Sophomore Julian Gorenstein came off the bench to score 12 points, including 6 sttraight that gave Demarest the lead for good in a 65-53 win over Tenafly.
DEMAREST – It’s every night in the National Division of the Big North Conference, a league that is going to put at least four teams and maybe five into the Bergen County Jamboree. Most of the games look like Thursday night’s battle between Northern Valley/ Demarest and Tenafly, which overcame a slow start on the road to draw within three points at halftime and then took its shot in a back-and-forth third quarter in which there were six lead changes.
“There are five really good teams in this league and anybody can win on any given night. It’s a war every single night and we expect that every time we take the floor,” said Demarest head coach Pat Gabriele. “If you look at the rankings I think it was us, Teaneck, P[ascack] V[alley], Tenafly, in whatever order, were ranked 7, 8, 9 and 10. That is what we are dealing with every single night.”
Both teams came flying out of halftime, exchanging buckets through the first half of the third quarter. Nick Baldini’s 3-pointer gave Tenafly its third different lead of the period before Julian Gorenstein answered with back-to-back 3s for Demarest. It was impossible to know it at the time, but those two treys were the turning point as they kicked off a 22-5 Demarest run that turned into a 65-53 victory.
Demarest has an interesting dynamic. Zack Schweid and Nick Gorenstein are two seasoned seniors, one of the best starting backcourts in North Jersey public school hoops. Their younger brothers are both sophomores who bring energy off the bench and starting to contribute more consistently as they gain varsity experience.
“I trust my teammates and they showed they trusted me by giving me the ball,” said Julian Gorenstein, who scored all of his points after halftime. “I have to back up their trust my hitting big shots when I get the chance.”
Nick Baldini (12 points) was one of three double digit scorers for Tenafly.
Julian Gorenstein was efficient as he his first six points came on 3s on back-to-back possessions that gave the Norsemen the lead for good in the third quarter and he hit a 3 and 2 on Demarest’s first two possessions of the fourth quarter to push the lead into double digits for good.
“I think each game that goes by instills confidence in the younger guys, especially recently because there has been a lot of adversity in the last few games,” said Zach Schweid, a first team All-County point guard last season. “We’ve played a pretty tough schedule, so it is important for the young guys to step up in big moments and as we keep coming together it is going to be harder to beat us.”
Demarest jumped out to a 7-0 lead to start the game and it was 11-2 with less than two minutes left, but a wire-to-wire blowout was never in the cards. Jake Yanofsky’s 3-pointer from the corner and Adin Goldschneider’s pull-up jumper gave Tenafly its first lead of the game with just over one minute to play in the second quarter before Zach Schweid scored the final five points of the half to give Demarest a three-point lead at the break.
Nick Baldini and Nick Lewin hit back to back baskets to start the third quarter to give Tenafly a 28-27 lead and senior Dan Regev scored five points in 23 seconds to put the Tigers up 33-32. Baldini’s 3 with 4:41 left in the third period made it 36-34, but Julian Gorenstein’s back-to-back 3 came shortly thereafter and put the Norsemen in front for good.
An Anthony Bernardez 3 and two Zach Schweid buckets pushed Demarest’s lead into double digits before Jake Yanofsky’s put back of his own missed shot got Tenafly to within 49-41 heading in the fourth quarter. Julian Gorenstein’s five straight points to start the fourth pretty much put the game away, although there was still one twist left.
Senior Marco DeCroce finished with 10 points for Demarest, which is now 9-3 on the season..
The game featured two true low post players in Regev, Tenafly’s 6-foot-7 center, and Marco DeCroce, Demarest’s senior center who is committed to play football at Fordham. DeCroce is a handful inside, who gets just about every rebound he tries for and he tries for just about every rebound. His last encounter with Regev came with 3:47 left in the game and it ended in a scary fashion.
Regev bought an up-fake and was coming down when DeCroce was on his way up. The got tangled and Regev fell hard beneath the basket. His head was the first thing to hit the floor and the gym was silent while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Regev was responsive when taken from the gym, but the injury put a damper on an otherwise entertaining contest that featured dueling student sections.
With the Jambo cut off approaching, Demarest improved to 9-3 on the season and is in position for a first round bye. Zach Schweid finished with a game-high 23 points, with Julian Gorenstein and DeCroce (10 points) also finishing in double figures. Mathew scored 8 points off the bench, Nick Gorenstein made a pair of 3s, and Bernardez added a 3.
“This was a good game for our young kids to be on the floor late and they produced. They normally do, but they are just not used to this environment. They stepped up and did a phenomenal job, our bench did a great job,” said Gabriele. “Everybody talks about Zach and Marco and Nick, and that is well deserved, but those role guys, I don’t know what they scored and I don’t care, they guarded for us tonight and did a great job. Joel Mathew did a great job off the bench.”
Yanofsky (16 points), Baldini (12 points) and Nick Lewin (11 points) all finished in double figures for Tenafly. Regev added 9 and Adin Goldschneider had the other 5 points for the Tigers.
“We came out and we were way out of synch, but we battled back. We weathered the storm and went in front a few times,” said Tenafly head coach Jeff Koehler, whose team lost for just the second time this season. “Demarest is a heckuva team and [Zach] Schweid is one of the Top 5 players in the county. He is a pure point guard who finishes shots and finishes games, but, as I just told our guys, we might see this team three more times. We’ll get back to work tomorrow and try to get better.”
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