Friday, February 3, 2012

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Roberto DeLeon hit a 3-pointer from the corner to cap North Bergen's wild comeback in a 80-76 win over Ferris on Thursday night.

NORTH BERGEN – If you have ever been at a basketball game and questioned why a team keeps fouling right down to the final seconds of a game that appears hopelessly out of reach to everyone in the gymnasium except the coaches and the players of the losing team, Thursday night’s game between North Bergen and Ferris provided the perfect answer. Down by 11 points with 1:09 to play, North Bergen was well on its way to a crushing defeat. The Bruins’ only hope for even making it respectable was to get some defensive stops and foul as often as possible. Although the hopes of pulling out a win were dim at best, the Bruins kept battling and were rewarded in the most unlikely of ways.

North Bergen’s Alex Gil capped an 11-0 spurt in the final 69 seconds of regulation to force overtime by hitting a pair of free throws with 1.3 seconds left on the clock. Robert DeLeon, who had not attempted a single shot since the first quarter, snapped a tie by nailing a three-pointer from the corner with 10 seconds to go giving North Bergen a wild 80-76 triumph last night at North Bergen High School.

“We never gave up and even though we were running out of time, we felt we could come back,” said DeLeon. “You have to keep believing you’re going to win no matter what and we kept fighting the whole way.”

Aaron Smith scored three straight baskets to help stake Ferris to its early lead.

Ferris seized the lead early when Aaron Smith scored three straight baskets to put the Bulldogs ahead 19-10. But that lead would slowly evaporate as the Bulldogs had numerous players fall into foul trouble before halftime with Gil continually going to the charity stripe for North Bergen. The junior guard hit all eight of his second-quarter free throws, then, after a desperation three-pointer before the halftime buzzer, Gil alertly grabbed the rebound when everyone else had stopped playing to lay it in at the buzzer, putting North Bergen in front 37-33. It seemed like an innocent two points then, but would come back to play a much larger role later on in the game.

Just as the Bulldogs opened the game on a hot streak, they did so again to start the second half. Carell Dawson scored on a baseline drive and Tyrin Shannon hit a three-pointer from the wing to cap a 12-2 run and give Ferris a 43-39 lead. Behind the athletic tandem of Smith and Dawson, the Bulldogs began to pull away by padding their lead to eight by the end of the third quarter, 56-48, and by 11 with just over a minute to play. All should have been lost for the Bruins, but they continued to give the Bulldogs full-court pressure. That, along with the emergence of guard Logan Santiago off the bench, paid dividends for North Bergen. Santiago converted a three-point play, then forced a turnover and hit two more free-throws to cut the lead to 70-64 with 36 seconds left.

“We were finally getting going, but time was running out on us,” said Gil. “We couldn’t think about that though. We just had to keep forcing turnovers or fouling. Our team never quits.”

Alex's Gil's two free throws with 1.3 seconds left in regulation got North Bergen into overtime.

With both teams in the double-bonus, Ferris held onto the ball and was fouled immediately off the ensuing inbounds. However, an unfortunate theme occurred as both foul shots were off the mark and Orell Thompson picked a good time to score his only basket of the game to cut the lead to four. Once again Ferris was fouled and again both free-throws were missed, allowing Santiago to drive the length of the floor for a layup with 17 seconds remaining to fire up the crowd and slice the Ferris lead all the way down to 70-68.

Everything was falling apart for Ferris and everything was coming together for the Bruins, it was just a matter of whether they would have enough time to finish off the comeback. After fouling off the inbounds pass for the third straight possession, the Bulldogs missed both free-throws for the third straight time to hand North Bergen one last shot. The ball ended up in the hands of Gil, who drove the lane through traffic and was fouled with 1.3 left on the clock. He calmly stepped to the line and knocked down both free-throws that closed an 11-0 run and forced what seemed all but impossible minutes earlier, overtime.

“For them to force overtime and then win the game, it’s a tough one to take,” said Ferris head coach John Bengen, who was an All-Hudson County performer in his playing days at North Bergen. “I thought we played with intensity and I thought we played physical. We just didn’t play smart at times and we didn’t hit free throws. Even if we just one or two of them in that final minute, it’s a different game and we escape with a win.

Carell Dawson finished with 19 points for Ferris.

“But North Bergen got stronger as the fourth quarter wore on and we didn’t respond the way we’re capable of. We’re still a young team and this will be a huge learning tool for our players. If this doesn’t teach them how important free throws are, I don’t know what will. I think the kids learned a big lesson tonight. We let one slip away and this will make us work that much harder for the rest of the season.”

The overtime period was just as exciting with the score being tied three more times and both teams having a chance to go ahead in the final minute. North Bergen made a steal near midcourt and was primed to go in for a layup, but Ferris’ Javone Smith made a steal from behind. That led to a fast break for the Bulldogs, but Aaron Smith’s attempt came off the back iron and popped out. North Bergen eventually had the ball underneath the Ferris basket with the score tied and 15 seconds left. Even though he had not attempted a single shot since early in the first quarter, DeLeon knew that if his number was called, he would be ready.

With the defense focused on Gil and Chris Hernandez inside, DeLeon snuck out to the corner from beyond the three-point line and drilled a shot that gave North Bergen its first lead since the opening moments of the third quarter, 79-76. Ferris had one last shot to tie the game, but Aaron Smith’s three-pointer was off the mark and Hernandez hit a free-throw with two seconds left to ice the victory.

“I knew if I was open that I had to take the shot,” added DeLeon. “I didn’t play great defense in the second half and didn’t score at all. I had to make up for that because I really didn’t feel like I was contributing anything to the team. When you’re playing against any good team, you’ve got to smell blood in the water and you have to go for the kill. On that play, I got a good pass and I just took the shot. As soon as it left my hand, I knew it was going in.”

Chris Hernandez scored 17 points for North Bergen, which improved to 10-7.

Gil led the way for North Bergen (10-7) with 23 points. Hernandez added 17 points and Santiago came off the bench to score 13 of his 14 points in the final two minutes of regulation and overtime. Aaron Smith led all players with 24 points and 11 rebounds for Ferris (7-10). Dawson and Shannon had 19 and 14 points, respectively, while Javone Smith also cracked double-digits with 11.

With the Hudson County seeding meeting around the corner and the state tournament cutoff coming up on Saturday, this was a big game for both teams. For Ferris, it showed while young, it is a team athletic enough to hang with more experienced sidess. For North Bergen, it serves as another reminder that the Bruins will battle hard until the final buzzer sounds. No one personifies that better than their head coach Kevin Bianco.

“We won this game because we never gave up,” said Bianco. “I think our team is one that will be tough to knock out of a tournament in the next few weeks. I thought Ferris played a great game overall and they were a real tough opponent. They attacked us extremely well and the only thing we could do was to attack even harder back at them. When we attack consistently, we have no problems and we’re a solid team. We didn’t do it for all four quarters tonight, but we made enough plays and got enough breaks to get the job done.

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