By Greg Matura – Record Sports ……Saddle River Day seeks to continue its domination of the North Jersey Interscholastic Conference, and standing in the way is Paterson Charter.
The Rebels and Lions registered boys basketball semifinal victories Monday at the NJIC Championship Tournament and will return to Secaucus for Thursday’s 6:30 p.m. final.
Defending champion Saddle River Day (20-3) stretched its winning streak against NJIC foes to 38 with a stellar second half and 77-64 victory over Dwight-Englewood.
Paterson Charter (22-3) opened the doubleheader with a fast start and shot 8-for-11 from the foul line in the final two minutes to hold off Garfield, 60-53.
Saddle River Day led entering the fourth, 55-45, and never was seriously threatened en route to beating Dwight-Englewood by the exact same score as their Bergen Jamboree opener. The Rebels came out strong in the third and outscored the Bulldogs, 24-9.
“Credit our kids to battle and scrap and claw in the third quarter, because we went from down five to up [10],” Saddle River Day coach Anthony Gallo said. “So from then, it was just about getting stops.”
Junior Sebastian Giannotti scored 24 for Saddle River Day, including 14 in the fourth to help seal the win. Junior Sean O’Neill scored 10 of his 18 in the third, and senior Connor Cyran scored 10 of his 13 in the third.
Sophomore David Mager scored a game-high 26 for Dwight-Englewood (17-5). Mager made all five of his free throws and scored nine in the second quarter to help secure a 36-31 halftime lead. Junior Sam Lieberman scored eight of his 13 during the Bulldogs’ 24-point second quarter.
Paterson Charter countered Garfield’s superior size with greater speed. Senior Troy Medlock scored 11 of his team-high 15 in the first two quarters to help build a 30-26 halftime lead. Senior Marquise Harris scored 10 of his 13 in the fourth, including a pair of corner three-pointers.
Paterson Charter bounced back from Saturday’s heartbreaking, buzzer-beating loss to Eastside in the Passaic County semifinals, and coach Jerry Wimberly said, “When we stick to the system, to the scheme, we can look halfway decent.”
Elias Chery, Garfield’s 6-foot-5 senior center, worked his way inside for a game-high 19 points. Senior Nakie Graham added 15 points for the Boilermakers (16-8).
