Wednesday, March 10, 2010

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Richie Colon scored a game-high 16 points, but it wasn't enough for Garfield, which fell to Science Park, 52-41, in the North 2, Group 2 state sectional final on Tuesday night.

GARFIELD – The stands were packed and the crowd was rocking before the Garfield boys basketball team even stepped on the floor on Tuesday night to host the program’s first-ever section final against Science Park, which had reached the Tournament of Champions final in each of the past two seasons. It was an atmosphere that Garfield players of the past could only have dreamed of.

Throughout this state tournament, Garfield’s faithful fans have been treated to exciting basketball due to the frenetic pace that the Boliermakers have played at on a night in, night out basis. But with the Boilermakers holding a slight lead in the third quarter, that pace was slowed to a crawl by the poised Science Park squad and it proved to be the home team’s undoing.

Science Park’s Aaron Cobb hit consecutive three-pointers midway through the third quarter that turned a one-point deficit into a five-point lead and that spurt changed the entire complexion of the game. The Tigers effectively held the ball out and forced Garfield to chase them until they were in the bonus. Science Park hit 13 of 16 free-throws in the fourth quarter to pull away and become the lowest seed (No. 15) ever in New Jersey to win a section title with a 52-41 win over fifth-seeded Garfield in the North 2, Group 2 state sectional final.

“We knew if we got the lead that the second half was ours to lose,” said Cobb. “We’ve had to come from behind on the road in every other state game we played in the past week, so we didn’t panic when we were down. Once we got ahead, we just held onto the ball and forced them to foul us and we made our foul shots.”

Garfield fed off the raucous crowd early and Kamil Rutkowski hit consecutive three-pointers, the latter being from NBA-range, to put Garfield ahead, 12-9, after one quarter. The Boilermakers hit three consecutive shots early in the second quarter. Two of them were jumpers by Richie Colon and the last was scored by Josh LeClerc, who gave Garfield its largest lead of the game, 18-9.

Amir Gilliam cam off the bench to score 11 points for Science Park, which became the lowest seed ever (15) to win a state sectional title.

The Tigers battled back with five straight points from Amir Gilliam off the bench and a three-pointer from Justin Harrell as Science Park weathered the storm and pulled into a tie by halftime, 25-25.

“I thought it was key that we made a run before the half so that we weren’t playing catch-up in the second half,” said Science Park head coach Milt Gaylord. “We felt if we could get a lead in the third quarter that we were in good shape. We had more ball-handlers than they did and they only played six kids, so we felt we could tire them out. It isn’t necessarily pretty, but it represented our best chance to controlling the pace of the game. We didn’t want to run up and down the floor with them, because that is where Garfield thrives. We wanted to make them play at our tempo and we did that in the second half.”

Richie Colon converted a nifty three-point play to put Garfield back in front, 30-29, just over two minutes into the third quarter. But that lead would be the Boilermakers’ last as Cobb nailed a pair of wide-open three-pointers in a 90-second span to kickstart a 10-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters.

“It seemed like we were stuck on (30 points) forever there and we started forcing a few shots,” said Garfield head coach Chris Annibal. “Those two possessions where Cobb hit those threes and we missed open looks on the other end changed everything. Even there are a lot of young kids on Science Park, they also have some experienced players who have played in big games before. It really showed in the second half with how composed they were. The frenetic pace that we were comfortable playing at all year hurt us tonight. Then we had start fouling early just to try and get the ball back, get some possessions, and just to try and get back into it.”

After Science Park capped the 10-0 run for a 39-29 lead, Garfield never got closer than seven points the rest of the way. The Tigers just kept running off lots of clock with their keep-away style of offense and hitting their shots at the line. They finished 13 of 16 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter to pull away for an 11-point lead and their third straight section title, despite having a losing record on the season.

“You have to learn how to lose games in the second half before you learn how to win them,” added Gaylord. “We threw some junk defenses at Garfield that were variations of a triangle-and-two to try and slow down Rutkowski and Colon. We knew if we didn’t let them go off and if we held onto the ball that we had a good chance to come out of here with a ‘W’.”

Kamil Rutkowski scored 8 points in his final game for Garfield, which finished the season with a 15-9 record.

Harrell and Gilliam both reached double-figures in the scoring column with 14 and 11 points for Science Park (10-14). The Tigers pulled their fourth straight state tournament road win to reach the Group 2 state semifinals, where they will face another upstart in Pequannock. The ninth-seeded Golden Panthers took a similar route to their section title with four straight road wins, the last coming last night, 67-54, over second-seeded Indian Hills in the North 1, Group 2 final.

Colon had eight points in each half for a game-high total of 16 for Garfield (15-9). Rutkowski had eight points, while Damon Godbolt and Fillipe Fraga each chipped in with six. While the journey through the state tournament has ended for Garfield, there is still plenty to be proud of for the Boilermakers, who reached the section final for the first time in school history.

“The fans have really come out to support us and they gave us a big advantage every time we stepped on the floor,” said Annibal, who was a former player at Garfield in the early 1990’s. “I heard from people who I hadn’t heard from in almost 20 years telling me how proud they were of our guys. We fell a bit short tonight on the court, but we exceeded all the expectations we had for ourselves coming into the season.

“What is even more important is that we brought a high school and an entire community together and gave them something to cheer about. That is something these kids will be able to look back on fondly and remember forever. I know I will.”

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