December
27, 2006
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| St. Joseph's Noruwa Agho letting go of two of his game high 21 points during the Knights' 57-40 win over Bergen Catholic on Tuesday in the Indian Hills Holiday Festival. | |
OAKLAND -- For a season that still isn't two weeks old, a Bergen County high school basketball fan has got to love the schedule maker. Having St. Joseph, Bergen Catholic, Don Bosco and Paramus Catholic knocking heads before the end of December has made for some interesting viewing in the in the early going.
It was St. Joe’s and Bergen’s turn on Tuesday afternoon in the opening round of the 20th Annual Indian Hills Holiday Basketball Festival, a pair of 4-0 teams looking to gain the upper hand at the close of 2006.
The Green Knights came up with the right combinations in the fourth quarter, turning a close game into a 47-40 victory that makes them the team to beat in Bergen County. Of course, there are two more December games to play, beginning Thursday against Kennedy, a 65-60 winner over Englewood in their opening round game.
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| Bergen Catholic's Ricky Carroll driving the baseline on Tuesday afternoon. |
That will be followed by either Ramapo or host Indian Hills on Saturday, meaning the Knights will have played seven games against top-level competition to start the season.
“It’s good to play emotional games and play good competition and see where you stand regardless,” SJR head coach Mike Doherty said of the early season schedule. “Obviously, we’re thrilled to come out on top, but even if we had come up short, these games are extremely important just to find out where we stand.”
Right now, Doherty’s team stands poised to try and defend its title thanks to a solid effort out of Noruwa Agho, who had a game-high 21 points to go along with 8 rebounds and 3 assists. He scored the first two baskets of the fourth quarter, turning a 36-34 SJR edge into a 40-34 lead that eventually became 44-34 with 1:47 to go.
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| St. Joseph sophomore Joe Efese had four of his five rebounds in the final 10 minutes of the game. |
“I can’t point to one thing,” Doherty said, “but what stands out in my mind overall is that when we needed big buckets Noruwa really stepped up and made some for us. That’s what All-County players do.
“That's and sophomore Joe Efese coming in and really helping change the complexion of the game defensively. He took away the middle from them and that was as big a factor as anything.”
Efese had four of his five rebounds in the final 10 minutes of the game, and the 6-foot-5 center slowed the inside rebounding edge that Bergen had been enjoying in the third quarter.
The Crusaders were held scoreless from Ricky Carroll’s game-tying free throws with 4.9 seconds left (knotting the score at 34) in the third quarter until a Nolan Hill basket with 1:31 to go in the game. In that period they missed 8 straight shots and also had a pair of turnovers.
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| Jon Rigg had seven rebounds for Bergen Catholic, which fell to 4-1 on the season. |
“We’re not shooting or finishing well right now,” BC head coach Joe Dionisio assessed, “and we haven’t been all year. I actually thought in a lot of ways we played better today than we had in the previous four games.
“I thought our effort was better, our blocking out was better, overall we had more energy. Now we just have to start playing smarter and take advantage of scoring opportunities, which we’re not doing right now.”
Neither team shot particularly well, with the Green Knights hitting on 16 of 44 field goal tries and Bergen Catholic 14 of 47. With neither able to string together points over the first 24 minutes, the game stayed close.
BC’s biggest lead was 16-11 in the second quarter, while SJR had a 28-22 third quarter advantage, but in each case the trailing team was able to fight back.
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| Erol Belizaire made a layup and a three-pointer in the fourth quarter to help SJR maintain its lead. |
Agho was the lone Knight in double figures, while bob DiPiazza’s 11 points represented the Crusaders’ only double digit total. Jon Rigg had 7 rebounds for Bergen, which will face Englewood in the consolation round on Thursday afternoon.
“We’re 4-1 and I’m pleased with the record, but we’ve got a long way to go and we’ve got to get better,” Dionisio said. “We’re breaking down in areas and against a St. Joe’s, it shows. We’ve got to play a more consistent game on both ends of the floor to win games like this.”
FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS GAME OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.
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