Tuesday, February 24, 2009

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Owen Barnes made his team's last free throw, the one that gave it the 55-53 lead it held on to to claim Teaneck's first Bergen County championship since it won back to back titles in 1998 and 1999.

HACKENSACK -- A public school trying to win a Bergen County title for the first time in eight years. A parochial school in the role of underdog shooting the lights out in the first half. A tie game with 4:29 to play, a one-possession game for all but 16 seconds the last 5:25 of the fourth quarter, a coach who had a health scare less than a week ago, a sold out crowd at the Rothman Center and a foghorn that may or may not have effected the final shot of the game that could have tied it. Not a bad night at the Bergen County Jamboree final.

Teaneck had a two point lead with eight seconds left when Owen Barnes made one of his two free throw attempts with eight seconds left to play. St. Joseph got the ball inbounds, raced it over halfcourt and took a time out with 2.1 seconds left to set up its final shot. When play resumed, SJR’s Alex Aitkens inbounded to Andrew Belizaire, who ran off a Joe Efese screen and took possession at the top of the key.

As Belizaire was about to take his first dribble to the left, a foghorn sounded from behind the opposite basket as Belizaire briefly lost control of the ball before regaining his balance and getting off a final shot that was deflected ever so slightly by Teaneck’s Shomari Barber. The final shot ended up wide of the mark and when the real horn sounded an instant later, Teaneck became the first public school to win a Bergen County championship. Teaneck’s 55-53 victory gave it its first Jambo title since it won back to back in 1998 and 1999.

St. Joseph's Andrew Belizaire had the last shot, which may or may not have been affected by a foghorn blown in the stands.

“We had the lead and we were just thinking that for 30 seconds, then 20 seconds and then on that last play just two seconds, we just had to hold on to be champions,” said Barber. “In the first half we were playing good defense but they just kept hitting. Eventually we knew that the tide was going to turn and luckily it did right before the first half was over so that in the second half we could come back and win.”

The reason Teaneck needed to mount a comeback was because St. Joseph hardly missed in the first 15 minutes of the game. A three-pointer from the corner by Tyler Bryant gave SJR a 30-17 lead with 3:23 to go in the second quarter and Bryant’s follow of a missed layup after Will Giles’ steal swelled the Green Knights’ lead to 15, its largest of the night, with 2:24 left in the first half.

But that was when, as Barber put it, the tide turned. Teaneck scored the final eight points of the first half and did so in less than one minute as Kyle Steinbergin made a three-pointer from the wing, Javae King-Gilchrist scored from the baseline and Steinbergin just beat the buzzer with a banked three-pointer to send the Highwaymen into the locker room trailing 32-25.

Teaneck fully closed the gap on Barnes’ fastbreak basket with 2:58 to go in the third quarter and took its first lead since 2-0 on Gilchrist’s jumper from the corner before Joe Efese’s scored inside to pull St. Joseph even at the end of the third quarter at 37-37.

Javae-King Gilchrist led Teaneck to a title one year after losing in the semifinals as the point guard at Queen of Peace.

That set up a wild fourth quarter in which neither team had larger than a five-point lead. St. Joseph went in front for the last time at 47-45 when Giles hit a jumper from the foul line with 3:39 to play, but Jonathan Blue gave Teaneck the lead back for good when he hit a trey form the corner the next time down the floor.

But it was in the final minute that every possession was magnified and every point was at a premium. Gilchrist started the final 60 seconds by hitting both ends of a one-and-one to put the Highwaymen up 53-49.

Teaneck was up three when Kai Dominguez drove for a layup to draw SJR to within 54-53 with 33 seconds left, and was in good shape in terms of team fouls as it had not yet reached the double bonus, meaning that Teaneck’s next to trips to the line, both taken by Owens, resulted in just one make in three attempts, the last with 8 seconds left that gave the Knights the opportunity at the last shot, which was off the mark.

“It is very disappointing. The kids played their hearts out and came up just a little bit short. They are hurting right now,” said St. Joseph head coach Mike Daugherty. “Like I said, we played our hearts out, both teams did and any time that happens someone is going to go home unhappy. Tonight that is us and we are going to have to regroup and get past it somehow.”

Alex Aitkens' three-pointer with 4:41 to go in the first half gave St. Joseph a 27-17 lead.

It was an eventful final minute for Barnes, who deflected a pass to force a turnover, gave possession back on a travel and then made a steal that led to the two Gilchrist free throws with one minute left.

“That is my job; to give energy off the bench and do whatever I can to help the team win. No matter what happens you just move on to the next play and try to help the team,” said Barnes, who then added his feelings on being a county champion. “It feels like I am on top of the world. I fell like I want to go to Disneyland.”

The win was satisfying for all of the Highwaymen, including King-Gilchrist, who was the Queen of Peace point guard last season when the Golden Griffins gave a way a late lead in a semifinal loss to Hackensack.

“This is sweet because after Queen of Peace kicked me out I didn’t know what I was going to do,” said King-Gilchrist. “I came back home and I knew it was time for us to take it all the way.”

It was the fourth county championship at Teaneck for March, who suffered a mild heart attack last week, but was all smiles as he accepted hugs, hand shakes and congratulations from it seemed like every Teaneck resident after the game.

“What a performance by these kids. They never quit. We were down 7 points at the half and as poorly as we played in the first half we could have been down 17. It was a sign that if we turned our defense up it would lead to our offense and that is exactly what happened,” said March. “I am so happy for Shomari Barber and Javae Gilchrist, our two senior starters, and especially for Javae because he came in here last year being the predicted winner and it just went haywire for him. I am so happy for those guys, for all of our seniors, for all of our players and coaches and for all of the people in Teaneck. We are going to share this good feeling with all of them.”

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