Senior Charlie Wingfield pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds for Ramapo, which advanced to the Jambo quarterfinals with a 69-39 win over Tenafly.

TENAFLY – At most public schools, the graduation of an all-time great class of basketball players would signal a severe downturn for that program. Ramapo lost its Big 3 from the last two seasons when it won back-to-back Group 3 state championships, the first two in program history, and then started this season with some illness, injuries and lots of inexperience.

Playing with a sophomore point guard, without one of its two most experienced players for most of the first half of the season and against a schedule that made no concessions for its changed circumstances, almost predictably Ramapo struggled out of the gate with four losses in its first seven games.

“Ryan Goldman only came back a few weeks ago. We’ve had concussions and injuries and we are starting a sophomore point guard [Finn Marrah], who is a first time varsity player and a freshman [AJ Greig], who is our leading scorer it has taken us some time,” said Ramapo head coach Nick Veir. “But now I think the chemistry and experience is finally starting to show through.”

It certainly is if Saturday’s Round of 16 matchup in the Bergen County Jamboree is any indication. Ramapo used a 9-0 run bridging both sides of halftime to build a double digit lead and then dropped the hammer from there in a 69-39 victory at Tenafly High School.

Ramapo, the No. 8 seed, advanced to the quarterfinals where it will play top-seeded Bergen Catholic at Hackensack High School. Bergen Catholic trounced Saddle River Day in the first of the four game slate. No. 5 Demarest and No. 4 Don Bosco Prep were the other two winners.

In his return to action, Tenafly senior Dan Regev finished with 6 points and 4 rebounds.

The turning point came late in the second quarter. Tenafly’s Caleb Berkowitz hit a 3-pointer to bring Tenafly to with 24-20 with 2:14 left in the first half, but then Goldman answered immediately with a 3-pointer from the top of the key and Peter Keith putback a missed shot to give the Raiders a 29-20 lead at the intermission. A Greig 3-pointer and a Charlie Wingfield free throw right out of the locker room made it a 9-0 run, a 33-20 lead and Tenafly never got back within single digits the rest of the way.

“Just watching in the beginning of the season I was so frustrated not to be out there to help the guys out,” said Goldman, who was a solid contributor last year, but a fourth option offensively on a team with three 1,000-point scorers. “We knew coming into this year, this summer and this fall, that we had to step up. We prepared for it, we talked about it and it is just starting to come together now.”

Goldman finished with a game-high 25 points including four 3-pointers. Senior Charlie Wingfield, the other returning starter from last year’s team and a Wake Forest football recruit, finished with 9 points and a game-high 12 rebounds and Peter Keith, another returning rotation regular, made a pair of field goals and added 6 rebounds.

As for the newcomers, Marrah finished in double figures with 13, Greig added 9 and Michael Moody,Jack Sposa and Connor all made a 3-pointer as Ramapo showed off its surprising depth. Or maybe it is now so surprising.

“It is all about learning from the guys that came before us and there are guys behind us that can do the same things we can. We are a community that builds on each other, said Keith. “Everybody steps up when it is their turn and I don’t think that is ever going to end.

Finn Marrah finished with 13 points for Ramapo, which will play Bergen Catholic in the quarterfinals next weekend.

Tenafly (13-3) was led by Adin Goldschneider’s 11 points and Nick Lewin’s 8. Senior Dan Regev, in his first game back after a scary fall against Demarest two weeks ago, finished with 6 points and 4 rebounds.

Ramapo improved to 11-6 with the win and will play Bergen Catholic next week, which will make it seven straight years that it will see the Crusaders somewhere in the Jambo. Last season Ramapo knocked off BC in the semifinals to reach its first ever county final where is lost to defending champion Don Bosco Prep.

Far from signaling a dropoff for Bergen Catholic, last year’s loss is only serving as motivation for this year’s top-seeded Crusaders, who hung 90 points on Saddle River Day on Saturday morning.

“We get to play the best and that is what we want,” said Veir, a former Bergen Catholic point guard. “I am excited for next week’s matchup.”

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