Wednesday, February 4, 2009

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Steve Lecquerica had this shot to win it in regulation, but when it didn't go down he scored the first two points in OT to put Wayne Hills in front for good on the way to a 59-53 win at Ramapo.

FRANKLIN LAKES -- It was by no means time to panic for the Wayne Hills boys basketball team. Despite the fact that it had lost two of its last three games, the first of them by a single point against Old Tappan that represented the Patriots' first league loss of the season, they still had a two game-lead in Division 1 of the NBIL. But facing overtime at Ramapo on Tuesday night, Wayne Hills was in danger of burning through the cushion it had built up over the course of the season and making the race for the title interesting once again.

“This was a very important game for us. We lost two games in the last week by a point and two points against very good teams. We played poorly against Old Tappan and not that great against a tough Immaculata team and lost them both,” said Wayne Hills head coach Jim Catalano. “But the up side is that playing those games helps us in a game like tonight, but it was not enough to just be close this time, we had to get out of here with a win.”

Wayne Hills had a chance to do it in regulation when it played a textbook final minute. In a tie game, The Patriots regained possession with 1:06 to play in the fourth quarter and moved the ball around until taking a time out with 19 second left. That set up the final sequence that led to an open look for Steve Lecquerica, who freed himself for a jumper from the elbow.

Ramapo's Eric Halejian scored 6 of his team-high 19 points in OT.

It was off the mark, but it came late enough that Ramapo never got a shot at the other end and when the overtime started, Joe Russo won the jump ball, sent in Lecquerica and he made to free throws just four second into the extra session that finally gave Wayne Hills the lead for good on the way to a 59-53 win in Franklin Lakes.

“I got a good look on that last shot, it didn’t go down, but you can’t worry about that going into the overtime, you just have to play,” said Lecquerica, who overcame an 0 for 9 start from the field to score a game-high 20 points. “Coach was saying that we had to rebound. We had two losses by a total of three points both down to the last second. That’s why it was big to win tonight because it was another close game against a good team and this time we found a way to win it.’

And overtime was an obvious possibility right from the get go. Ramapo’s largest lead came at 6-1 with 2:22 left in the first quarter and Wayne Hills’ largest lead in regulation came at 28-22 with 4:10 left in the first half after Travis Della Volpe converted a three-point play. It was after that that both teams started knocking down shots and things got really interesting.

Wayne Hills' Justin Hourihan made two key free throws with 30 seconds left in overtime.

In the final 1:11 of the second quarter, Ramapo’s Peter Garrambone hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 32, Eric Halejian hit a pull-up jumper to give Ramapo a lead, Della Volpe answered with a three-pointer from the corner with 14 seconds left and Halejian answered again with a step back jumper at the buzzer, a three-pointer that gave Ramapo a 37-35 lead heading into the locker room.

There were six lead changes and two ties in the fourth quarter and two straight baskets
Wayne Hills had a three point lead at 43-40 after Justin Hourihan made two free throws at the 5:13 mark, but two straight baskets by Ramapo’s Ryan Brew, a slicing layup and a jumper from the elbow gave the Green Raiders their final lead of the night at 45-43 with 1:56 left. Lecquerica’s jumper from the baseline got the Patriots even with 1:25 to go before a Ramapo miss set up Wayne Hills’ long but ultimately unsuccessful final possession of the fourth quarter.

But Lecquerica, who shoots nearly 90 percent from the foul, made the two right out of the gate in the overtime, Russo followed with a tough shot from the baseline and a free throw and the Patriots built a 50-45 lead less than one minute in.

Ramapo's Ryan Brew finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Wayne Hills was still up by five with 1:38 left when Della Volpe made both of his free throw attempts before Ramapo made it a one possession game for the last time when Halejian hung in the air long enough to drop in a shot from the left side with 1:02 left that got the Raiders to within 54-51.

But after WH held the ball for the better part of the next 30 seconds, Hourihan was fouled and made both free throws to put his team up by five points and basically put the game away with 30 seconds left. Hourihan, who also made a key driving layup in the overtime, came through from the line, which is not necessarily his favorite place to be.

“Usually we want the ball in Steve Lequerica’s hands. He is probably the best foul shooter around, but in certain situations we couldn’t get the ball to him and I just tried to create some space and they happened to foul me,” said Hourihan, who was 5 of 6 from the line in the game. “I am not usually not usually the greatest foul shooter, but I guess tonight was my odd night.”

With the win, Wayne Hills, which will play Passaic Tech on Saturday in the semifinals of the Passaic County Tournament, improved to 12-4 on the season and 11-1 inside the NBIL, two games up on Old Tappan in Division 1 with four games left to play. The Patriots had three players finish in double figures as Lecquerica game-high 20 were followed by Della Volpe’s 15 and 10 from Russo, who scored all of his points after halftime. Hourihan added 9 points, and Joe Brandl and Chris Fonti (3 points), the Patriots center who battled foul trouble, each made field goals.

Halejian led Ramapo with 19 points and he scored 6 of the Raiders’ 8 points in the overtime. Brew, who finished with 12 rebounds, scored 14 points. Donny Fletcher had 7 points, Garrambone had 5 points, Borgeson scored both of his field goals off of the offensive glass and Andrew Weiss and Scott Glicksman had a field goal apiece for the Green Raiders, who fell to 10-5 on the season.

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