Bergen Catholic goes long to top St. Joseph by Greg Mattura of The Record
ORADELL – Sophomore Douglas Edert came off the bench and made his first three three-point attempts in the second quarter.
Senior center Thomas Binelli opened the third quarter by making each of his first three three-point shots.
Bergen Catholic, No. 3 in The Record boys basketball Top 25, transformed Thursday’s Big North United Division showdown against No. 5 St. Joseph into a three-point showcase and runaway 77-45 victory.
“We’ve got a bunch of guys who can really knock down shots from the outside,” Crusaders senior guard Taj Benning said.
Benning scored a game-high 19 points and was one of five Crusaders to contribute toward 11 total three-pointers.
The 6-foot-7 Binelli (14 points) led the long-distance barrage with a quartet of treys. Edert scored 13, sinking two foul shots late in the second quarter after being fouled shooting a trey.
Bergen Catholic (3-1 overall, 2-0 United) ran an outside-inside attack to dominate the reigning Bergen Jamboree champion. The Crusaders made overhead passes around the perimeter to open shooters, then attacked the lane if the Green Knights took away the perimeter. The three-point prowess opened the lane for the speedy Benning , and he scored a majority of his points in the paint.
“We’ve got a bunch of kids who can make outside shots,” Bergen Catholic coach Bill Armstrong said. “We can really shoot it well, and it’s kind of how we play. We run, we try to move the ball, we get open shots, and we take them.”
“They’re a very impressive team,” St. Joseph coach Mike Doherty said of Bergen Catholic. “Our kids played hard, there’s just a big gap between where they are and where we are right now, and we’ve got to work hard to try and close that gap for our own benefit and for down the road. It’s early in the season, [the Crusaders] were sharp, they were on fire, they played hard, they’re very deep and they took it to us.”
Bergen Catholic also played strong defense on the perimeter and inside.The Crusaders led at halftime, 33-15, by holding St. Joseph (2-2, 1-1) to one field goal and six total points in the second quarter. Senior forward Joseph Radi led the Green Knights with 13 points, while All-Bergen senior guard Chauncey Hawkins was held to seven.
“We played well, we made a bunch of shots, which is always good when you make shots,,” Armstrong said. “And I think our defense was really good, too. We were locked in and focused on the defensive end.”
“Besides the fact that we made shots, our attention to detail was good,” Benning said. “We’re were prepared, we were ready to go, we were ready to play, and I couldn’t be happier for our guys.”