Sunday, February 21, 2010

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Manny Hernandez's defense and his 12 fourth quarter points helped Paramus Catholic pull away from St. Joseph in a 69-62 win the Jamboree semifinals.

HACKENSACK -- Paramus Catholic was the wildcard in the Bergen County Jamboree. The talk before the tournament started was that if the Paladins played up to their potential, then they could be the team to beat. If PC gave lets than its best then they were a prime candidate for an early exit. There really is no questioning Paramus Catholic anymore as for the second time in as many Jambo games, the Paladins showed off their skill of being able to score in bunches, this time against top-seeded St. Joseph Regional.

When Nick Gardener scored on a putback with 1:19 to go in the third quarter he gave St. Joseph a 12-point lead, its largest of the game. What followed was a 21-2 run by Paramus Catholic that turned a near SJR blowout completely around. The Paladins’ superior depth showed itself down the stretch as Manny Hernandez, probably North Jersey’s best sixth man, sped up the pace on defense and scored 12 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter of Paramus Catholic’s 69-62 win at the Rothman Center on the campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University.

St. Joseph's Kai Dominguez scored a game-high 24 points.

“I started Manny Hernandez in the second half because I needed him out there stopping guys. We went with Manny and Brandon [Perez] to try to force them to get a little quicker in their offensive decisions,” said Paramus Catholic head coach Greg Barnes. “I went to the well one more time with those guys. I don’t know how many more times I can do it, but it worked one more time tonight.”

Paramus Catholic scored the final six points of the third quarter to cut St. Joseph’s largest lead in half and drew to within 50-44. Perez then hit a three-pointer to open the fourth quarter, Hernandez followed with two straight fastbreak baskets, the second created by a Perez steal, to give Paramus Catholic a 52-50 lead and it never looked back.

“Coach [Barnes] told us at halftime that we had to put it down on defense. Defense wins games and it definitely won this one for us,” said Perez. “We knew that we had this in us, we knew we could make a run in this tournament, and now we are getting recognition for it. It feels good.”

And it wasn’t like Paramus Catholic caught St. Joseph on a bad night, either. The Green Knights established their top two scorers, Kai Dominguez and Tony Efese, in the first half as the pair combined to score 20 of their team’s 29 points over the first two quarters. Dominguez’s take and left handed finish with 1:20 to go in the second quarter gave SJR a 29-23 lead before it settled for a 29-25 lead at the break.

Brandon Perez hit both of PC's 3-pointers and was a perfect 5 of 5 from the free throw line.

The Knights were in front by just a single point at 35-34 before putting together an 11-0 run in the span 1:11 and threatening to pull away for the first time. Greg Torchan completed a conventional three-point play, and it was followed by four straight fastbreak baskets courtesy of three Paramus Catholic turnovers and a missed shot. Mike Marchman scored off a steal and assist by Iyoha Agho to give St. Joseph a 46-34 lead with 3:27 left in the third quarter.

“Kai [Dominguez] and Tony [Efese] did whatever they wanted to in the first half and we turned the ball over too much. When we ran out sets we were taking the first available option instead of the best option and we gave them some easy baskets,” said Barnes. “We had to keep Kai out of the lane, play good help defense and we started to do that, I thought, pretty well late in the third quarter.”

The last of Dominguez’s eight third quarter points gave SJR a 48-36 lead, but foul trouble was creeping up on the Knights. Dominguez picked up his third personal with 58 seconds left in the third quarter, just four seconds after Justin Harris’ two free throws kicked off Paramus Catholic’s decisive run. When Dominguez left the game his team was up by 10 points. When he returned 1:28 later, Hernandez had just made a layup on the fastbreak to tie the game at 50.

Tony Efese finished with 14 points for St. Joseph.

“We always keep our composure because we are a close team and we are a family,” said Harris, PC’s 6-foot-7 senior center. “It was the same thing last game [in the Jambo] against Indian Hills. They went on an 11-0 run and then we came back with a 17-0 run. We are a good team defensively when we keep up the tempo. We have a deep team and we like to wear out teams in the fourth quarter and that is what happened tonight.”

Dominguez (24 points, 4 3s) was the game’s high-scorer and Efese finished with 14, but 10 of them came in the first half. Marchman finished with 9 and Alex Aitkens added 8 for St. Joseph, which fell to 19-3 on the season.

Paramus Catholic had four double digit scorers led by 20 each from Hernandez and Andre Blackwood, who did most of his damage from the free throw line. PC made 25 of 34 free throws in the game and Blackwood was 12 of 14 from the stripe and 10 of 12 in the second half. Perez (13 points) made both of the Paladins three-pointers and was a perfect 5 of 5 from the line, while Harris finished with 11 points, 6 of them in the first quarter as PC established an interior threat.

The win moves Paramus Catholic’s record to 17-3 on the season and, more importantly, into the Bergen County final where it will play Bergen Catholic, a former NNJIL rival, for the title on Monday night in a 7:00 p.m. start at the Rothman Center.

“It’s big stage, there are going to be a lot of college coaches here and we all have to play hard,” said Harris. “If we keep up the intensity on defense and play hard like the way we did tonight, we feel like we can get the ‘W” and be county champs.”

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