Wayne Hills puts on stellar public display at Ramapo by Greg Mattura of The Record
FRANKLIN LAKES – Wayne Hills can celebrate New Year’s Day as arguably the best public school in North Jersey.
The Patriots will close out this year with a 5-0 record after winning the title at the Coaches Versus Cancer Holiday boys basketball tournament Friday night with a 64-47 victory over host Ramapo.
Wayne Hills is one of only two unbeaten public schools from the Big North Conference or North Jersey Interscholastic Conference. While defending Group 3 champion Teaneck and defending Passaic County titlist Eastside are more talented, they are missing key players, opening the door for the Patriots.
“Our goals this year are to compete for a county title and to compete for a sectional title,” Wayne Hills coach Kevin Grimes said.
Wayne Hills produced a third quarter worthy of a Passaic and Group 3 sectional title contender. The Patriots pushed the pace and outscored Ramapo, 24-10, to extend their lead to 48-32, with eight players contributing at least one basket. Junior guard Justin Wills hit a pair of three-pointers in the third and led a balanced attack with 13 points.
“We weren’t executing in the first half and we got back to executing,” said junior guard Joey Belli, who scored 12 points and was named most valuable player. “We found the open guys, we strung a lot of passes together and we found the best shot in the third quarter.”
“It was one shot and out [for Ramapo] in the third quarter,” said Grimes, whose team did not allow a Green Raider to score in double figures. “And when we got rebounds, we hit our outlets, and Joey Belli did such a good job controlling the pace of the game for us. We got out, we ran a little bit, we got Justin Wills a couple of open looks and it just opened everything else up for us.”
Wayne Hills also enjoyed a big boost from its bench. One game after producing two total points, foul trouble forced more minutes for the bench and it totaled 16 points, with senior guard Matt DiFiore scoring 12, including seven in the middle two quarters.
“I knew that we needed a little spark off the bench,” said DiFiore, “so I played with full effort and energy and we got the job done.”
“We went to Matt, he’s a senior, he’s got experience and he carried us,” Grimes said. “He carried us late in the second quarter and early into the third. He was strong taking it to the rack, and it’s always the next man up for us. So to see that bench production, in that scenario where we need to get better there moving into the new year, was huge for us.”
“Wayne Hills is a very good team,” said Ramapo coach Joey Sandberg, whose team last season eliminated the Patriots in the sectional semifinals. “I thought we competed in the first half, but our youth was pretty evident in the second half. They delivered a punch to us in the second half and we couldn’t respond to it.”