Friday, January 6, 2012

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Mason Vialonga's ally-oop pass led to the game-winning hoop with 8 seconds to go in Old Tappan's 35-33 victory over Demarest.

OLD TAPPAN – The play that was drawn up in the huddle with 23 seconds left in regulation of a tie game had broken down and Mason Vialonga had few good options left as the packed house was going crazy and the Northern Valley/Demarest defense closed in on Vialonga's position on the left wing near the sideline. At that point he could have turned the ball over by stepping back toward the boundary, or traveled while trying to step through or he could have called a timeout and transferred the pressure to one of his teammates.

But instead, Vialonga kept his head up and kept his whits about him. That made all the difference as he saw Khalil Whitney rolling to the basket on the backside and looped a half-an-alley-oop over the top of the defense. Whitney caught the ball and, in one motion, transferred it into the basket with eight seconds to play for the winning bucket in Northern Valley/Old Tappan's 35-33 victory over its sister school and biggest rival on Thursday night.

“We were running a play for Troy [McLaughlin] to pop out at the top of the key, but [Dan] Crimmins switched on Troy and took it away. That was when Khalil went back door and I threw it to him. It was all improvised,” said Vialonga, a junior in his first varsity season. “I knew somebody was open because they doubled Troy, but if I couldn't find anybody I would have called a time out because we still had one left, but I saw Khalil break free and I got him the ball.”

Demarest's Dan Crimmins scored 10 of his 19 points in a back-and-forth fourth quarter.

Whitney had been having a tough night to that point as his minutes were limited by early foul trouble. But one good cut and one difficult layup made up for all of that.

“Everyone was focused on [Dan] Brogan, he had a big night, and they were focused on Troy. There was room for me to get open, Mason threw a great pass and I was just lucky to be in that position,” said Whitney, a sophomore. “I was just thinking, time was running out and I had to finish that play quickly. There were no excuses if I didn't make that shot at that time in the game.”

While Brogan was not involved in the game-winning sequence, we was involved in just about everything else that Old Tappan did as he and Crimmins answered each other all night long. Brogan's 18 points represented more than half of his team's total output, he added nine rebounds and three blocks and, after tying the game at 33 with a pretty drop-step with 59 seconds to play, he drew a charge on Demarest's next possession that gave the ball back to Old Tappan, which turned that into the winning points.

Brogan is the lone senior in the Golden Knights' starting lineup, he is their lone returning starter and one of only two Knights with extensive varsity experience heading into this season. Needless to say, he has been a key to Old Tappan's 7-0 start.

Khalil Whitney's layup with 8 seconds left gave Old Tappan its seventh straight win.

“This was an especially big game because it was Demarest. This was the biggest test of the season so far and we are undefeated, but we are going to get into the harder part of our schedule and this was a big first step,” said Brogan, who, at 6-foot-5 with good hands, is a legitimate low post presence. “I like playing with my back to the basket, I got a lot of touches tonight, my teammates were looking for me and it was fun.”

The game was fun to watch because of the packed stands on either side of the gym, there just weren't that many made baskets for the faithful to cheer. After Crimmins scored inside to get Demarest to within 8-6, the score at the end of the first period, the visiting Norsemen, who eliminated Old Tappan from the state playoffs on the same floor last season, scored just one more point over the final 9:34 of the first half.

Despite the extended drought, Demarest found itself trailing by just 15-7 at halftime and then got a basket from Jason Rogovich and a 3-pointer from Dave Rottenberg to open the third quarter and get right back in the game. Rogovich's up-and-under with 3:40 to play in the third quarter tied the game at 15 and neither team had more than a six-point lead the rest of the way.

Brogan's putback gave Old Tappan a 23-21 lead to close the third quarter, he added a field goal from the low post off an assist from Michael Corcoran to open the fourth and McLaughlin's two free throws gave the Knights a 27-21 lead, which seemed insurmountable considering that Demarest had made just eight field goal through the first 25 minutes of play.

Dave Rottenberg's 3-pointer was a part of Demarest's 8-0 run to start the third quarter.

But Crimmins, who was a handful all game, finally got some shots to fall consistently down the stretch. After Matt Carley scored to get Demarest to within 27-23 with 7:04 left, Crimmins scored every one of the Norsemen's final 10 points. He scored five straight, the last on a free throw, to take his team from down three to up by 31-29 with 2:36 to play. Brogan then backed his defender down to tie the game at 31 before Crimmins scored in the post to give Demarest its final lead of the night at 33-31 with 2:06 to play. Demarest missed a chance to extend the lead went the front end of a one-and-one bounced off and Brogan made the Norsemen pay with his drop-step layup that tied the game for the final time before drawing the charge that set up Old Tappan's game-winning sequence.

Brogan and Crimmins, who scored 19 of his team's 33 points, were the only two players to score in double figures and no other player on either side made more than two field goals. It was a good old fashioned game of can-you-top-this played almost entirely inside the painted area.

“With as well as [Brogan] played, I still wanted him to get the ball more. I don't think we got it to him as much as we should have gotten it to him, but he made the most of his chances. He did a good job tonight,” said Old Tappan head coach Dennis Rossi. “That is the best game that Brogan has played in his career here. He stepped in to take that charge, he read it and made a great play, and he surprised me with the defense he played on that kid [Rogovich].”

Rogovich and Rottenberg each finished with 5 points as Demarest's second leading scorers while single field goals from Dom Rutigliano and Carley accounted for the rest of its points.

Old Tappan senior Dan Brogan played what his coach called the "best game of his career."

“We played real hard. We played good defense tonight, obviously, with the score [being so low,” said Demarest head coach Bob Rudolph. “I think we could have gotten better looks from time to time, I think we were a little antsy when we didn't have to be. If we can run our stuff, we will be OK and we have to learn that it can't be one star, it has to be a team.”

McLaughlin made just one field goal, but he was the focus of the Demarest defense, which was mostly an extended zone that pushed the Old Tappan shooters further out. McLaughlin was the only Old Tappan player to make it to the free throw line and he made 5 of his 6 attempts to finish with 7 points. Whitney and Ben Davis each finished with 4 points and Davis, who defended well in the post, finished with a game-high 10 rebounds. Dan Jablonski's third quarter jumper accounted for the other two points for Old Tappan, which remained unbeaten.

“We haven't seen Teaneck, we haven't seen Hackensack and we get them back to back in February. We have Paramus next week, but then we have Ramapo away, Ridgewood away, St. Joe's away, Ridgewood away. That will be the true test,” said Rossi. “We'll see how far we can go. After Tuesday night we won't see this gym until February, so it only gets tougher from here.'

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