1/15/2012 - NJAC Races Heating Up
The boys and girls basketball season goes by pretty quickly when you don’t have snow.
After last winter when some teams weren’t able to complete their Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference regular-season games due to the horrendous weather, this mild winter has been a refreshing change.
Coaches are able to get things done in practice and with no makeups, teams can keep their routine, which in the world of sports means more than you think.
So this quick-moving season is about to hit the midway point and what an entertaining season it has been thus far on both the boys and girls sides.
The NJAC schedule flips this week as we head into the second round and Friday night presents three very interesting matchups which could decide the American Division in both boys and girls hoops and the Freedom Division on the guys side.
First up on the girls side, it’s the rematch everyone has been talking about since about 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 16 which was just minutes after High Point topped Jefferson 44-40 on opening night.
Coming into the season, most people thought that the American Division race would be a two-team tourney and it has been with High Point (10-1, 6-0) and Jefferson (8-1, 5-1) leading the way.
High Point behind a great team defensive-effort and some timely shooting escaped with the four-point win on the road at Jefferson, which up until a few years ago had always been a House of Horrors for High Point coach Chris Dexter and the Wildcats.
Friday night’s game should be much crisper and cleaner with each team having played 10 games.
High Point is coming off its first loss of the season , a respectable 48-40 setback to Mt. St. Dominic of Caldwell at the Martin Luther King Jr. Classic at Shabazz High School in Newark.
The Wildcats held their own before falling to one of the top teams from Essex County. Amber Reilly continued her great season with another double-double with 18 points and 11 boards.
Reilly, who did a great job of keeping people off of Leanna Tallamy last season, has really come into her own as a player and is a great example of the depth the High Point program has developed under Dexter and the Cats great feeder program.
The Wildcats depth and experience has been their catalyst all season. Reilly, Nikki Hull, Brianne Woop, Steph Peterson, Emily Umbach, Darby Smith, Kirsty Gartner and Meghan O’Leary work together like a well-oiled machine.
Against Jefferson, Reilly and Umbach will once again been undersized against the taller Falcons.
On opening night, the duo did a nice job of slowing down 6-3 center Sammy Lapszynski and her partner in crime in the post Kristen Swerzenski.
They will need to do it again Friday if the Wildcats are to sweep the season-series, but the Falcon twosome have really picked up as of late and I don’t see them each getting shut down Friday.
The big storyline is the health of Lauren Ferguson, who has been hurt since December. The point guard did a nice job against High Point’s talented group of guards. She has publicly stated she wants to play Friday but we will see if she can help out coach Jim O’Connor in the Falcons’ biggest game of the season.
Sophomore Imani Brown has been a great story filling in for the Falcons as she led them to the championship of the Mountain Lakes Holiday Tournament. She will need a great effort against the Wildcats.
Also, Kristen Flaherty did not hit a 3-pointer on opening night and since then she has been on fire from beyond the arc which obviously opens things up for Lapszynski and Swerzenski.
A couple of early 3s would do wonders for the Falcons and their chances of topping the Cats. Amanda Gerritsen does a great job of filling her role as the most versatile Falcon. She can handle, play defense and board when she has to. She will also be called upon to slow down the hard-charging Cats.
But this is all moot if Jefferson doesn’t beat Vernon at Vernon on Wednesday, which is not an easy task. High Point also has to beat Mt. Olive, which shouldn’t be an issue.
So who will win? Well, on paper its even, especially if Ferguson can contribute. Both coaches are outstanding with O’Connor having well over 400 wins and a state title under his belt.
Dexter is closing in on 200 wins in his tenure at High Point and he has built the Wildcats into the premier program in the area over the last five years.
High Point is very tough to beat at home, but if anyone can do it, it is the Falcons. Kittatinny gave the Wildcats a scare a couple of weeks ago, and if High Point does not hit its free throws, which has been a problem, it will lose.
But I’m still going with the Cats in a close one in what maybe just the second of three meetings between the two clubs with the North 1, Group 3 playoffs down the road.
The second game I want to highlight is the rematch between Mt. Olive and Pope John Friday night at Pope John, which should be a dandy.
Mt. Olive (7-3, 5-1) and its gang of sharpshooters won the first clash at Mt. Olive 94-87 in a 32-minute track meet. Coach Kevin Freeman, who always liked up-tempo play, unveiled his new system of running up and down the floor and shooting threes with hockey-like player rotations.
Players like Justin Palanci, Rashaan Spencer, and Kevin Miller can light it up with the best of them while 6-7 center Zach Heeman can also shoot 3s but does some of his best working cleaning up on the offensive glass.
In the first meeting, Pope John (7-4, 5-1) tried to beat the Marauders at their own game, but came up short. This time around, I feel PJ and young first-year head coach Jason Hasson have a better feel for what kind of team they are on the floor.
Hasson has trimmed his rotation a bit and it has worked wonders. PJ’s wins over Kennedy of Paterson and Sparta last week show how dangerous this team can be when it plays within itself.
Glenn Gavan is the heart-and soul of the Lions and the lefty guard can shoot 3s and this year has show he can attack the basket and create his own shot. JaQuan Bryant has been nothing short of fantastic as he can dial long distance and attack the goal with equal ability.
The key in the Sparta win was the play of Cody Wilson in the post as the 6-10 senior, who is an outstanding student and an Ivy League recruit, played his best game of the season.
Also Noah Brown, who still is not 100 percent, is a threat and Jack Scari gave the Lions great minutes in the Sparta win. The player who I am most impressed with and has tremendous potential is sophomore Ryan Izzo.
The 6-5 Vernon product has all the tools to get it done with a great basketball IQ. His baseline drive and eventual dish to Wilson late against Sparta was a move well-beyond his years.
Pope John has played a brutal schedule and it will payoff again Friday night with a victory over the Marauders. But a win decides nothing because the American Division is still up for grabs with Sparta (8-2) also tied for first with a 5-1 mark.
You can also not count out a dangerous Morris Hills squad, and despite their records, Montville and Vernon are capable of knocking off any one of the top three teams.
The final game is Hopatcong at Hackettstown in pivotal Freedom Division clash on the boys side.
Hackettstown (7-3, 4-1) won the first showdown at Hopatcong (5-5, 4-1), but since then the Chiefs have won four straight including a huge 45-44 victory over Newton on the road.
Hopatcong struggled earlier in the season trying find its identity after having a Tobin (Mike and Matt) on the floor for the last eight years. But the Newton win really turned things around for coach Jim Tobin, one of the best around.
Hunter Guard is the Chiefs top player, but not by much. The well-balanced Chiefs can hurt you from beyond the arc with snipers Dan Sullivan and Vinny Marinoni, while Jon Parker is force in the paint.
Nick Krowl, Austin Brown, Pat McNamara, Ryan Clark and Jessie Nelson are also key contributors for the Chiefs.
Hackettstown is coming off a triple-overtime loss to Newton 58-56, a loss which has really opened up the division race. The loss has allowed for a three-way tie in the division with Hopatcong and Newton (7-4), which is also 4-1.
Zach Arcona and Glen Jobeless are outstanding players for the Tigers, but they will need someone else to help out if they want to beat the Chiefs Friday night.
Although Hopatcong is playing much better and is more confident, Hackettstown is tough to beat at home, so I’m giving the Tigers the edge, albeit a very small one.
So there it is, three games any basketball junkie will enjoy, now figure which one you going to and enjoy the rest of the season, I know I will.
That’s it for now see you on the sidelines.
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