs in the Passaic County quarterfinals. However, as the No. 2 seed and looking to defend their Group 4 state crown, the Ghosts were upset by 15th-seeded Clifton in the first round of the North 1, Group 4 state tournament. It was a crushing blow for the Ghosts and they remembered the feeling when they got a chance to play again on Tuesday.
Trailing by six with five minutes to play in the second quarter, the Ghosts switched to a diamond-and-one press and saw immediate dividends. From there it was all Eastside, which scored a whopping 58 points over the next 13 minutes en route to a 77-48 road win over Clifton.
“We were hungry for this game and today we wanted to eat,” said Eastside’s Caleb Williams. “That loss really hurt last year in the states. Coming into this game, we remembered that and we had to be aggressive.”
Clifton got off to a hot start with a rare four-point play from Yandel Nina. Caisius Payano hit a high-arcing floater early in the second quarter to give the Mustangs a 15-9 lead. Eastside settled for jump shots in the first quarter before making a concerted effort to get the ball to Jariel Garcia at the foul line. Once they did and they were able to get into their diamond-and-one press, the momentum swung completely in the other direction.
Garcia caught fire with turnaround jumpers and drives to the basket. His fadeaway elbow jumper put the Ghosts ahead and the backcourt of Williams and Xavier Cuevas made sure they never looked back. They combined for 16 steals in the game, with each player collecting three in the second quarter to turn a six-point deficit into a 16-point halftime lead, 36-20.
Sophomore Yandel Nina led Clifton with 20 points.
“I just let the game come to me,” said Garcia. “I felt like if we moved the ball and they got the ball to me at the foul line that they couldn’t stop me.”
Clifton had a sliver of life down 15 when Rivera picked up his fourth foul and went down with an ankle injury on the same play, he would not return. It was of no consequence as Williams stayed hot and Yulian Torres knocked down a pair of threes before another three from Cuevas pushed the lead up to 30.
Williams finished with game-highs of 24 points and nine steals for Eastside (3-4). Cuevas filled the stat sheet with 15 points, seven assists, and seven steals, Garcia scored 12 of his 14 points in the second quarter and Torres added 13 points. Nina, a sophomore guard, paced Clifton (2-4) with 20 points.
After a slow start to the season, first-year head coach Jamal Slappy hopes this is game where the Ghosts’ turned the corner towards being contenders again for county and state sectional titles.
“I mentioned at practice on Monday how Clifton ended their season last year and that needed to be the sole motivation to play well today,” said Slappy. “Sometimes playing 4:00 games during the week, kids don’t get their legs under them and get off to slow starts. But we made the adjustment, and the kids responded. As long as you play defense, rebound well, and play unselfish basketball, we are going to have success. They executed the game plan and I hope this game plan gets us back on track.”
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