January
4, 2007
GLEN ROCK -- A team shoots 2 for 16 in the first half, gets outrebounded by a 2 to 1 margin, turns the ball over 9 times, and scores all of 7, yes, 7 points. This is not the blueprint for a winning effort.
Yet the Glen Rock boys basketball team left its home court on Wednesday night with a 36-29 victory. So, just how did they record this improbable win?
The Rock did so because Cresskill was just 4 of 26 shooting in the second half and never took advantage of the Panthers’ largesse in the first half.
With the Cougars leaving the door open, Zack Babin stepped through and up in the second half. After playing sparingly in the first half, he scored seven points in the third quarter, including a game-tying three point field goal, then opened the fourth quarter with a jumper to make it 23-19 in favor of the Rockers.
“He came in and hit some shots, and that opened it up a bit for Ivan (Bogovich),” GR head coach Ken Cavanaugh said.
Bogovich, the teams’ leading scorer on the year, followed Dan Crowley’s only basket of the game with a putback of an offensive rebound and a short jumper, giving the Panthers a 29-19 advantage with 6:09 left in the game.
Cresskill did have one run left in it and closed to within 32-29 with 54 seconds left on a three-pointer by Dan Egorow. The Cougars had an opportunity to tie after Crowley drew his fifth foul on a charge with 46.8 ticks remaining. They sent up a trio of three-point shots, getting the offensive rebound after the first two, but GR’s Jack Ferreri grabbed the carom after the third miss and was fouled.
He dropped in two free throws with 14.9 to go and, after another three ball miss, Babin rebounded and was fouled, hitting the two foul shots at :01.6 to close out the game.
Led by Babin, the Panthers (4-2) turned their shooting woes around in the second half, going 10 of 18 to finish a more respectable 12 of 34. Babin and Bogovich were both 4 of 7 in the second half.
The forgettable first half saw a 2-2 first period, with the Rockers shooting 1 of 10 and Cresskill 1 of 12. The Cougars found the range in the second quarter, hitting 5 of 9 shots, but they did not score over the final 3:31 of the first half, squandering a chance to break the game open.
Egorow topped Cresskill (3-3) with nine points, 10 rebounds, four steals, three blocked shots and three assists. Overall, the Cougars were 10 of 47 (3 of 19 from beyond the arc) from the field and 6 of 13 at the free throw line. The loss leaves Cresskill head coach Marty Rivard (647 career wins) one win shy of Chris Donfield's record for most wins by a Bergen County boys basketball coach.
The Panthers converted 10 of 17 foul shots and were 2 of 8 on threes. Babin had 11 points and Bogovich 10 to go along with 9 boards. Alex Harris added 7 rebounds for Glen Rock, which came out a winner despite Crowley scoring only three points, eight below his average.
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