Wednesday, February 24, 2010

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Cole Dorfman scored 17 points to lead Pascack Hills to a 68-57 win over Wood-Ridge in the Cowboys' season finale on Wednesday.

WOOD-RIDGE -- Playing with a starting five that will all return next season and having its departing seniors provide punch off the bench, the Pascack Hills boys basketball team bid farewell to the 2009-10 season by playing one of its best games. Showing that it had learned the necessary lessons that were continually thrown at it over the course of the 21 previous games, the Cowboys made 14 of 17 fourth quarter free throws to close out a 68-57 win over Wood-Ridge, which is state tournament bound.

“We started the five guys that are going to be back next year to give them a little look and see what they could do together,” said Pascack Hills head coach Chris Kirby, whose team fought through unprecedented graduation turnover and a host of close games this season. “It seemed like every game we played was close. We have 16 losses and only three of them came by double digits, so we have really gotten a lot of on the job training this year and, for a team that did not have a good record, I give these kids credit for fighting right to the end.”

Sophomore Vin O'Bierne led Wood-Ridge with 17 points.

Whatever impact this season has on subsequent ones is to be determined, but Pascack Hills showed that it has learned to close out a quality opponent and did so on the road against Wood-Ridge. The Cowboys used a with a 19-4 run that started early in the third quarter and ended with James Princiotto’s back door lay-up and Cole Dorfman’s three-pointer late in the period, Pascack Hills took control and never let Wood-Ridge swing the tide back in its favor.

Pascack Hills took its first double digit lead of the game at 44-33 on Dorfman’s trey and were ahead 44-36 at the end of three quarters.

“We worked hard all season. We put the time in practice after practice and we just didn’t get a lot of breaks this year,” said Princiotto, a senior. “We played a lot of close games where we did everything but get the win, but we won our last two and that is a good way to go out.”

Pascack Hills lost the top 10 players in its rotation from last season, meaning its entire roster this season came in with virtually zero in terms of varsity experience. That will not be the case next year. Of its starting five against Wood-Ridge, Dorfman and Jared Shill are sophomores and Jason Horowitz, Chet Palumbo and Mike O’Brien are all juniors.

Jared Shill finished with 9 points for Pascack Hills, which closed the season with two strtaight wins.

After a three-pointer from the corner early in the fourth quarter brought Wood-Ridge back to within 46-39 early in the fourth quarter, Pascack Hills scored the next seven point to go back up by double digits and it never let the Blue Devils get closer than 10 points the rest of the way. Horowitz cleaned up a loose ball under the basket, Dorfman added a steal and a layup and then assisted on Jeff Belinski’s fastbreak bucket for a quick 7-0 spurt that put the Cowboys ahead 52-39.

Wood-Ridge had taken a 27-24 lead at halftime when Mike Gibney hit a three-pointer from the corner with two seconds left in the second quarter. Vin O’Bierne scored inside for the first points of the second half to give the Devils a five-point lead, but their wide open offensive style also benefitted Pascack Hills, which found plenty of space to work in transition and the room to get into its offensive sets.

“Wood-Ridge likes to take a lot of quick shots and a lot of quick three and they have good shooters, said Horowitz. “No. 15 [Gibney] is a good shooter, No. 1 [Gary Whritenour] is a good shooter, but we just tried to play at our pace and it worked out tonight.”

Mike Gibney and Wood-Ridge will host Morris Tech in the opening round of the state playoffs on Monday.

One of Pascack Hills’ shortcomings this season has been closing out games that it has had chances to win, but that was not the case on Wednesday as the Cowboys were money at the free throw line. After missing its first one-and-one chance with 2:09 to play in the game, the Cowboys made their next eight shots from the line and missed just three of their 17 fourth quarter attempts.

Dorman (17 points) led three Cowboys in double figures as he was joined by Horowitz and Gideon Drucker, who finished with 13 points apiece and 11 different players put a mark in the scoring column. Shill finished with 9 points and Palumbo and Belinski each added 4. O’Brien, Princiotto and Kevin Sgambati all pitched in with field goals while Jeremy and Aaron Dym rounded out the scoring for Pascack Hills, which finished up with a 6-16 record.

Wood-Ridge (14-9), which is the No. 4 seed in the North 1, Group 1 state sectional tournament, was led by O’Bierne, the 6-7 sophomore center who finished with a game-high 17 points, while Gibney and Whritenour each finished with 10. Harris had 9 points and Mike Beckerman added 8 for Wood-Ridge, which still has at least one game left. It opens the postseason against No. 14 Morris Tech on Monday.

FOR MORE PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS GAME STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.