January
18, 2004
March 21,
 |
 |
| Ryan Kearney had 25 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists en route to MVP honors for Queen of Peace. | |
RUTHERFORD - The whole night, a basketball double header involving his hometown team, his alma mater and the high school that shares the benefits from the CYO program that he grew up in, was put together in the memory of Tim Finnerty, the former Rutherford resident and Queen of Peace point guard who was lost in the senseless chaos of September 11.
And Finnerty, the point guard who led Queen of Peace to the state tournament in 1986, would have loved the atmosphere.
In the
first annual Tim Finnerty Memorial Classic played out in front of a packed
house at Felician College, Queen of Peace, led by its current point guard
Nate Gainer, knocked off Rutherford, 65-44, in Game 2 hours after St. Mary's
topped North Arlington, 64-55.
 |
| QP's Nate Gainer, playing the position formerly occupied by Tim Finnerty, had 11 rebounds and seven assists to go along with 16 points. |
"Tim was a lifelong Rutherford resident. I used to coach the CYO program at St. Mary's and he played in that program and he played in the Rutherford rec program," said Dennis Gregory, another 'Rutherford Guy' who is in his first season as the Queen of Peace head coach. "This is not a one-shot deal. His foundation, they want to do a lot of good things. They renovated the courts at Tamblyn Field and did a beautiful job there and they're going to provide scholarships for kids to go to summer programs.
"We are all basketball people and what better way to help than running a basketball game."
And what better way was there for Gregory's team to get over the .500 mark on the season. Playing an inspired brand of basketball that Gregory admitted had been missing through the first eight games of the season, Queen of Peace (5-4) took the lead for good on Ryan Kearney's first points of the night that made the score 4-3 just 2:22 into the game.
Kearney,
who finished with 25 points, eight rebounds and five assists on his way to
MVP honors, later hit a layup in traffic to finish off 9-0 run that gave QP
an 11-3 lead and command of the game.
 |
| QP forced Rutherford's John Guzman to work for all of his 22 points. |
"This was a real big game, we're close to home and I played AAU basketball with a couple of those (Rutherford) kids," said Kearney, a North Arlington resident whose team was coming off back to back league losses to Westwood and River Dell. "The last two games we just didn't bring the intensity that we brought today and that is always the key for us."
Another key was Gainer, the Golden Griffins' point guard who played a near-flawless game on both ends of the floor. He finished with 16 points on 7 of 11 shooting from the floor to go along with 11 rebounds, seven assists and just a single turnover. Defensively, he helped keep John Guzman and Alex Kuchar, Rutherford's top two scorers, in check. Guzman, a first team All-County selection as a junior last season, finished with 22 points, but he needed 22 shots to get there and Kuchar was held to just six.
"Give
(Queen of Peace) credit, they were obviously well prepared. We're not shooting
the ball well, we were 16 of 55 tonight and it is tough to win games doing
that," said Rutherford head coach Brian Gaccione, whose team lost its second
straight game after opening the season with seven straight wins. "It was a
packed house and we laid an egg. All we can do now is circle the wagons, get
back to practice and make the commitment to getting better."
 |
| Rutherford's Brian Murphy sennding a pass into the post. |
Vin Ahmuty's basket to close the first quarter scoring gave QP a 14-6 lead and Mike Lamego's steal and lay-in 1:26 into the second quarter gave the Griffins a 20-7 lead with all of Rutherford's points coming from Guzman and a single free throw by Anthony Lupo.
But the Bulldogs regrouped and made their only serious run late in the first half starting with Brian Murphy's 3-pointer that cut the lead down to 10. Using full court pressure to force four of the 12 turnovers that QP committed in the game, Rutherford got to within 20-17 with 4:43 to play in the second quarter.
Two straight
buckets by Gainer, a senior transfer from St. Anthony (JC), briefly changed
the momentum, but a Chris Shule layup and a Guzman steal and 3-pointer got
Rutherford back to within 28-24 at halftime.
 |
| Mike McTigue hit two big 3-pointers to help QP put the game away in the third quarter. |
It was two Mike McTigue (8 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists) 3-pointers that turned the game toward the Griffins for good. The first came with 4:48 to go in the third quarter and pushed the QP lead back up to double digits at 38-28 and the second came a minute later and put the Griffins up 43-31. Rutherford was never able to get back to within single digits the rest of the way.
"We have to be the best 5-4 team in the county right now, it's amazing," said Gregory, an assistant to Gaccione last season and a long time head coach at Don Bosco Prep before taking over at QP. "I joked with my athletic director. I said 'Do we need to have 1,000 people in the gym for us to play with high energy for the whole game?'
"But that is what we need to do and hopefully this was the break out game for a couple of our guys and we'll realize that."
IN THE OPENING GAME OF THE NIGHT: St. Mary's improved to 7-3 on the season with its win over North Arlington. The Gaels need three wins in their next five games to earn an automatic berth into the Bergen County Jamboree.
"We have to focus defensively, because right now we are not stopping anybody. Tonight is a good example, we gave up 55 points," said St. Mary's head coach Matt Stone, whose team is two games behind Weehawken for the top spot in the BCSL-National Division. "We have to rely on our defense and do a better job of getting the ball (to center Jerry Bielecki) in the post. We have a shot at the Jambo and we can make a run at the league, but we have work to do."
For more pictures from this event or to purchase a Collector's Print of this story, visit the NJS.com School Store!
|
|
|
| About Us | Contact Us | Home | Advertise |
Questions?
E-mail the editor editor@northjerseysports.com
All contents © copyright 2001-2004 HSSportsWeb.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
