Hackensack, Bergen Catholic advance at Bergen Jamboree by Jim McConville special to The Record
TENAFLY — The Bergen County Jamboree stage has seemed to bring out the best in some of the high-profile players over its history. You can add Atiba Taylor Jr. to that list.
The Hackensack junior put a sluggish Comets team on his back in the first half before driving them to victory in the second half. At the end of the day, he shrugged it off and put the spotlight back on his teammates.
“We came out slow, but we never panicked,” he said after dropping 36 points on Pascack Valley in a 74-65 defeat of the Indians. “At halftime, we just kept saying keep playing hard and we’ll be all right. Everybody stepped it up.”
None more than Taylor, who had 14 points in the first half to help the Comets stay close. Valley left the floor with a 33-28 lead, but it disappeared on a Taylor three-pointer and a Bryce Drakeford lay-in in the first minute of the third quarter.
“Considering the way we played in the first half, being down five was nothing,” Hackensack coach Aaron Taylor said. “The last few weeks we’ve been something of a second-half team, so we really felt pretty good.”
The Indians got a Matt Domville basket to retake the lead, only to see Taylor knot it up and Drakeford throw in the lead basket with 5:45 left. After an Alex Lin free throw made it a one-point game, Taylor sandwiched a B.J. Saliba basket with a pair of his own, the latter off a steal, and the Comets were up seven.
Pascack Valley came back and tied the game at 49 with a Lin trey to open the fourth quarter. From there, it was a free throw clinic for Hackensack. They hit 17 of 19 in the final period, with Taylor dropping 10 of 10.
Perhaps Taylor’s biggest play came right after Matt Vasel had given PV a 60-59 lead with 3:54 to play. He came down the right side and calmly launched a 28-footer that found nothing but net for a 62-60 lead. It was a dagger of sorts, as Valley would never get the lead back. Taylor hit eight free throws down the stretch to pull Hackensack away.
“He’s a big-time player,” Aaron Taylor said. “He can take a game over, and he did that. I felt good about how we handled the game down the stretch.”
Taylor’s day included the 36 points on 10 of 15 shooting (four of six from three), seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and a blocked shot. Drakeford had 12 of his 16 points in the second half, and Razeyah Surrell had 10 points and eight rebounds.
Lin had 19, Legend Dominguez 18 and Vasel 16 for Pascack Valley, which hurt itself with 20 turnovers compared with just nine for the Comets.
Hackensack will now take on top seed Bergen Catholic in next Sunday’s quarterfinals at the Rothman Center.
BERGEN CATHOLIC 69, BERGEN TECH 39 – The Crusaders earned their spot with a methodical defeat of the Knights, coming off their first-ever Jamboree win last week. Doug Edert and Gabe Stefanini hit game-opening three-point shots to move BC to an early lead, and they never trailed.
The Knights tried to hang in there and trailed 37-26 after an Andrew Yoon three-pointer with 5:26 left in the third quarter. Bergen Catholic then scored the final 17 points of the quarter and the first two of the fourth to blow the game open.
Thirteen Crusaders scored points in the game, led by Taj Benning’s 14 and Stefanini’s 13. Steve Lai had 14 points to lead Bergen Tech, and Alex Whang added 10.