Saturday, January 7, 2012

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Rudy Chavez scored 12 of his 23 points in the first quarter as Ridgefield opened a 23-2 lead and never looked back on the way to a 60-40 win over Palisades Park on Friday night.

RIDGEFIELD – With four seniors in the starting lineup that got a taste of postseason success last season when it upset second-seeded Verona in the North 2, Group 1 state sectional playoffs, the Ridgefield boys basketball team is going for it. This season the Royals want to know what it is like to play in the Bergen County Jamboree and with each passing game they do the math as it pertains to the .650 winning percentage needed to get that coveted spot in the Bergen County basketball tournament.

“We know what our record is an we know what we have to do to get to the Jambo,” said Ridgefield head coach Jamie Cassiano “The kids know what their record has to be to make the Jamboree, they know what it has to be for the states and they what it is probably going to take to get a home game in the state tournament. We are aware of those things and we know what we want to accomplish.”

That is all long term calculation, but there was plenty of speed math going on in the first quarter on Friday night as the scoreboard operator tried to keep up with the Royals. Picking up at three-quarter court in a 2-2-1 press, Ridgefield created all kinds of havoc for rival Palisades Park. At one point, Ridgefield forced the Tigers into turnovers on seven straight possessions and used the open floor to open a 20-2 lead before settling for a 60-40 win in improving to 5-3 on the season.

Palisades Park junior Alex Sayour scored 7 points in the second quarter.

“We came out ready to go right off the bat. We know the last couple of years that they came in here and beat us by like 30 each game. We knew we had to change that mentality and we were ready to go right from the beginning,” said Rudy Chavez, one of four seniors in Ridgefield's starting lineup. “We have a deep rotation, we can go eight or nine deep. We sub in for each other, we pick each other up if somebody is having an off night and we are like a family.”

The first quarter then was like a family party with all members passing the good food around the table. Chavez, who was 299 points from 1,000 coming into the night, cut to the basket and scored off a pretty feed from Wilmer Cedeno for the night's first. That basket came 38 seconds in and Ridgefield never looked back. The Royals scored the first seven points of the game and, after JP Taborda got Pal Park into the scoring column 1:51 in, the Royals responded with a 16-0 run that opened a 23-2 lead. Chavez capped that spurt with his second 3-pointer of the quarter and Ridgefield led 25-4 after the opening period.

Chavez had 12 of his game high 23 points in the first quarter and made the first two of his four 3-pointers, but Ridgefield also used the opportunity to show its depth and its unselfishness. All five Ridgefield starters – Chavez, Cedeno, Edgar Lebron, Eddie Cordero and Brandon Estrella – made at least one field goal in the opening quarter and Wilson Mateo came off the bench to score one, too.

Wilmer Cedeno assisted on the first basket of the game and Ridgefield never looked back.

“It makes my job easy when we are getting steals and we can get out on the break. I just have to look for Rudy, he's always running to open spots,” said Lebron, Ridgefield's starting point guard. “I think we are confident that we can beat anybody. People might still take us lightly, but I don't know how many teams in our league want to come in to our gym and play. Rule No. 1 is that we don't lose at home.”

Ridgefield's only losses this season have come against Cresskill and Dwight-Englewood, to Jambo quality teams, and by one point to Pompton Lakes on the road. There was no chance of a home loss on Friday as the Royals led 37-19 at the half and had the lead up to as many as 30 at 51-21 when Brandon Median made two free throws with 2:30 to play in the period before Cassiano called off the dogs shortly thereafter.

Chavez's 23 points led all scorers and Cedeno, a junior and the only non-senior in the starting lineup, followed with 10. Cordero finished with 6 points and Lebron, Estrella and Medina each added 4 apiece for the Royals, who on the march toward the postseason.

Unlike like the senior laden Royals who are set in their rotations and comfortable with their roles, Pal Park is at the beginning of that cycle. The Tigers had two senior starters in JP Taborda and Danny Chen, but head coach John Wiseman just about emptied his bench in the first quarter after using two early timeouts to try to stem the early tide against. But Pal Park does have some building blocks in juniors Alex Sayour (7 points) and Jahmir Whitaker (4 points) and Mike Hill (4 points), a sophomore center with the body to do some damage inside.

“We have some good young players, but not a lot of experience and we are going to have our ups and downs,” said Wiseman. “But I think you will see us get better as the season moves along and we get some of that experience. It's a challenge, but we'll go through it and hopefully we'll be better for it.”

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