Josias Carbon late layup sealed DePaul's 49-48 win over Eastside and its first Passaic County championship since 2013.

WAYNE – The fun part of playing basketball working hard toward a common goal and finding ways to make all the puzzle pieces fit together to make one cohesive team. After losing 7 of 8 games heading into the Passaic County Tournament, DePaul was looking more like a broken Jenga tower than a finished jigsaw.

However, there was a belief inside the locker room that if they could match the chemistry and composure to the talent they put on the floor that the Spartans had the making of a champion.

It would not come easy against a top-seeded  Eastside squad that kept coming at them for 32 minutes, but every time the Ghosts looked like they might get over the hump and take a late lead, the Spartans answered back immediately. Josias Carbon’s layup in the waning seconds put the game out of reach as seventh-seeded DePaul beat the top three seeds in the tournament and won its first Passaic County title in 12 years with a 49-48 victory over No. 1 seed  Eastside on Saturday afternoon at Wayne Valley High School.

“It’s all about keeping the energy the whole way and sticking together,” said DePaul’s Cody Webster. “We did a good job of knowing when to attack and when to pull it back out and run some clock to get a good shot. To be a part of a county championship team, it’s everything. It’s something we’ve worked hard for all year and something we’ll never forget.”

Shane Jacobs’ 3-pointer on the first possession of the gave the Spartans a shot of adrenaline that they played with the entire game. Junior guard Cody Webster was a problem fpr the Ghosts on both ends of the floor. His steal and acrobatic layup followed by a Carbon 3-pointer from the wing put DePaul up by 7, the largest lead for either team, midway through the second quarter before heading into halftime with a 23-19 edge.

Eastside;s Yulian Torres scored eight of his team-high 13 points in the fourth quarter.

After shooting under 20% from three-point range in the first half and hitting just two long-range shots, Caleb Williams match that output in the first 40 seconds of the third quarter. He hit back-to-back threes to put  Eastside ahead. It was at this point where a recurring theme began. The Ghosts coming up with a big bucket and DePaul immediately responding on the ensuing possession.

Michael Troya’s layup tied the game, and the Ghosts never led again. DePaul went with their starting five for virtually the entire game. But they did get quality minutes in the third quarter from Sean Raftery, whose offensive rebound led to a bucket and then hit a corner three with a minute to play in the period. The Ghosts scored late but left a little too much time as Troya canned a 3-pointer at the buzzer to double the Spartans’ lead to 6, 40-34.

“From the get-go, there’s a lot of pressure; we couldn’t run from it, we had to embrace it and be ready for it,” said Carbon. “We knew they were going to drive, kick, and put up a lot of threes. It was important for us to have good help-side defense. Then when they did score that we came right back and scored so they wouldn’t get any momentum.”

Yulian Torres had the hot hand in the fourth quarter with a pair of threes, the latter of which cut the lead to two. Faced with mounting pressure throughout the fourth quarter, the backcourt of Webster and Troya never lost their cool and kept the Ghosts at bay. Down two, with under 20 seconds to play the Ghosts held it out for one good possession. They got the look they wanted with Garcia driving into the paint. But ready to meet him was DePaul center Aiden Griffiths, who stuffed the shot for a jump ball with the possession arrow going to the Spartans. Webster then hit Carbon over the top, who went in for a layup to make it 49-45. The Ghosts hit a three at the buzzer, but they fell a point short as DePaul closed out one of the more remarkably runs in the storied history of the Passaic County Tournament.

Cody Webster finished with a game-high 18 points for DePaul.

Webster finished with a game-high 18 points for DePaul (14-13). Troya and Carbon added nine and eight points, respectively.

Torres scored eight of his team-high 13 points in the fourth quarter for Eastside (18-9) and Garcia chipped in with 10 points.

Having taken quite a few lumps throughout the season playing in the toughest division top to bottom in NJ (Bergen Catholic, Don Bosco Prep, St. Joe’s (Montvale) and Paramus Catholic), that seasoning and experience toughened up this team and set up them up for their title run.

“Playing in the division we play in, those types of teams really make you better,” said DePaul head coach Travis Bligh. “Those games, really tough games against  Charter and Wayne Valley showed what type of character we have. Our Achilles’ heel all season was turnovers and we cut those down today. It wasn’t the cleanest win. But when you haven’t won a county title in 12 years and you go through the teams, we did to do it, it’s a really good accomplishment and these kids have a lot to be proud of.”

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