Saturday,
January 9, 2016
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Gralen Vereen helped Kearny play its best game of the season so far in a 75-55 win over previously unbeaten Queen of Peace on Friday in North Arlington. |
NORTH ARLINGTON – With four senior starters this season, this was supposed to be the year where Kearny emerged as one of the biggest surprise teams in North Jersey. However the Kardinals' start to the season has been a rough road to say the least. They had won just two of their seven games heading into Friday night with four of their five losses coming by four points or less. While the frustration mounted with each close loss, Kearny needed to seize and opportunity to break out against a quality opponent. The Kards got that chance on the road against Queen of Peace.
Facing a bigger, more athletic team on its home court is no easy task. When a team has experience and is desperate for a win, that team is poised to rise to the occasion. Kearny did just that and no player more so than gritty senior point guard Joe Baez.
Baez carved up the Golden Griffins' defense all night on his way to a game-high 28 points. It was the red-hot shooting of Joe Esteves that put the game away as Kearny knocked Queen of Peace from the unbeaten ranks with a wire-to-wire 75-55 triumph in North Arlington.
“We had to concentrate more late in games and we did that tonight,” said Baez. “We feel like we have a better team that what our record is, but we haven't been able to close out games. We can't focus on those games though because they're gone and we can't do anything about them. Our focus on our next game and this was a big one. This definitely gives us a confidence boost hopefully for the rest of the season.”
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Ibn Loyd jumper's with 5:08 left in regulation got Queen of Peace to within single digits for the final time. |
Early on this season, a young Queen of Peace squad has set the tone with their full-court trapping defense to force the pace of the game. That was neutralized right from the outset by Baez. He consistently dribbled through the pressure and found versatile forward Georgie Smyth in the high post to get the offense into motion. That led to consecutive layups from Sammy Sanchez and Baez before Gralen Vereen's steal and layup gave Kearny a 15-8 lead. The Kardinals led by as many as 14 and took a 10-point lead into the locker room for halftime, 36-26.
The feel amongst the crowd was that Kearny would eventually wear down and the Golden Griffins would shake off the cobwebs on their home court in the second half. Nobody informed the Kearny players of that as they attacked the pressure and moved well without the basketball to spread the floor and get open looks, which suited Esteves just fine. The senior knocked down jumpers on consecutive possessions to pad the lead. The first was with his foot on the 3-point line and the second was from beyond the arc to make it a 16-point lead, 44-28, early in the third quarter.
“I moved better without the ball in the second half and my teammates did a great job of getting the ball to the open man,” said Esteves. “We knew if we were patient and moved without the ball that we could get open shots. When I was open and got the ball, I was ready to take the shot.”
The Kardinals led by as many as 22 on a Baez 3, but the Golden Griffins still had time and whittled the lead down to single-digits. Ibn Loyd, who was in foul trouble for most of the game, hit a fadeaway jumper from the elbow to cut the lead to eight, 56-48, with 5:08 remaining.
After coming up short several times down the stretch this season, Kearny finally played its best when it counted. Baez was outstanding throughout, but especially in the fourth quarter. He made a pair of acrobatic layups while getting fouled to convert both 3-point plays to help stem the tide and lift Kearny to a much-needed win.
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Georgie Smith and Kearny are now 3-5 on the season and hoping to carry the momentum forward. |
“We wanted to relax and spread the floor every time down the floor,” said Baez. “When we got the ball to Georgie in the high post, they had to play him and it opened up opportunities for everyone else. For me personally, I jump-stopped and head-faked a lot to get them up in the air and try to create the contact as much as I could.”
Baez seemingly had his hand in everything and matched his career-high of 28 points to go with eight rebounds, and seven assists for Kearny (3-5). Esteves had 12 of his 16 points in the second half. Smyth did the dirty work inside to stuff the stat sheet with eight points, seven blocks, six rebounds, and four assists. All six players who played major minutes for the Kardinals scored at least six points.
Bryan Anderson led Queen of Peace (6-1) in scoring with 14 points. Josh Pierre-Louis added 12 points, four steals, three assists, and three rebounds. Jeremy Joseph came on in the second half to finish with 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Of the Golden Griffins' 55 points, 53 of them came from their starting five.
Now the Kearny has managed to navigate through a rough patch early in the season, head coach Bob McDonnell feels like his team is on the cusp of making some noise.
“This is by far the best and the most consistent game we've played all year,” said McDonnell. “It's also the first time that we've gotten better and closed out a game the way we're capable of doing. We didn't sit back, we kept the pressure on. I have a good nucleus of kids that works hard every single day. As long as we don't turn the ball over and make good decisions then we'll be fine. We've always wanted to win but now we're learning how to win.”
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