Sunday, February 14, 2010

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Freshman Josh Marquez scored a game high 18 points for DePaul, which outlasted Passaic Valley, 66-63, in the Passaic County quarterfinals on Saturday.

PATERSON -- The first game the two teams played this season needed overtime to decide. In the rematch on Saturday in the quarterfinals of the Passaic County Boys Basketball Tournament, DePaul led by two points after the first quarter, by one at halftime and trailed Passaic Valley by a point heading into the fourth. Was there any doubt that Dom Coiro’s three-pointer was going in with his team trailing by that same amount late in the fourth quarter and was there any doubt where this game was heading?

“I knew that shot was going in,” said DePaul head coach Bart Fazio, who saw Mike Governali make a last second three-pointer to force overtime in that PV regular season win. “They always hit that big three against us. It doesn’t matter which kid it is, they always make it.”

At least almost always as Coiro made his with 1:03 to play in regulation to force overtime, but Passaic Valley’s luck finally ran out with time winding down in the extra session as an open look at a three-pointer with time about to expire was off of the mark and DePaul held on for a 66-63 win at John F. Kennedy High School.

PV point guard Dom Coiro hit a 3-pointer with 1:03 left in the fourth quarter to force OT.

With the largest lead by either team in regulation being five points -- that being held by Passaic Valley, 45-40, early in the fourth quarter -- it was obvious that the outcome was going to be decided by a bounce here or a bounce there at key moments. For Passaic Valley, it could look back at the three free throws it missed in five overtime chances, and for DePaul, it could look at the play of freshman Josh Marquez, a Woodland Park resident who lives in the PV sending district.

Marquez scored 9 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter and then switched onto Coiro defensively in the overtime after Matt Miller fouled out and made the point guard shoot over his considerable length. Marquez has shown flashes of brilliance throughout his freshman season, but he put together a full 32 minutes plus four more to show he has fully arrived.

“I never played in a county game this big before and I just tried to do what I could to get us a win. If it was shooting or playing defense on their point guard when Matt [Miller] fouled out, I just wanted to help the team win,” said Marquez. “We could have closed the game out earlier without going to overtime, but once we didn’t we just had to keep playing and not worry about what happened before.”

Marquez made a free throw to put his team up 57-55 with 1:42 to go in regulation and finished a drive to the basket to give his team a three point lead 39 seconds later. That was the lead that Coiro wiped out with his three-pointer just to the left of the top of the key with 1:03 left in the fourth quarter. The teams traded turnovers on their next two possessions and DePaul had the last chance in regulation, but never got off a shot, instead turning the ball over as time expired.

Davon Jacobs finished with 18 points for DePaul, which will play top-seeded Paterson Catholic in the semifinals.

Davon Jacobs hit a free throw to open the overtime scoring and DePaul never trailed thereafter, but it never could pull away either. They went up by three when Miller scored on a drive to the basket and opened their largest lead of the game, 64-59, with 1:00 to play on two Mike Minarik free throws, but a defensive miscue got PV right back in it.

Out of a timeout no less, a missed defensive assignment allowed PV’s Dave Clough to get free on an inbounds pass. The Spartans were late to react, Clough scored, was fouled and made a free throw to get the Hornets back to within two points and then, after DePaul was called for a five-second violation on the ensuing inbounds play, Coiro made one of two free throws to pull his team to within 64-63 with 48 seconds left.

“We made some mistakes and you have to live with them, but the one that really got me was when we didn’t have our assignments out of the timeout. We came out of the timeout with no man assignment and the kid [Clough] got a three-point play,” said Fazio. “That could have been a killer, especially when we turned it over again right after that, but we battled through.”

Minarik made one of two free throws with 44 second left and Jacobs made one with 14 seconds to go, setting up PV’s final possession. The Hornets took a time out with seven seconds to go and set up a play to spring a shooter for a final open look, but this time they had run out of magic, but not before making Fazio cringe one last time.

Nick DiChristina had two of PV's five three-pointers.

“I said to myself ‘Not again, it can’t happen to us again. The Gods had to be on our side for once,” said Fazio. “That’s called faith and I had to have it in that situation.”

On the other bench, it was a different story.

“We got the look we wanted and I don’t really know what to say. It is very disappointing right now,” said PV head coach Rob Carcich. “It was a battle back and forth all night. You have to credit both sides for going at it and not giving in, and we just couldn’t pull it out and we’ll see how we bounce back.”

Coiro led Passaic Valley with 17 points, Clough finished with 13 and Nick DiChristina and Anthony DiSanti each had 12. Governali had 8 points and Olumide Onajide had field goal for the Hornets, who fell to 14-4 on the season and lost for just the second time in their last 15 games.

DePaul, which improved to 15-4, was led by Marquez’s 20 points followed closely by 18 from Jacobs, who shook off an ankle injury suffered while being called for a charge late in the third quarter as he scored seven of his points in the fourth quarter and overtime session. Miller finished with 12 points, Wally Simiji added 5 and Keith Ford had a couple of field goals for the fifth-seeded Spartans, who will be playing with house money when they take a shot at top-seeded and nationally ranked Paterson Catholic in next weekend’s semifinal round.

“It’s just going to be fun,” said Minarik. “We have nothing to lose and we know Paterson Catholic is a great team. I’m just glad that it is us that gets the chance to play them.”

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