Thursday, February
21, 2008
By
Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
HACKENSACK
– When Don Bosco leading scorer Kyle Smyth limped into the
locker room holding crutches before last night’s Bergen
County Jamboree final against Hackensack, his backcourt mates
Georgio Milligan and A.J. LoRusso knew they had to slack to pick
up whether or not Smyth took the floor.
Smyth
did toss away the crutches and played most of the game, but was
less than 100-percent. Milligan and LoRusso, on the other hand,
were obviously at full strength. They were playing for their place
in Bergen County history and turned in their best performances
of the season in the process.
Milligan
earned MVP honors with a game-high 23 points. LoRusso hit two
jumpers in a crucial 12-0 second-quarter run as second-seeded
Don Bosco Prep became the first team to win three consecutive
Bergen County Jamboree titles since Hackensack did it between
1952-54 with a 73-58 triumph over the fifth-seeded Comets.
“The
pressure was off of us once Kyle (Smyth) came out of the locker
room,” said Georgio Milligan. “He was going to try
and rest up for states, but we were glad to see him out there.
I’m happy A.J was knocking them down. When he’s hitting
and I’m hitting, it opens up the inside and we’re
tough to stop.”
Through
the first quarter-and-a-half, the Comets were able to control
the tempo and make it a fast-paced battle. Milligan hit his first
four shots and scored 11 first-quarter points, but Hackensack’s
Junior Solis, who also got off a good start, matched him on the
other end. His lay-up with 30 seconds left in the period gave
Hackensack a 19-17 after the first quarter.
“To
let up (19) points in a quarter is completely unacceptable to
us,” said Don Bosco head coach Kevin Diverio. “We
weren’t going to win a game where they were scoring close
to 80 points. The beginning of the second quarter, we were able
to get some easy baskets. We pressed them and it slowed their
offense down. I’m really happy with what we did on the glass
and we did a good job taking care of the ball.”
With
Smyth garnering defensive attention as he always does and Milligan
getting off to a torrid start, it forced the Hackensack defense
to shift and give LoRusso just enough time to get off some open
shots.
Alexander
DiSanzo started off the biggest run of the game with a breakaway
two-handed dunk and LoRusso added a pair of jumpers during the
12-0 run, which broke open a tie game and put Don Bosco ahead
34-22. Overall, LoRusso scored 10 points in the second period,
hitting 5 of 6 from the field as the Ironmen grabbed a comfortable
39-26 lead at the half.
“After
that run, it was too much of an uphill battle,” said Hackensack
head coach Scooter Whiting. “I think we got too excited
at times and we got ahead of ourselves. I thought we played pretty
good defense, LoRusso just made some shots. (Don Bosco) is one
of those teams that it’s really hard to come back on once
they get a big lead.”
After
a basket by Hackensack’s Keon Williams to open the second
half, the Ironmen responded with six straight points to take a
17-point lead. Hackensack sensed that it needed to make a run
and crashed the glass effectively for the rest of the quarter.
The
Comets cut it down to nine and had a chance to cut it even further
with less than a minute to play in the third quarter, but they
missed the front end of a one-and-one and DiSanzo pulled down
the rebound. Brandan Beckford scored on the other end to not only
push the lead back up to double-digits.
“We
have been getting a lot of help from our bench this season and
we did again tonight,” said LoRusso. “They gave our
guys a breather and they were giving us a boost by playing so
well. We knew we had to focus on defense and take care of the
ball. We wanted to make history tonight and we couldn’t
let anyone take that from us.”
Don
Bosco finished off the game at the foul line, where it is as good
as anyone in the county as a team. The Ironmen shot a very respectable
29 of 37 (78.4%) from the charity stripe in retaining their Jambo
title for the third straight year.
Milligan was efficient with his play on both ends of the floor
for Don Bosco. The senior guard was 7 of 9 from the floor and
9 of 11 from the foul line for his game-high 23 points. He also
had eight rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Beckford had
a fantastic game off the bench with 16 points, six rebounds, and
four steals. LoRusso scored 14 points and DiSanzo had 11 points
and eight boards. Smyth added seven points, four assists, four
rebounds, and two steals.
Williams
was the only player on either team to record a double-double,
leading Hackensack with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Ricky Carroll
added 14 points, while Solis and Romaine Wall each added 12.
As
they wrapped up the Jambo title with relative ease, the Ironmen
did it with one of the most dominant tournaments in recent memory.
They won all four of their Jambo games by at least 15 points,
by a total of 76 points for an average win of 19 points.
The
victory puts Don Bosco in sole possession of second place in number
of Jambo titles with eight, one ahead of Teaneck (7) and one behind
Hackensack (9). With that, their place as a dynasty in Bergen
County history has been secured.
“Hackensack’s
program is clearly back with the way they’ve played this
season and getting to the Jambo final,” added Diverio. “If
we can be mentioned up there in the same breath with Hackensack
as a program, I’m happy with that.”
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