Friday, March 6, 2009

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Jonathan Blue played well on the defensive end and also had a dunk that fired up the home crowd as Teaneck advanced to the North 1, Group 3 state sectional semifinals with a 61-50 win over Ramapo on Thursday night.

TEANECK -- When it was making its run toward the Bergen Countychampionship, the Teaneck boys basketball team had to survive a virtuoso shooting performance by Ramapo senior Eric Halejian to win a tighter-than-expected quarterfinal game at Ramapo College. Now the Highlanders are hoping that the pattern repeats itself. Halejian barely missed in the second half, but Teaneck had already ready built a big enough lead to make it moot on Thursday night in a 61-50 win in the quarterfinals of the North 1, Group 3 state sectional tournament.

Halejian scored 30 points in the Green Raiders’ near upset in the Jambo and Teaneck made its adjustment this time around by using junior Jonathan Blue and his athleticism and length to make it hard for Halejian to create space to shoot.

Blue held Halejian in check for the first half and by the time he did get hot, Teaneck had already run off a 9-2 run to start the third quarter that was capped off by a Blue dunk on the fastbreak and the third-seeded Highwaymen were well on their way to a 61-50 win and a spot in Saturday’s state sectional final when they will visit No. 2 Old Tappan, a 61-48 winner over Passaic Valley.

Ramapo's Eric Halejian closed his stellar senior season with a team-high 18 points.

“Coach [Curtis March] wanted me to guard [Halejian] because I am long and lanky and I could close out on him,” said Blue. “I just tried to stay on him and extend his shooting range. He’s a great shooter, we saw that the first time we played them, so knew that we had to slow him down this time and that was my job.”

Teaneck led wire to wire scored 9 of the game’s first 12 points to take control early, but Ramapo was one the verge of getting back in it when Matt Bunting putback a missed shot and Henry Borgeson scored inside to get the Green Raiders’ back to within 24-20 with 2:27 to go in the second quarter, but a Branden Davis layup off a slick assist from Javae-King Gilchrist and a three-pointer by Vance Steinbergin put Teaneck back up by nine points at the break.

After Peter Garrambone flipped home a layup to start the third quarter for Ramapo, Teaneck reeled off nine straight points that pushed its lead 38-22, well into double digits where it would stay until the final minute. King-Gilchrist scored the first seven points of the run with a fall away jumper, a pull-up three-pointer and off a back door cut and an assist from Kyle Steinbergin. Blue finished off the spurt with his dunk in the open floor and Teaneck (22-4) never looked back.

“The last three years Teaneck has lost in the state tournament in the first round at home, so I feel like this win fixes that and we are ready to make a run,” said King-Gilchrist, who was at Queen of Peace for his last two varsity seasons before transferring back to his hometown school. “Tonight we played good defense, we boxed out and we were able to run. That is what we are going to have to do again against Old Tappan because we are faster than them and that is our big advantage.”

Sophomore Matt Bunting finished with 13 points for Ramapo.

Shomari Barber’s basket gave Teaneck a 42-26 lead after the third quarter and a Blue three-pointer gave the Highwaymen their largest lead of the night, 46-28, with 7:03 to play in the game. Ramapo hung in there and was able to make it somewhat interesting when it drew to within 54-45 with 1:29 left when Halejian hit a pull-up jumper, but three straight Teaneck free throws ended any suspense that might have been remaining.

“We didn’t quit, but they made some great shots at key points in the game. If we had gotten off to a better start and had put some doubt in their mind, then it might have been closer than it was. We just didn’t finish the opportunities that we had in the beginning of the game,” said Ramapo head coach Joe DelBuono, whose team finished at 16-9 and with a Jambo win after missing out on both the county and state tournaments last year. “Winning the Christmas Tournament was a highlight, beating Bergen Catholic [in the Jambo] was a highlight and we had some great wins in our league, we just didn’t match up well with Teaneck. Unfortunately for us, our roads in the Jambo and in the state tournament both ran through Teaneck.”

Halejian capped off a brilliant senior season with a team high 18 points, 14 of them coming in the second half, and Ramapo caught a glimpse of its future with Matt Bunting, a sophomore who steadily earned quality minutes as the season went along, finished with 13. Senior Peter Garrambone and junior Donny Fletcher each finished with 8 points for the Raiders.

Javae King-Gilchrist finished with a game-high 23 points for Teaneck.

King-Gilchrist led all scorers with his 23 points and Blue made three three-pointers among his 13 points. Davis and Kyle and Vance Steinbergin all finished with 6 points, Barber added 5 and Aaron Qualls (3 points) rounded out the scoring for Teaneck, which is now one road win from the section final.

“We scrimmaged Ramapo, we played them in the county and sometimes it is hard to beat a team three times, especially when that team has a player like [Halejian], who is a great shooter. So we talked to our kids about forgetting what went on earlier this season because Ramapo was going to come out here hungry,” said Teaneck head coach Curtis March. “The key was defending. When we defend, we win. We know that and we have to do it again against Old Tappan.”

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