Sunday, February 22, 2009

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Louis Isern made sure he went out with at least one HCIAA-Seglio Division title as St. Joseph (WNY) needed overtime to knock off Hoboken, 54-46, on Saturday afternoon.

JERSEY CITY – St. Joseph’s of the Palisades’ senior leaders Louis Isern and Kahalil Brown felt all of their hard work put in over the past four years on the verge of ending without a championship when Hoboken rallied to send Saturday’s HCIAA-Seglio Division final into overtime. They knew they had two choices: panic and wonder what might have been or start over and make good on a promise that they made to one another about making sure they leave high school with at least one league title.

The pair of Blue Jays duo put all of their energy into the four-minute overtime palnning to, win or lose, leave it all on the floor. Isern put his ahead to stay early in the extra session and Brown anchored the defense that allowed just two points the rest of the way as fourth-seeded St. Joe’s won its first HCIAA-Seglio title since 2002 with its first win over Hoboken, the No. 2 seed, in 10 years with a 54-46 triumph at St. Peter’s College.

The Blue Jays, who were just 4-20 last season, were riding high coming off a semifinal upset over top-seeded High Tech. That momentum carried over into the first half as they controlled every aspect of the game. They allowed just a field goal over the first eight minutes in taking a 10-2 lead after one quarter. On the final play of the first half, Isern used a sidearm zip pass to a wide-open T.J Perez for a layup that gave St. Joe’s a surprising 24-11 halftime lead.

Mark Moorman's putback with a minute to play in regulation tied the game at 44 and got Hoboken into the overtime session.

“I thought we played as well as we could play defensively in the first half,” said St. Joe’s head coach Damian Kennedy. “We focused on shutting down (Eddie) Canary in the first half and he didn’t score. In the second half, he was getting enough room to get his shot off and he was killing us. We just did not want to give up the lead. It’s a huge mental block when you have a lead the whole game, then lose it late.”

Canary, Hoboken’s leading scorer, finally got on track as the Red Wings slowly chipped away at the 13-point halftime deficit. They finally caught up late in the fourth quarter on a thunderous one-handed jam and a layup, both by Canary, the latter of which tied the game at 42 with 2:34 to play.

St. Joe’s took the lead back on a floater by Leonel Carranza, but Hoboken answered on the other end with a putback from Mark Moorman with a minute to play to knot it at 44. The Red Wings had a chance to win it, but did not get off a good shot and the teams needed an extra period to decide the Seglio champion.

“We had to step it up, it was do-or-die time,” said St. Joe’s Kahalil Brown. “This was the whole reason we played this season and it came down to who wanted it more for the next couple of minutes.”

After an Isern free-throw put the Blue Jays in front, he added a runner in the paint to make it 49-46 with two minutes to play. The Red Wings had tied the game on four different occasions, but were never able to pull in front. On their next three trips down the floor, they could not put the ball in the basket with Brown pulling down a big rebound and Isern two others. Brown and Isern each hit a pair of free-throws in the final minute to put the game on ice and lock up the Blue Jays’ first league title in seven years.

Kahalil Brown earned MVP honors for St. Joe's with 20 points and 13 rebounds.

“We had a chance to win it in regulation and just couldn’t hit a shot in the overtime,” said Hoboken head coach Buddy Matthews. “We didn’t make good decisions in big spots. But we kept fighting hard and I’m proud of how hard we battled to get back in it and show our mettle in the second half. Give St. Joe’s credit, they played very well and deserved to win. We came close, but never overcame that first half.”

Brown earned MVP honors with a 20-point, 13-rebound effort for St. Joe’s (14-8). Isern added a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Carranza finished with 10 points and seven assists. Canary scored all of his team-high 16 points after halftime for Hoboken (13-11). Ray Maldonado added 11 points, five assists, four steals, and four rebounds.

But for Isern and Brown this win was a long time coming and a weight lifted off of their shoulders by going home with the hardware.

“Everybody counted us out all year, but we had a chip on our shoulder,” said Isern. “We just believed in each other and peaked at the right time. High Tech beat us twice, and then we beat them in the playoffs. Hoboken beat us twice, and then we got the win today. We know Hoboken was going to play hard, we had to play even harder. To play on this court and win it in front of all of our fans makes all the hard work with it.”

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