Thursday, February 19, 2009

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

BAYONNE – Darius Gordon is happy with just doing the dirty work under the boards for Bayonne. The 6-foot-6 center specializes in rebounding and playing solid post defense. But with starting center Joe Russo out with a sprained ankle for the most important game of the Bees’ season, the junior had a much larger role to fill. He now had to become an offensive presence, which appeared to be no easy task against North Bergen’s standout center Noel Allen.

If the Bees were to erase last year’s disappointment of being the top seed in the HCIAA-Coviello Tournament, only to lose to St. Peter’s Prep in overtime then watch them go on to win the title, Gordon would have to come up bigger than he ever has before.

He did just that and got plenty of help from point guard Tarique Holmes. Gordon finished with career-highs of 23 points and 11 rebounds, while Holmes added 20 points, seven assists, and three steals as second-seeded Bayonne held off a late charge for a 80-70 win over North Bergen, the No. 3 seed, in an HCIAA-Coviello semifinal.

“We really wanted (St. Peter’s) Prep, but we knew we had to get through this one first,” said Holmes. “This was a tough one, but we pulled it out. I had to make play in the fourth quarter and everyone stepped it up.”

Bayonne held an early 15-8 lead, but that evaporated early in the second quarter. Danny Abreu’s three-pointer put North Bergen 21-20 with 4:35 left to play in the half. However, that would be the Bruins’ first and last lead of the game as Bayonne responded with a crucial run.

Holmes had five points and Gordon four with Bayonne closing out the half on a 14-0 run to take a commanding 34-21 lead at the half.

“That was the game right there, it was too big a hole to climb out of in their gym,” said North Bergen head coach Kevin Bianco. “We were terrible from the line all game, and at the end of the half, they turned a couple of turnovers into easy baskets. We fought and fought, but we never got over the hump because of how far we fell behind.”

It got worse before it got better for North Bergen as it missed four straight layups and a pair of free-throws. Yet, they used the hot hand of Abreu to trim the lead down to a manageable nine points going into the fourth quarter, 49-40.

From there, North Bergen’s Chris Luperon shot them right back into the game. He had a pair of conventional three-point plays, then hit a long-range three-pointer to cut the lead to 59-56 with 4:30 to play.

The Bees responded by scoring the next five points and it appeared the Bruins’ night was done when Luperon picked up his fifth foul and fouled out of the game with 3:49 remaining.

Bayonne had the game in hand but nearly gave it away. The Bees were up 11 points with the ball with 2:24 remaining. But a pair of turnovers and an ill-advised shot led to three straight Bruin baskets. The last of which was an Abreu three-pointer from the wing that trimmed the lead down to four, 68-64, with 1:52 to play.

Holmes became the calming presence on the court by beating the Bruins’ full-court press and hitting Jimmy Smith with consecutive half-court diagonal passes for layups that put the game away.

“I thought when Tarique (Holmes) kept his head up, he made some great decisions with the ball,” said Bayonne head coach Mickell Taylor. “North Bergen is going to make some runs because of the style that they play. I thought this was Tarique’s best game this year. In big spots, he kept his cool and found the open man.”

Smith added a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds for Bayonne. Ahmir Bailey added 13 points. The Bees were money from the foul line in the second half, going 17-21.

Luperon scored 15 of his team-high 21 points in the second half. Allen finished with 17 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Abreu had a good overall game with 14 points, six rebounds, and four steals. The Bruins did well in the half-court, but struggled mightily from the line, going just 9-22 in the game.

Bayonne gets the matchup it wanted on Saturday. They will face top-seeded St. Peter’s Prep for the HCIAA-Coviello title. The game will be the third in a quadruple-header at St. Peter’s College with a scheduled 4:00 start time.

“We’ve been working hard for this all year and now we’re here,” said Gordon. “We have to step up Saturday even bigger than we stepped up today. We can’t turn the ball over and we have to play defense. Prep is a real good team. But if we can box out and outrebound them, then we know we’ll have a good shot.”

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