Sunday, February 17, 2008

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Alex George's only field goal of the game was a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left that gave Hackensack the winning points in a 69-66 upset of top-seeded Queen of Peace in the Jambo semifinals.

HACKENSACK -- There was a game earlier this season when Alex George had a chance to be a hero. The Hackensack sophomore found himself with the ball in his hands and a wide open three pointer that could have given the Comets a win over Bloomfield Tech.

But the shot missed, Hackensack lost by two points and George gained valuable experience, the kind of lesson that came in handy against Queen of Peace at the Rothman Center on Saturday night in the Bergen County Jamboree semifinals.

Hackensack had just about erased all of Queen of Peace’s 13-point fourth quarter lead, but it was still a point shy and running out of time. Hackensack swung the ball around the perimeter and when it got to George he never hesitated.

George pulled the trigger on a three-pointer from just to the right of the top of the key and buried it, the go-ahead basket in the Comets’ 69-66 upset of top-seeded Queen of Peace (21-2), a team that had not lost to an in-state opponent all year and looked like cinch to make the final for the first three-and-a-half quarters.

Javae Gilchrist scored a 23 points for Queen of Peace, which suffered it first defeat to an in-state team.

“I don’t even know what to say. I took the shot and it went in,” said George from the middle of a celebratory scrum just seconds after the handshake. “I felt comfortable taking that shot, game winning shots is what I do. It feels great, we are going to the finals and I am only a sophomore.”

The sophomore was the one who registered the winning points but it was the Comets’ seniors that put them in position where one well-timed shot could put them in front for good. Keon Williams scored 13 of his game-high 26 points in the fourth quarter and Ricky Carroll, despite struggling from the free throw line, helped keep the pressure on Queen of Peace and hasten its demise down the stretch.

“It’s my senior season and I wanted to do something so Hackensack would remember me,” said Williams. “They were talking the whole game, but it motivated us. We used it as motivation to just keep going.”

Queen of Peace was reveling in its double digit lead, playing to the crowd with smiles all around as it went up 57-44 with 5:22 to play in the fourth quarter on a slick flip shot at the end of a drive by point guard Javae Gilchrist. But Williams hit a put back the next time down the floor, Q of P’s Al’Don Muhammed fouled out shortly thereafter and cracks were starting to appear in the Golden Griffins’ confident veneer.

Ricky Carroll scored 20 points to help lead Hackensack to the Jambo final after going there last season at Bergen Catholic.

Meanwhile, Hackensack (18-5) just kept plugging away.

“We are a humble team. In our league you can’t get too cocky or overconfident because you will get beat up,” said Hackensack head coach Scooter Whiting. “Our league toughens us up. We had Eastside by 20 points the other day and they came back on us. Our league is built on heart and courage and the kids keep fighting.”

Williams scored on back to back baskets inside to get his team within single digits and the game started to get real interesting when Romaine Wall made two free throws to draw the Comets to within 60-55 with 2:16 to go. Gilchrist did his best to keep his team ahead and he scored on a coast-to-coast layup with 1:46 to go to put his team up 62-57 and his free throw with 1:22 left put QP up 65-61.

But Williams scored on a reverse layup with 53 seconds to play and Carroll put back his own missed attempt on a fastbreak as Hackensack drew even at 65 with 53 seconds left to play. It was the first time since the score was 19-19 early in the second quarter that the Comets were not trailing.

Bilal Dixon had 15 points, 14 rebounds and 6 blocks for Queen of Peace, but he was held to just 3 points in the second half.

“For me and Keon, this is our last year and we had to step up,” said Carroll, who is going to the Jambo final for the second straight year with his second different team. “We made it here but we want to take it all the way, we don’t want to stop here. Rematch (with Don Bosco), that is all I can ask for.”

Bilal Dixon put Queen of Peace back in front briefly when he made 1 of 2 free throws with 48 seconds left in the game and the teams then traded empty two-shot trips to the line over the next 17 seconds, but when Hackensack got the ball back, it rotated to George and he hit ‘The Shot’, the one that put Hackensack in the Jambo final for the first time since 2003.

The Comets have not won the Jambo title since 1995, but are now just one win away and will play two-time defending champion Don Bosco on Wednesday at the Rothman Center in a 7:00 p.m. tip. Bosco handled Hackensack relatively easily the first time the teams met this season, but that was not in a county final and the Comets were not the same team then as they are now with Carroll up to speed after sitting out the first 30 days of the season.

“We felt that momentum at the end of the game and we felt them getting tired. We just had to push, we had to run and gun and everything had to be left on the floor because we wanted to let everyone know that Hackensack was the last public school left,” said Carroll. “We seized the opportunity. We are here, we are not going anywhere we are Hackensack. We haven’t been [to the final] since ’03, it’s ’08 now, my senior year. I am telling you, I am ready for Wednesday.”

FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS GAME OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS GAME STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.