Friday, January 27, 2012

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

After its 59-48 win over Bogota on Thursday, Wilmer Cedeno and Ridgefield celebrated a spot in the Bergen County Jamboree for the first time since 2008.

RIDGEFIELD – It seemed to be a rite of passage in recent years for Ridgefield head coach Jamie Cassiano to pick up several of his players on the last Sunday in January and take them to see a few games at Bergen County Jamboree. In a the great atmosphere of a packed house and watching small schools get their shot against the county’s perennial powers, it seemed like a pipe dream to play in the county tournament when just two years ago when Ridgefield suffered through a 2-22 season.

But what the coach was doing for the past couple of seasons was planting the seed that with hard work, getting a shot to play in the Jambo was an attainable goal for his program.

It looked like that goal had slipped through the Royals’ fingers when they lost to Palisades Park on Tuesday with a bid to clinch an automatic berth. That meant that Thursday night’s game against Bogota was essentially a play-in game before the tournament even started. After quickly squandering a 12-point halftime lead, the Royals could have fallen apart, but after what they had been through in recent years and watching so many Jambo games from the stands, they wanted to feel what it was like to play in one and refused to let any team stand in their way.

Bogota's Mike Fitzgerald scored all 12 of his points from behind the 3-point arc.

Rudy Chavez hit a go-ahead three-pointer midway through the third quarter to give Ridgefield the lead. The Royals were able to hold on due to clutch shooting from the charity stripe. Over the final four minutes, they went 14 of 17 at the foul line en route to their first Jambo bid since 2008 with a 59-48 victory in front of a packed house at Ridgefield High School.

“This game meant so much to us, it’s definitely the most determined we were to win a game all year,” said Chavez.

After Bogota scored on the first possession of the game, Ridgefield responded with a 9-0 burst capped by a three-pointer from Wilmer Cedeno. Bogota trimmed the lead to five until three fortunate plays helped Ridgefield regain control heading into the locker room.

Stumbling over his own feet and falling out-of-bounds, Chavez hoisted up a three-pointer that somehow went in. Then an inbounds pass from Kevin Kim, who came off the bench to score all seven of his points in the period, dribbled into a double-team and looked like he was about to get the ball stolen. But his hurried pass squirted right back to him and he laid it in uncontested. Then, off of a turnover, Edgar Lebron threw up a wild runner from just inside the foul line that went off the glass and in to give the Royals a 30-18 halftime lead.

Rudy Chavez scored a game-high 18 points for Ridgefield, which improved to 11-5.

Any momentum Ridgefield built heading into the second half quickly evaporated though as the Bucs caught fire and promptly grabbed the lead. In a short span, Liam Geraghty hit a three-pointer and Mike Fitzgerald nailed back-to-back threes for a 14-0 run and a 32-30 lead.

“We knew we were capable of making a run and we did, we just didn’t sustain it for long enough,” said Bogota head coach Jay Mahoney. “We just can’t knock down shots consistently and the times we had mismatches, we didn’t recognize them soon enough. Our kids have played hard and we’ve been in every game except for one this year. Tonight, we just had a few bad possessions and then we had to play from behind again.”

The Royals already knew what it felt like to let a game slip away as it did against rival Pal Park, which was just its second win of the season and they weren't going to let it happen again. Wilson Mateo tied the game on a putback, then Chavez nailed a three-pointer to put Ridgefield back in front before Cedeno’s buzzer-beating bank shot made it 41-34 heading into the fourth quarter.

Bogota cut the lead to three early in the fourth, but never got any closer thanks to the clutch free-throw shooting of the Royals. Cedeno and Mateo each hit all four of their free throws and Chavez went 5 of 6 to boost Ridgefield into the Jambo for the first time in four years.

Nafique Goodwin and Bogota fell to 8-7 on the season.

Chavez led all players with 18 points for Ridgefield (11-5). Mateo scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half. Cedeno and Lebron added 10 and eight points, respectively. Jovali Vasquez had 13 points and Fitzgerald hit four three-pointers to finish with 12 for Bogota (8-7).

Now Chavez and his teammates do not have to bum a ride to watch the Jambo with Cassiano. They will finally get a chance to suit up and hop on a big yellow bus with their lucky bus driver, Julio, at the controls on their way to their long-awaited shot at Jambo glory. The Royals, the No. 20 seed in the 21-team field will play No. 13 Bergen Catholic at Bergen Catholic High School on Sunday in a 2:00 p.m. start.

“I’m excited about Julio driving us there to play instead of just driving some of the kids there myself to watch a game,” said Cassiano. “After the Pal Park loss, we could have felt bad about ourselves, but we didn’t. Our team has really learned how to take a loss and turn it into a positive that makes us better in the long run. Making the Jambo was a goal of ours from the beginning of the season and we’re excited for the opportunity.”

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