Saturday, February 18, 2012

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Wes Dickison scored 20 points in a 48-41 win over Waldwick on the same night that Dwight-Englewood honored the 2002 team that reached the semifinals of the Jamboree.

ENGLEWOOD – During its current run of success, the Dwight-Englewood boys basketball has heard all about the team that constituted the program's last great run. It has been a decade since five seniors in the Class of 2002 made up the starting five that reached the semifinals of the Bergen County Jamboree for the first and only time in school history, shocked Don Bosco Prep in the state tournament and had a 15-7 first quarter lead against Paterson Catholic in the sectional quarterfinals before ended the greatest season in school history.

The current Bulldogs have heard so much about the past Bulldogs and on Friday night the past and present came together as just about all of the members of that team from 2002 were back on campus to meet with the current team and then were honored at halftime of a 48-41 win over Waldwick.

“We have heard a lot about them. We know about all that they have accomplished back in 2002 and we know that they were a great team. They are still talked about all the time around here,” said junior Keion Osbourne. “We know what they did against Bosco. We know what they did against Teaneck in the Jamboree [quarterfinals] and tonight we got to meet them. It was a great experience to meet the guys that we have heard so much about and did such great things as a team when they were here.”

Connor Walsh scored 12 points for Waldwick, which has 8 more wins than it did last year and 10 more than in 2010.

Tom Curry, Sr., who spent 19 years as Dwight-Englewood's head coach and athletic director, was back as well and he was all smiles as he was surrounded by his former players, including his son, the point guard in 2002, and others like Josh Williams, Eric Salzer, MJ Bas and Jullian Singer. It was good to be home.

“First of all I want to thank Eli Goldberger [the current head coach and athletic director]. He called me the other day and said 'I want to bring you guys back.' He gets it. He knows there is a history here and it was nice for me and for these guys from 2002 to be invited back,” said the elder Curry, who is now that athletic director at Bergenfield. “It's really nice for the school to do this. It was really a class thing to do.”

Goldberger is in just his fourth season as part of the D-E family has quickly brought himself up to speed with the Bulldogs past. He saw a gym full of former Bulldogs as a better representation of the program's history as a better tribute than the banners that hang silently on the wall.

“It was a great night. It was great for our kids to meet them because that team is the measuring stick for everything we are trying to build here. They were sensational. I have only been in [New] Jersey for four years, but now that I have been through the circuit a little bit, I know how much they really accomplished,” said Goldberger, whose team made it to the quarterfinals of the Jambo this season, as far as D-E has been since 2002. “For them to have beaten Teaneck, who was a Group 4 power back then, to beat Bosco in the state tournament and battled Paterson Catholic, which had five D1 players, it's a pretty run they had and it's great for our players to see those guys and talk to them about it.”

Sophomore point guard Robbie Zoeller scored 6 points and ran the D-E offense efficiently.

While Dwight-Englewood is a team trying to live up to its past, Waldwick is on the run from its recent pass and is taking long strides. The Warriors were winless two years ago and won just twice last season, but have a new coach, a home game in the opening round of the state tournament and 10 wins this year. They were also were within three points, 22-19, after two quarters on Friday night. During the halftime ceremonies, Dwight-Englewood was celebrating its past while the Warriors were in the locker room trying to figure out how to win a game that would be talked about for years to come.

“It's about trying to change the culture. The kids are responsive, they want to learn, they want to do well, but coming into this season they didn't know what it really took to go after it every day in practice every day and carry through all four quarters every game,” said Adam Kaplan, who is in his first season as a head coach after spending seven years as an assistant at Pascack Hills. “I use Pascack Hills as a model. There is a certainly mentality and expectation that if you are going to be on the team, this is what is expected of you. We are raising the expectations here and I think the kids have welcomed that.”

And Waldwick has two good building blocks in sophomores Connor Walsh and Doug Palmadessa, who converted a three-point play to pull Waldwick all even at 13 midway through the second quarter and a pull up jumper late in the quarter to get his team within a single point before Keith Selvin's jumper from the corner gave Dwight-Englewood a 22-19 lead at the break.

All of a sudden, Dwight-Englewood's night of celebration took a turn to the more serious business of trying to get a win. And with a 9-0 run to start the third quarter, order was restored. Osbourne hit a pull-up jumper to open the second half scoring and Wes Dickinson scored seven straight points in the run that stretched the Bulldogs' lead back into double digits, 31-19, midway through the third quarter. Osbourne hit a three-pointer and point guard Robbie Zoeller got all the way to the basket in a quick 5-0 spurt that ended the third quarter with D-E up 40-15.

Sophomore Doug Palmdessa came off the bench to score 11 points for Waldwick.

Waldwick (10-13) hung in there and got Dwight-Englewood to miss the front end of its first two one-and-one opportunities, but Dickinson won the battle for the rebound both times, setting up a clock eating possession with the first one and a putback basket on the second. The Bulldogs made their last four from the line to keep things from getting too interesting down the stretch.

Dickinson lead all scorers with 20 point and Osbourne finished with 11. Zoeller scored 6, while John Dangan made a three-pointer and Brian Breslin, Selvin and Cole Thea all chipped in with 2 apiece for Dwight-Englewood. Walsh made two three-pointers as part of his game-high 12 points for Waldwick and Palmadessa (11 points), a creative point guard who came off the bench, was Waldwick's other double-digit scorer. John Simeone added 9 points and James Moran (4 points), Joe Moloughey (3 points) and Jessey Michaels (2 points) round out the scoring for the Warriors, who hope to use the rest of the season as a classroom in which it can learn the ways of a consistent winner.

“We have a first round state game against Hasbrouck Heights and if we can win that we will go to Wood-Ridge for the quarterfinals,” said Kaplan. “That would be the kind of game that would be great to play in win or lose. You know that gym will be packed and we would be playing a team that has a real chance to win a state title. To get down there and play in that environment would be a great experience for this team and that is what we are working towards.”

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