Wayne Hills wins its first Passaic County boys basketball title in 48 years by Greg Mattura of The Record
WAYNE – Wayne Hills waited 48 years for the chance to win its first Passaic County Tournament title.
The Patriots needed to rally from an eight-point deficit and survive the final seconds of regulation – and yet another overtime against defending champion Kennedy.
Wayne Hills emerged with an emotional, 55-51 overtime victory over the Knights in the 48th annual final on Saturday afternoon at raucous Wayne Valley.
“The big thing was just to believe,” said Patriots senior guard Justin Wills. “It’s been like that for every game we’ve played Kennedy.”
This marked the third consecutive game that No. 3 Wayne Hills (19-7) and top-seeded Kennedy (19-6) needed overtime to settle it. Last month, Kennedy won in OT. Last year, the Knights won their semifinal in OT.
Senior forward Joe Cerone should be remembered in Wayne Hills’ lore as “Mr. Overtime.” Cerone scored all six of the Patriots’ points in the OT, including a breakaway layup with nine seconds left to provide the 55-51 margin.
“It was such a surreal moment,” Cerone said of his decisive layup. “I was in the moment, everything around me went silent, and all I could focus on was putting the ball in.”
Previously in OT, Cerone stepped to the line and shot 4-for-6 on free throws. With 2:16 left, Cerone (10 points) made the first of two foul shots for a 50-49 lead. With 1:47 left, he made both foul shots for a 52-51 lead. With 32 seconds left, he made the second of two attempts for a 53-51 lead.
“I went in there with confidence,” Cerone said, “and the ball came to me, and I converted.”
Kennedy only managed one field goal in overtime. Junior forward Avant’e Gilbert (10 points) scored on a putback to give the Knights a 51-50 lead midway through the four-minute session. Senior guard Jaylen Colon scored a game-high 22 for Kennedy.
Wayne Hills trailed, 49-41, with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth when Wills made the two biggest shots of his career. He hit a three-pointer from the right corner, then an off-balance trey from the right wing to cut the deficit to 49-47.
“Shooters shoot,” said Wills, who scored a team-high 20 points, “so I let ’em fly.”
Wayne Hills tied the score, 49-49, with 54 seconds left in regulation after senior guard Joey Belli (nine points) was fouled in transition and made both free throws.
Still, Wayne Hills reached OT only after Kennedy held for the last shot of regulation and watched as a contested layup from the left baseline rolled off the front of the rim.
“I’m disappointed that we lost the game,” Kennedy coach Tommie Patterson said. “I feel like we had a layup that we could have won it at the end of the game, missed a couple of free throws and just made bad decisions down the line, and gave them the opportunity. We opened the door for them.”
“Down [49-41], in a timeout, and the kids had tons of heart,” Wayne Hills coach Kevin Grimes said. “It was funny, Justin Wills had said during the timeout, ‘This is what it was meant to be. There was meant to be adversity today.’ It was meant to go to overtime, it was meant to beat Kennedy. And they showed nothing but will and heart.”