Tuesday, January 13, 2009

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

JERSEY CITY – For the first time in years, the St. Joseph’s of the Palisades (West New York) boys basketball team sees an HCIAA-Seglio Division title as a goal that is within its grasp. Its measuring stick on whether this team has championship potential comes later this week when when it faces both Hoboken and St. Mary’s (Jersey City) and the last thing the Blue Jays wanted was a hiccup heading into those two showdowns.

Thanks to some long-range shooting in the first half, they took a sizable lead and kept their foot on the gas until the final buzzer sounded on Monday night against McNair Academic. Louis Isern hit two of the Blue Jays’ six first-half threes as St. Joe’s took a 17-point halftime lead and was on cruise control the rest of the way en route to a 66-46 victory.

“We couldn’t let this game get away from us, we had to take control early,” said Isern. “In our league, teams are going to play hard every game. So we had to be ready and get our confidence up heading into the rest of the week. This next week is the heart of our season and this win is a good start.”

Behind their quick senior point guard Freddie Henry, the Cougars were able to keep pace for a quarter. They trailed by six points early in the second quarter when St. Joe’s caught fire from beyond the three-point arc to take over the game.

Isern hit two three-pointers, while Derrick Dehasek and Leonel Carronza each had one to lift the Blue Jays to a 37-20 halftime lead. McNair got to within 14 points in the third on a three-pointer by Osman Ahmad, but never got any closer. Ahmad hit a trio of three-pointers in the second half, only to have Blue Jays score two straight baskets on the other end after each shot.

“St. Joe’s shot very well and we did not shoot all that well,” said McNair Academic head coach Mike Reilly. “We had no rebounding and we were one-and-done on the offensive end. When you’re shooting is off and that’s happening, you’re in trouble. St. Joe’s had more talent, more speed, and they flat out played better than we did.”

Marcus Hunter and Dehasek each led St. Joe’s (6-3, 2-1 HCIAA-Seglio) with 13 points. Isern added 11 and Carronza had 10. Henry led all players with 19 points and six assists for McNair (3-7, 0-2 HCIAA-Seglio). Ahmed came off the bench to score a season-high 15 points.

Now that the tuneup is out of the way, the Blue Jays can look forward to the rest of this week; which will tell a long way towards whether they join the list of contenders at the top of the league standings.

“This week is our biggest of the season, at least to this point,” said St. Joseph’s head coach Damian Kennedy. “We moved the ball well and knocked down open shots in the first half. But we didn’t take care of the ball well in the second half. We have to limit unforced turnovers, because against Hoboken and St. Mary’s, every possession is magnified. This should be an exciting race right down to the very end and we look to forward to being part of it.”

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