Sunday, February 5, 2012

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

P.J. Reed made two free throws with :01 left in regulation then scored 6 points in overtime in Bergen Catholic's 75-68 win over Wood-Ridge in the Bergen County Jamboree.

ALLENDALE – Going strictly by the numbers, Bergen Catholic is not the kind of team looking to win a fourth quarter free throw shooting contest with the game on the line.  So when his team was trying to pull the upset of fourth-seeded and undefeated Wood-Ridge on Saturday in the Round of 16 at the Bergen County Jamboree, BC head coach Billy Armstrong was not all that optimistic in his team’s chances.
 
“The free throw shooting has been hurting us all year long. I think as a team we are shooting below 50-percent and it has made it difficult because we have been in a lot of close games,” said Armstrong, who is in his first season as the Crusaders’ head coach. “And I have tried everything I can possibly try with our team and I try to stay positive with them, but sometimes we have to shoot four airballs before we can made a free throw.”
 
Bergen Catholic did shoot three airballs from the line in the first half and another barely scraped the front of the rim to barely avoid a violation, but with one second left in regulation and trailing by two points, junior P.J. Reed was out of options. Either he made two shots from the line or BC was out of the Jambo.
 
The Crusaders had made just 8 of 22 free throws in the first 31:58 of the game, but Reed was trying not to think about that.

Mike Gibney scored 20 points for Wood-Ridge, which lost for the first time this season.

“I just knew I had to knock them down. There was not much time left and I knew I had to make two free throws to get us to overtime,” said Reed. “I just had to block everything out and make them.”
 
Reed made both without so much as tickling the rim on their way through and then scored two field goals in the first 1:13 of the overtime to give Bergen Catholic the lead for good as it handed Wood-Ridge its first loss of the season, 75-68, at Northern Highlands High School in Allendale.
 
Bergen Catholic had trailed for just about the entire second half, but caught up to a fading Wood-Ridge, just in time. The Blue Devils played all but 11 seconds of 21:54 without 6-foot-7 center Vin O’Bierne, who injured his right arm when he fell on it after being fouled hard while going in for a layup late in the second quarter. Still, Gary Whritenour’s three-pointer gave Wood-Ridge a 33-32 lead at the half and the Blue Devils looked like they were about to pull away when Mike Gibney hit a three and Whritenour hit two more in succession in just a 56-second span to put Wood-Ridge up 47-38 midway through in the third quarter.
 
It was a patented Wood-Ridge spurt, the kind that has buried so many opponents over the past three-plus years, but Bergen Catholic held its ground and drew to within 49-47 when Richie DeLuca nailed a triple to close the third quarter scoring.
 

Bergen Catholic's Nadi Beciri scored 13 points before fouling out.

“Playing against Wood-Ridge, you know you are never out of it, but no lead that you have is ever safe and that is because of the way they play,” said Armstrong. “The other part, too, is that you have more time than you think because there is going to be a lot of possessions. When you fall behind you can’t start to panic. We tried to keep the kids poised and relaxed and they did a pretty good job with that.”
 
Wood-Ridge built its lead back up to seven points at 58-51 after a Whritenour three with 4:53 left in the fourth quarter and the Blue Devils had BC in foul trouble. The Crusaders were called for 16 fouls in the first half and in the second Wood-Ridge found itself in the bonus again late in the third quarter, but that advantage would backfire down the stretch as it lost its touch from the free throw line. After Whritenour made one of two from the stripe to put Wood-Ridge up 63-58 with 2:09 left, the Blue Devils made just one of their next six free throw attempts.
 

Up 64-62 with 16 seconds left, Wood-Ridge had an empty trip that set up the BC’s final regulation possession that could have ended in less stressful fashion had it not been for a missed layup that set off a mad scramble for the rebound as time would down to near zero. Reed eventually won the ball, went up for the putback and was fouled before making the two clutch free throws that sent the game to overtime.

Wood-Ridge's Angel Colon scored the first two points of overtime.

Because this game involved a Catholic school, BC’s Chuckie Wingate summed up the success of the final few seconds perfectly when he said, “We came back through the grace of God.”
 
But it was through the grace of Reed that BC took the lead for good. He answered Angel Colon’s overtime opening layup with a shot off the glass from in close and then scored inside on the Crusaders’’ next possession to kick off a 10-0 run and put his team in front for good. In a turnabout from the frenetic pace of the first four quarters, BC was able to run a spread offense, extend its lead and secure its place in the Jambo quarterfinals against the winner of Sunday’s game between fifth-seeded Tenafly and No. 12 Ridgewood.
 
Reed scored 8 of his team-high 17 points in the final 4:01 of the game, Nadi Beciri, BC’s 6-foot-6 center, scored 13 points before fouling out and the Crusaders showed off their quality depth by having nine different players made at least one field goal. Kyle Quiero came off the bench to score all 9 of his points after halftime, DeLuca made two of BC’s three three-pointers and finished with 8 points and Wingate and Amani Adams finished with 6 apiece for BC, which improved to 10-7 on the season, despite making just 10 of 24 free throws.
 
Whritenour (22 points) and Gibney (20 points) and Colon (12 points) led the way for Wood-Ridge, which got 7 first half points from O’Bierne before he left with the injury. The Blue Devils finished just 12 of 28 from the free throw line and 4 of 11 in the fourth quarter.

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