Friday, February 29, 2008

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Gamal Mohamed spearheaded Immaculata's halfcourt trap, the defense the Spartans used to make up ground then pass Queen of Peace in a 59-55 win in the quarterfinals of the Non-Public North A state sectional playoffs.

NORTH ARLINGTON -- For the first two periods and well into the second half it looked like the best ever season in the history of Queen of Peace's boys basketball program was destined to continue for a least another night. The Golden Griffins had the better seed, the home court advantage and a double-digit first half lead against Immaculata, the No. 8 seed from Somerset County that had barely an idea where North Arlington was let alone what it was in for when it took the floor in the small and crowded gym.

Queen of Peace was not a gracious host in the first half as it opened a 28-18 lead late in the first quarter, led by double digits through most of the second quarter and was up 33-26 at halftime with the crowd going nuts and Immaculata forced to shoot at the basket that was directly in front of the QP student section in the second half.

But Immaculata was not scared, in fact it was the opposite of that in the third quarter when it quickly made up the deficit using a half court trap and set the stage for a 59-55 win that continued the Spartans’ run through Bergen County parochial schools. The Spartans knocked off Bergen Catholic by 21 points in the opening round of the Non-Public North A state sectional playoffs and ended Queen of Peace’s season in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Javae Gilchrist gave Q of P its final lead with 4:37 to go in the game.

“Their dribble drive was just killing us. We couldn’t stay with them and we were getting in foul trouble in the first half,” said Immaculata head coach Mike Frauenheim. “We came in prepared to run a little halfcourt trap into a 3-2 [zone] to see if they could make some shots and clamp down on the big guy [Bilal Dixon] and we came out at halftime determined that we were going to win the first two minutes of the third quarter.”

The Spartans did just that as they scored nine of the first 11 points of the third quarter and pulled even at 35 when Jeff Cullinan, the Immaculata’s center who found plenty of ways to be effective despite giving up at least four inches to Dixon, was fouled on a three-point attempt and made all three free throws with 4:10 to go in the third.

That play was important on many fronts as not only tied the scored, but it also capped a personal 7-0 spurt by Cullinan, it quieted the crowd and it marked the third personal foul on Dixon, who was forced to the bench.

“When Dixon got three could on him, that was a big turning point,” said Cullinan, who scored a team-high 18 points. “He’s an amazing player, he had two nasty dunks in the first half, but what are you going to do? You just keep going, worry about the next play and we were able to turn up our defense enough to make it hard for them in the second half.”

Jeff Cullinan finished with a game-high 18 points for Immaculata, which improved to 18-8 on the season.

Q of P was able to make a run shortly thereafter, an 8-0 spurt that started with two Javae Gilchrist free throws and ended with a Dwayne Moffatt jumper from the foul line that gave the Golden Griffins a 43-35 lead 2:08 to go in the third quarter. But Immaculata already knew it could take QP’s best shots and hang right in the game and a pretty give-and-go that ended in a Gamal Mohamed layup to close the third quarter drew the Spartans with 45-41 with eight minutes to play.

“We just felt that if we could keep it close, answer their punches, they had like five or six of them, that we would have a shot to win in the end,” said Frauenheim, whose team improved to 18-8 with 7 of its losses coming against teams ranked in the Star Ledger’s Top 20. “We were staggered, but we didn’t get knocked down and I thought that we really just stayed composed. When you have great athletes and great kids, no situation is too tough.”

The fourth quarter was back-and-forth. It featured four lead changes and four ties and Q of P went ahead for the final time at 51-49 with 4:37 to play when Gilchrist made two free throws after a Dixon block sparked a fastbreak. Immaculata took a two-point lead at 53-51 when Cullinan scored inside with 3:10 left and the Griffins tied the game for the final time when Dixon made two free throws with 2:04 left to play.

Immaculata went ahead to stay when Theo Riddick made a hard cut to the basket and scored off an assist from Tim Sanderson and, after QP missed two free throws on its next possession, Mohamed (16 points) put Immaculata up 57-53 with 58 seconds left when he converted both ends of a one-and-one and basically put the game away.

Despite foul trouble, QP senior Bilal Dixon scored 12 points and had five blocks in his final high school game.

The loss ends Queen of Peace’s season with a 23-3 record. Although it had disappointing finishes to its county and state tournament runs, the Griffins went unbeaten in league play and won the program’s first ever BCSL-American Division championship.

The five starters accounted for all of Q of P’s points on Thursday night with Gilchrist’s 20 leading the way. Dixon, who will play next season in the Big East at Providence College, closed his high school career with 12 points; Moffatt added 10, Zaire Harris had 9 and Al’Don Muhammed had the other four points.

“We made too many turnovers, that is what happened. It was turnovers against their pressure that cost us the game,” said Gilchrist, a junior. “It was a good season for us, but when we lost to Hackensack in the Final 4 [of the Bergen County Jamboree], everyone got down on us and then we lost tonight, but this was the best team in Queen of Peace history. We got the first league title in school history and Al’Don Muhammed scored his 1,000th point. We made a lot of history this year.”

Immaculata is caught up in chasing history itself. After running roughshod through Bergen County in the first two rounds of the state tournament, the Spartans will now get a chance to knock off a legendary program when it visits Seton Hall Prep on Saturday in the sectional semifinals. Prep knocked off Immaculata back in Christmas Tournament play, but the Spartans are now playoff tested and playing their best basketball of the season.

“To validate our season we needed to beat a Top 20 team. We got one tonight and we have another chance on Saturday playing one of the best programs. I think from top to bottom Seton Hall Prep is the standard,” said Frauenheim. “From the point of what I would like to model my program after, Seton Hall Prep is it. I respect them, but we are going to go there to try to beat them.”

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