Friday,
December 28, 2013
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Tia Solomon's 3-point play with 4 seconds left in regulation forced the overtime where Fair Lawn won a 52-47 decision over North Bergen in the final of the Fast Break Classic on Friday. |
FAIR LAWN – No matter what the score shows on the scoreboard or whom the opponent, Fair Lawn head coach Chris Lovermi implores his team to battle on every single possession until the final buzzer sounds. If his team does that, there is always the chance that good things will. The Lady Cutters were adhering to the game plan on Friday against, but even with their never-say-die attitude, it looked like time had all but run out on Fair Lawn. Down by three points and with time winding down, junior center Tia Solomon made a play when her team needed it the most.
Solomon was fouled on a putback and completed the three-point play with four seconds left to tie the game and send it into overtime. Senior captains Samantha Colca and Stephanie Johnson hit a pair of free-throws in the final 20 seconds as Fair Lawn held North Bergen to just a single point in the overtime period and handed the Bruins their first loss of the season with an entertaining 52-47 victory in the championship game of the Fast Break Classic at Fair Lawn High School.
“We had our foot in the trap but we kept fighting and found a way to win,” said Lovermi. “We had a bunch of players who stepped up and made plays. No one made more than Tia though on both ends of the floor. She was outstanding today and did it against a quality center. This was the best game of year for her and it came it a good time.”
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North Bergen center Icies Hammer was dominant inside, but was slowed by foul trouble. |
North Bergen pounded the ball into its own 6-foot-2 junior center Icies Hammer and it paid off early on. She netted six points in an 11-3 run to open the game. But after picking up her second foul and going to the bench for most of the first half, the Cutters slowly got back into the game before it got out of hand.
Colca’s three-pointer cut the lead to two, but layups by Alyssa Marrero and Kayla Johnson pushed North Bergen’s lead back up to six by halftime, 26-20.
The lead grew to as many as nine when Hammer picked up her fourth foul with 3:49 remaining in the third quarter. Fair Lawn made a concerted effort of its own to get the ball inside and Solomon became the aggressor against a smaller front line.
“The game was getting away from us and we had to fight a lot harder on defense,” said Fair Lawn’s Sam Colca. “I thought we stayed in control and got the ball to Tia inside. She played great today and that gave us more space outside to shoot threes. This game showed that if we work hard and work together that we can play with anyone.”
Solomon dominated the paint on both ends of the floor and her free-throws got the Cutters to within two before another long-range bomb from Colca gave Fair Lawn its first lead of the game, 33-32, with just over a minute to play in the period.
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Stephanie Johnson's layup with 1 minute left in overtime gave Fair Lawn the lead for good. |
The Bruins appeared to right the ship by taking the lead back heading into the fourth quarter and then maintaining it throughout when it looked like Hammer delivered the knockout blow by making a layup while being fouled with less than a minute to play to make it 46-43. However, she missed a free-throw that would have made it a two-possession game and another shot from the charity stripe was missed with 20 seconds to play, giving Fair Lawn one last shot to tie the game with 11 seconds on the clock.
Stephanie Johnson and Solomon ran a pick-and-roll with Johnson quickly going all the way to the basket. She missed the layup but Solomon grabbed the weakside rebound and put it back in while being fouled, then hit the ensuing free-throw with four seconds left to tie the game. Even though the Cutters led for all of 40 of seconds of regulation, the teams were headed for overtime.
“We had our chances to close the game out and just didn’t get it done,” said North Bergen head coach Dan Reardon. “I don’t think we made too many mental mistakes today, but the ones we made came at crucial times down the stretch and they cost us in a big way. It’s a growing process with an inexperienced team. We’ll use this game as motivation to work harder and get better as a group, but this loss definitely hurts.”
Johnson’s steal and layup with a minute to play in the extra session put the Cutters ahead to stay, 48-47. Colca and Johnson hit both ends of a one-and-one late as Fair Lawn defended its home court and won its third Fast Break Classic title in the past four years.
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Jillian Jover, North Bergen's point guard, finished with 8 points, 6 rebounds and 5 steals. |
Solomon was named tournament MVP and had a magnificent overall performance with career-highs in virtually every major category. She finished with 23 points, 16 rebounds, six steals, five blocks, and hit all 11 of her free-throw attempts. Colca was the only other player for Fair Lawn (3-1) to reach double-digits with 10 points.
Although she was saddled with foul trouble for most of the game, Hammer had her second double-double of the tournament with 22 points and 10 rebounds to go with three blocks for North Bergen (3-1). Jillian Jover, the Bruins’ 4-foot-10 sophomore point guard added eight points, six rebounds, and five steals.
This game could be just a prelude of what is to come later in the season as these two teams have clashed in each of the past two years in the North 1, Group 4 state tournament with Fair Lawn coming away victorious both times. But for now, it was about a good competitive game that is beneficial to both squads.
“It’s a good thing to be tested early in the season like we were today,” added Lovermi. “There were some ups and downs, but we never stopped playing hard and that’s what kept us in the game. I couldn’t be more pleased with our effort. If we show that effort every time out and Tia plays as well as she did today, we should be a pretty tough team to beat.”
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