Sunday, February 8, 2015

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Kevin Gibbs came off the bench to grab 15 rebounds for Teaneck, which turned a 13-point deficit into a 69-49 win over Ramsey in the Round of 16 of the Bergen County Jamboree.

ALLENDALE – After four straight county championships and 16 straight wins in the tournament, Teaneck has owned the Bergen County Jamboree in recent years. There will come a day, however, when the Highwaymen lose a game in the Jambo and Ramsey took its best shot at bringing that day forward into the present with its start on Saturday in the Round of 16. The Rams, enjoying the best season that the program has experienced in at least the last 20 years, came out flying. They hit six of their first seven shots and built a 13-point lead just over four minutes into the game. They hit six of their first seven shots and built a 13-point lead just over four minutes into the game.

Repeat: 12th-seeded Ramsey, in the Jambo for the first time since 2000, was beating Teaneck, the Bergen County juggernaut, 16-3 midway through the first quarter.

“Our plan was to come out and jump on them, but it didn't turn out that way. Quite the contrary,” said Teaneck head coach Jerome Smart. “But it was like a prizefight and if they don't knock you out, you still have a chance.”

With still more than 28 minutes to play, Teaneck's chances of coming back were pretty good and it got right to it after being hit by the first Ramsey barrage. Sophomore Leondre Washington and freshman Ja'Quaye James, Teaneck's stellar backcourt tandem, hit consecutive 3-pointers 30 seconds apart to get the Highwaymen to within 19-12 at the end of the first quarter and there was no way of slowing them down once they got going.

Michael Pepper scored a team-high 13 points for Ramsey, which lost for just the second time this season.

In all it was a 25-1 run that spanned the first and second quarters that restored order to the Bergen County boys basketball universe as fifth-seeded Teaneck reached the quarterfinals with a 69-49 victory at Northern Highlands High School in Allendale.

“Ramsey came out and played very well. Their coach [Kevin MacGuire] must have done a great job of pumping them up. They came out hyped and I don't know what happened to us. I thought we warmed up right, we all got a sweat, but they came out on fire and showed that they belonged,” said Washington, the only returning varsity player from last year's championship team. “We just had to weather the storm. We started off slow, but we just kept believing.”

It was all Ramsey early as it even put Washington in first quarter foul trouble, but it was all Teaneck after that. James opened the second quarter with five straight points before a Michael Pepper free throw gave Ramsey a brief respite. Then it was Tyler Dearing's turn and he scored five points in a row to push Teaneck in front for the first time and for good at 22-20. After trailing by double digits for most of the first quarter, Teaneck turned the tables so quickly that it had a double digit lead of its own at the break, 33-23, after Ge'Ani Bannerman's short jumper two seconds before the halftime buzzer.

In addition to heating up from the floor, what helped Teaneck make the turnaround was it work on the glass led by sophomore Kevin Gibbs. Once Ramsey actually started missing some shots, Gibbs started grabbing them on a consistent basis. Gibbs, the younger brother of Kayla Gibbs, a first-team All-County center for the Teaneck girls who graduated last June, started the season on the JV level but is now playing heavy minutes off the bench with the big club.

Teaneck freshman Ja'Quaye James finished with a game-high 17 points.

He finished with 15 boards and, along with senior Zachary Olukanni, helped hold Ramsey to just two second chance points in the game.

“My role on this team is just to come in the game and rebound the basketball and provide opportunities for the other guys to go and win us the game. It's been challenging but it has been a great experience going from the JV to the varsity. It's a different tempo and a faster game,” said Gibbs. “Teaneck has always had a winning tradition, so when you get the chance to go out there it is up to you to keep that tradition going. There are no excuses because we always expect to be one of the best basketball teams in the state of New Jersey.”

Ramsey hung around through the first half of the third quarter and was within 10 at 40-30 after Patrick Mullane's 3-pointer, but Teaneck responded with a 6-0 run that was helped along by MacGuire, who picked up a technical foul for riding a referee. The techs cost Ramsey two points and a possession and Teaneck was up 49-33 after three quarters. MacGuire was ejected midway through the fourth when he picked up a second 'T' for the same infraction.

But by then the outcome had been decided and Teaneck advanced to the quarterfinals where it will play No. 4 Ramapo, a 43-29 winner of upset-minded Cliffside Park, next weekend at Ramapo College.

Joey Carroll scored five points in Ramsey's game-opening 16-3 run.

Ramsey, which suffered just its second loss of the season, put three players in double figures. Pepper led the way with 13 and Mullane and Joey Carroll each finished with 11. Jack Gaffney scored 8 off the bench and Christopher Armenti, Michael Cirilli and Nicholas Costanzo each made a field goal for the Rams.

James, who was held scoreless in the first quarter, rallied to finish with a game-high 17 while Dearing ( 16 points), Washington (15) and Olukanni (12) made it four Highwaymen in double digits. Bannerman scored all 5 of his points in the first half.

Because Teaneck has seven losses, albeit against a beefed up independent schedule, and because it has just one player on the roster who is a holdover from last year's county championship team, this was seen as the season to knock the Highwaymen off their perch. That may happen as they still have three more wins to get to keep their streak going, but this backcourt of Washington and James will be together for two more seasons after this one and the talent pipeline is still pumping in players. If Teaneck is not dethroned this time around, who knows when it will be.

“What can I say? I have been very blessed to have had good guards in my five years here and I have two more here now. We are excited about that for right now and moving forward,” said Smart, who has yet to lose a Jambo game (17-0) in his four-plus years as Teaneck's head coach. “We just have to keep coming out and proving to people that we are going to be a quality program year in and year out. I think when people saw the losses early in the year and had knowledge of the people who left either by graduation or transfer, maybe they thought a little less of us. But our kids work hard, they are hungry and they have pride and I think that pride is starting to show through.”

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