Tuesday,
March 3, 2015
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Senior Sidney Dawkins scored 25 of his game-high 31 points in the second half as Dwight Morrow survived in a 84-73 win over Elmwood Park in the opening round of the North 1, Group 2 state sectional tournament. |
ENGLEWOOD – Watching Dwight Morrow play is a roller coaster. One minute the Maroon Raiders give the impression that they are going to win by 100 points as they press the pace, force some turnovers and turn them into layups. At other times it looks like they are on the verge of giving it all away as, using the same all-out style no matter the score or situation, the Raiders get into ruts where they commit unnecessary fouls, extend the game for their opponent by giving up free throws and turnovers and take the first available shot rather than working for a better one.
Instead of keeping a running score possession by possession, it might just be easier to wait until the game is over and then do the math to see if Dwight Morrow's strategy was successful or not because, often times, the winner is determined by which team made the last run because DM's games are always games of runs.
A perfect example of ebbs and flows that come with the wide open style came in the second half of Monday night's matchup against 13th seeded Elmwood Park in the opening round of the North 1, Group 2 state sectional tournament.
Fourth-seeded Dwight Morrow opened the third quarter with a 15-3 run to take a 14-point lead. Just over five minutes later and just after Elmwood Park scored the first four points of the fourth quarter, the game was tied. Elmwood Park even took a one-point lead with 6:14 to play in the game only to fall behind by 12 points and close again to within three before bowing out.
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Michael Dare, the Rutgers football commit and Elmwood Park's lone senior, finished with 19 points. |
See? It would have been easier on those not so skilled in arithmetic to have just waited it out and looked up at the scoreboard at the end to see that Dwight Morrow eventually won, 84-73.
“We know we are going to give up points because we press and we gamble and we trap,” said Dwight Morrow head coach Donovan Osbourne. “But we like to hold teams in the 60s and tonight we gave up 73, which was too many and that kept the game close. Elmwood Park did a good job.”
The first half was not so frenzied, at least not in terms of wild scoring swings although the pace was still up-tempo. Adrian Baucum made three first quarter 3-pointers to help Dwight Morrow to a 19-12 lead after one period and he had 18 first half points to lead the Maroon Raiders to a 36-34 lead at the break.
“We knew it was going to be a fast paced game. They do a good job of changing defenses to try to turn you over and that is all we worked on for the last three days,” said Elmwood Park head coach Kevin Tooey. “I thought we did a good job at times, but their length and their speed eventually got to us and they had a couple of more runs in them then we did.”
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Adrian Baucum scored 24 points for Dwight Morrow, which will host New Milford in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. |
One of those runs coinciding with Sidney Dawkins heating up. The senior who is the second leading scorer in the rich hoops history at Dwight Morrow behind only Englewood legend Bill Willoughby, scored 12 points in the first four minutes of the third quarter to put the Raiders up 53-39.
Elmwood Park, however, responded with a 15-4 run and Andrew Lorenzo's runner at the buzzer brought the Crusaders back to within 58-54 heading into the fourth quarter. Lorenzo had all 9 of his points in a four-minute stretch spanning the third and fourth quarters and his 3-point play with 6:14 to go gave Elmwood Park a lead, 60-61, its first since 31-29 and, as it turned out, its last of the game. Baucum hit a free throw to tie the game for the last time and Dawkins tapped in a missed shot with 5:27 left that gave the Raiders the lead for good.
“We came out so slow and we had to build up our energy. Getting the game to be played at our pace, especially in the second half, really helped us,” said Dawkins. “Trying to keep our cool was a big thing in the second half because we went on some runs, but we couldn't put them away.”
Trailing 75-63 with 3:20 left after Baucum hit a runner in the lane, Elmwood Park, which has just one senior in its rotation and came in with sub-.500 record, decided to go out with a bang. A 10-1 run started by Eugene Figueroa's conventional 3-point play and capped by Kevin Perez's free throw with 1:08 left had the Crusaders back to within a single possession, 76-73. But Dwight Morrow went a perfect 8 of 8 from the free throw line in the last 1:02 to finally clinch its spot in the sectional quarterfinals where it will host No. 12 New Milford, an upset winner over No. 5 Mountain Lakes, on Wednesday night.
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Sophomore Kevin Perez scored a team-high 21 points for Elmwood Park, which finished with at 7-18. |
Dawkins scored 26 of his game-high 31 points in the second half, while Baucum scored 18 of his 24 before halftime. Willie Woods and Darius Payne, Dwight Morrow's starting backcourt, each added 8 points, George Garrison had 5 and Khristian Gill and Macio Robinson split the other four points for Dwight Morrow. Perez led Elmwood Park with 21 points and Michael Dare, the Rutgers football recruit and the Crusaders' lone senior finished with 19. Figueroa (11 points) made it three starters in double figures for Elmwood Park, which finished it season with a 7-18 record.
It's win or go home for every team left playing now and Dwight Morrow, despite its inconsistencies this season, still has a shot at a section title.
“There are so many good schools in this bracket and it is the state tournament, so we expect every game to be crazy,” said Osbourne. “You can't take any team for granted because no matter who the opponent is, they were good enough to make the state tournament and it is going to be very challenging no matter if you are playing the No. 1 seed of the No. 16.”
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