Wednesday,
February 3, 2016
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Kevin Perez tied for team-high honors with 20 points as Elmwood Park bounced back from a Jambo loss with a 67-52 win over Eastern Christian on Tuesday. |
ELMWOOD PARK – Qualifying for the Bergen County Jamboree was a great source of pride for the players from Elmwood Park. But after a convincing loss in the first round last weekend to River Dell in which the Crusaders only scored 28 points, there was plenty of disappointment to go around.
That disappointment was shared by its opponent on Tuesday night as Eastern Christian was coming off a loss to Clifton in the first round of the Passaic County Tournament. Eastern Christian seemed less fazed by its county tournament exit and got off to a blazing start. The Crusaders had to act fast or their tenuous lead in the NJIC-Colonial Division would disappear right in front of their eyes on their own home court.
After falling behind 13-0 to start the game, the Crusaders got a big break in the second quarter and used it to turn the tables. Kevin Perez scored a career-high 20 points and senior workhorse Brandon Ricketts notched a double-double as Elmwood Park stayed one game up in the race for the NJIC-Colonial Division title by holding Eastern Christian scoreless in the second quarter en route to a 67-52 victory at Elmwood Park High School.
“The loss in the Jambo really took a lot out of us so we had to bounce back,” said Perez. “The big thing for us was to control the tempo. They totally controlled the pace in the first quarter and we had to turn that around by getting stops and forcing turnovers. Once we set the pace, we started to have fun and things started going our way.”
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Eastern Christian's Malcolm McLeod came off the bench to score a team-high 11 points. |
Eastern Christian showed no effects off of getting upset by Clifton early on. Jon Veenstra, Jason Englishmen, and Evan Quintero all nailed 3-pointers in the 13-0 run to start the game. Elmwood Park went over six minutes without a point before a Perez layup finally got the home team on the scoreboard. The lead was still double digits when a rare infraction was pointed out by the home scorekeeper that set the wheels in motion for the Crusaders’ comeback.
A minute prior, an Eastern Christian player, who was not listed in the scorebook checked into the game. It was brought to the referees' attention after Elmwood Park point guard Nolan VanRye was fouled on a drive to the basket. A technical foul was called for the scorekeeping error and VanRye knocked down four straight free throws, including the two technical foul shots. The Crusaders got the ball back with Perez knocking down a pair for a six-point possession that cut the deficit to 18-14. Ricketts had a monster rebound and scored on a putback to give the Crusaders their first lead on their way to a 19-0 second quarter effort to grab a 25-18 halftime lead.
“All that stuff that happened with the technical foul gave us some life after the first quarter when we were pretty lifeless,” said Ricketts. “Once we got back in the game we had to force the pace. The key was simple, we had to play as a team on both on offense and on defense. When we started doing that, shots started going in and we got on a roll.”
Eastern Christian hung tough in the third quarter and made it a one-possession game, 35-32, when Jordan Moran came off the bench to hit back-to-back 3s. After a layup by Perez, the Eagles were another unfortunate blow. On a play in which VanRye and Moran sprinted towards the sideline to save a loose ball, the referee pointed as if Eastern Christian would be given possession, but then handed the ball to VanRye to inbound the ball. As the Eastern Christian players looked around not sure as to what had happened, the Crusaders swung the ball around to Marcus Piccinich for a 3-pointer that pushed the lead back up to eight.
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Brandon Ricketts had 20 points and 13 rebounds for Elmwood Park, which maintained its one-game lead in the NJIC-Colonial Division. |
After a scoreless first half, Piccinich caught fire with a trio of long-range shots in the third quarter. The last of those 3-pointers came at the buzzer to put the Crusaders' lead back up to double-digits, 47-35. It never dipped below that as Ricketts continued to control the paint and Elmwood Park maintained both their lead in the game and their hold on the NJIC-Colonial Division with a one-game lead over Manchester Regional and two games over Lodi.
Ricketts tied Perez to lead all players with 20 points along with a game-high 13 rebounds for Elmwood Park (13-4). All of Piccinich's 13 points came in the second half and all of VanRye's eight points came at the foul line.
Malcolm McLeod led Eastern Christian (7-8) with 11 points off the bench and Englishmen added 10.
The Crusaders do not have much time to relax as they travel to face Lodi, winner in four of its last five games, on Thursday. But with the Jambo loss now both physically and emotionally in the rear-view mirror, Elmwood Park's senior-laden group will turn its focus to having a shot at winning a league title.
“Our league has so many good teams that we prepare for every team like it's for a league title,” added Ricketts. “We're competing to keep our record on top of the league standings. When you're number one, every team is going to give you their best. It wasn't a good start but we picked it up and got the 'W'.”
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