Sunday, February 5, 2012

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Jemal Mosley pulling up for the game-changing three-pointer in the fourth quarter of Don Bosco Prep's 54-40 win over Ridgefield Park in the Jambo's Round of 16 on Saturday.

ALLENDALE – It is the point guard's job to know the situation without any prodding from the bench. Sometimes it might be a subtle adjustment that needs to be made on the offensive end, the aligning of teammates in the proper places to run a play. Other times the situation comes with a flashing light and a blaring siren screaming for the point guard's attention like it did for Don Bosco Prep's Jemal Mosely with 5:08 to play on Saturday in the Round of 16 in the Bergen County Jamboree.

Fifteenth-seeded Ridgefield Park had been hanging around all game and scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to draw even closer. Richy Espinal had just hit a tough flip shot in traffic and when Mosely, who had battled foul trouble all game long, walked the ball up the floor with his team up by just six points, he had no intention of passing the ball.

Dribbling near the top of the key, Mosely went between the legs twice and then stepped back and rose up. His three-pointer never veered offline and it was the turning point in the 54-40 victory that sent the second-seeded Ironmen through to the quarterfinals where they will meet the winner of Sunday's game between seventh-seeded Dwight-Englewood and No. 10 Pascack Hills at Ramapo College next weekend.

Ridgefield Park junior Richy Espinal scored a game-high 20 points for Ridgefield Park.

“I wanted the ball in my hands because I knew we needed to make a big shot. [Ridgefield Park] kept coming back at us with runs, they were making some tough shots that kept them in the game,” said Mosely, who has been a Jambo standout over the past two seasons, including last year when he scored 24 points in the overtime final against eventual champion Teaneck. “I came up the court feeling confidence in my shot and I knew I wanted to pull up. I pulled up and it went in.”

And as soon as it did, Ridgefield Park head coach Chris Gaskin knew it was a dagger.

“Mosely's three was huge. We were down 38-32 with five minutes to play, we were in it, but that was just a big shot by a great player,” said Gaskin, whose team came in on an 11-game winning streak and was brimming with confidence having not lost a game in over a month. “There is so much fight in this group we have here and I think we showed that we can play with even the top dogs in the county today, but Bosco is tough. They took our best shot.”

Most of Ridgefield Park's best shots came from Espinal, the left-handed junior swing-man who has come out of nowhere to become a legitimate contender for first-team all county recognition. Don Bosco Prep head coach Kevin Diverio called him “the best shooter I have seen all year,” and Espinal scored 13 of his game-high 20 points in the first 11:04 of the game. His fade away jumper with a hand in his face after cutting short a baseline drive gave Ridgefield Park a 17-16 lead with 4:56 to play in the first half.

Sophomore Paul Jorgensen scored 12 points for Don Bosco, which will play No. 7 Dwight Englewood in the quarterfinals.

The Scarlets were up 19-18 after Dondre Rhoden, the 6-foot-5 sophomore, got free for a fastbreak bucket, but Bosco seized control just before the break. Tom Sweeny scored on a putback and on a jumper from the corner in a 19-second span to put the Ironmen up 22-19 and, with Ridgefield Park holding for the final shot of the first half, sophomore Jack Ely foiled the plan. Ely, the younger brother of three sisters – Sara, Maggie and Terry – who were all standouts at Pascack Valley, jumped a passing lane and went in for an uncontested layup that gave Don Bosco Prep a 24-19 lead at the break and Mosely made a three-pointer to start the third quarter to push the lead to 8.

“That took a little wind out of them, I think. That was a big steal by Ely and it kind of got us going a little bit,” said Diverio. “I saw them twice and I think they are a very good team, maybe seeded lower than they should have been because they have a lot of pieces that make them tough. We did not take them lightly at all and we tried not to be too predictable so that they wouldn't be able to get completely comfortable.”

Bosco opened the second half with an 8-2 run and Paul Jorgensen's steal and layup with 4:29 left in the third quarter put the Ironmen up by double digits for the first time at 32-21. The lead was 38-28 heading into the fourth quarter, before RP got a pull-up jumper from Corey Buljeta and the flip from Espinal to cut it to 38-32. Enter Mosely and his pull-up three-pointer, which kicked off a 9-2 run that turned the game toward the Ironmen for good and they made 9 of their 10 free throws in the final 2:35 to seal the win and their spot in the quarterfinals.

Mosely (13 points) and Jorgensen (12 points) were the only two Ironmen to finish in double figures, but Bosco showed off its depth as nine different players cracked the scoring column. Sweeny and Leontee Carroo each scored 6, DaJon Todmann finished with 5, all in the first half and Ely and Paddy Quinn added 4 apiece.

Stevie Owens scored 9 points for Ridgefield Park, which fell to 14-3.

“Their matchup zone was a little hard to handle and it took us almost the whole first half to get used to that, but in the third quarter we kind of realized what we had to do to separate it and spread it out,” said Jorgensen, a sophomore who played a key role in Bosco's run to the Jambo final last year. “We just want to get back to the county final and then win it. Nothing is good enough until we get to that point, but no game in this tournament is ever easy to win. We know that and we are just going to keep working hard.”

Ridgefield Park (14-3), which lost its first game since December 29th, got all of its point from four players. Espinal led the way with 20, Buljeta and point guard Stevie Owens added 9 apiece and Rhoden's fastbreak layup accounted for the Scarlets' other two points.

“In the locker room we were saying that this was like being the 1980 Olympic hockey team, the Russians versus the Americans and when I brought up Al Michaels' line, 'Do you believe in miracles?' they all answered, 'Yes,” said Gaskin. “And until Mosely's three-pointer I think we all thought we still had a chance.”

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