Old Tappan and Don Bosco dominate at Bergen Jamboree by Greg Mattura of The Record
TENAFLY — Justin Minaya and Northern Valley at Old Tappan made sure that it didn’t come down to a last-second shot again.
The Golden Knights smothered River Dell and pulled away to a 57-35 victory during Sunday’s Round of 16 at the Bergen County Jamboree boys basketball tournament at Tenafly.
“We just didn’t want something like that to happen again,” Minaya said.
The “something like that” Minaya is referring to is last year’s loss to Pascack Hills in the Round of 16, which came after a desperation jumper at the buzzer.
NV/Old Tappan, seeded No. 7, did not allow No. 10 River Dell to make many shots, jumpers or otherwise. The Golden Knights led after the first quarter, 9-5, and stretched the halftime margin to 24-13. They set a defensive tone by not allowing the Hawks to score on their first seven possessions.
NV/Old Tappan needed stellar defense to compensate for an offense that did not materialize until the third quarter. In the first half, the Golden Knights hurried shots against a River Dell defense that was almost as good.
“I thought we played really good defense today,” said NV/Old Tappan coach Craig Ferraro. “The guys really stepped up, and that was a big factor. The guys played really hard, a little inconsistent offensively, could have been a little smarter at certain times, but we got the looks [on offense] we were looking for, and the guys stepped up.”
The Golden Knights’ offense stepped up to extend the 24-13 halftime lead to 42-24 after three quarters. In the third, Minaya (game-high 16 points) and senior guard Mike Patullo each hit a three-pointer, and junior guard Salvatore DeBenedetto came off the bench and hit a pair of treys.
After a first half during which senior forward Kevin Eifert (13 points) made the lone three-pointer, NV/Old Tappan (14-3) stroked six from behind the arc after intermission, with DeBenedetto contributing three of them.
Senior center Matt Monaghan led River Dell (13-6) by scoring all of his team-high 10 points in the second half. The Hawks, though, could never cut the deficit to single digits in the second half.
“We had a good lead, obviously, and we came out in the third quarter and got a big lead and we just kind of rode it,” said Minaya, who also had seven rebounds and three assists.
DON BOSCO 69, TENAFLY 39: Don Bosco, the No. 2 seed, quickly jumped to a 13-2 lead and never looked back. Eleven Ironmen reached the scoring column, with seniors Chris Paul and Charlie Bagin scoring nine apiece.
Senior forward Chris Lovisolo hit both of his three-pointers in the first quarter during an 11-0 run that gave Don Bosco (18-1) its 13-2 lead. During the run, junior forward Marcellus Earlington also stroked a trey over Tenafly’s zone.
Sophomore guard Eric Berschadsky and senior reserve guard Ethan Shiffman scored 10 apiece for No. 15 Tenafly (11-8).
“I thought it was important that we got off to a quick start,” said Don Bosco coach Kevin Diverio, who was without junior starter Ronald Harper due to a stiff back. “I didn’t want the score 4-4 with four minutes into the game and them controlling tempo. That was the biggest thing for us, to jump out and get a lead so they had to play from behind.”
Jamboree quarterfinal schedule: Sunday, Feb. 12, at Fairleigh Dickinson, Hackensack: Noon, (3) St. Joseph vs. (6) Pascack Hills; 1:30 p.m., (2) Don Bosco vs. (7) NV/Old Tappan; 3:30 p.m., (4) Teaneck vs. (5) Dwight-Englewood; 5 p.m., (1) Bergen Catholic vs. (8) Hackensack.