by Alex Schwartz

My articles on the Non-Public A and B state championships and the Group II and IV state championships. Now it's time for my article on the Group I and Group III state title tilts. The games went down on Sunday at the RAC on the campus of Rutgers University. Here is what happened in the final two NJSIAA state championships:

The second session of games at the RAC began at 5:00 and the matchup pitted the University Phoenix, the champions of the North II, Group I section, where they were the top seed, against the Asbury Park Blue Bishops, the winners of the Central, Group I section, where they too were the one seed. Things got off to a rocky start for AP, as the fell down 8-0 through just under two minutes of action. By the time the first quarter was over, it was 20-8 in favor of University, which was led by Devon Gibson '09, Kazembe Abif '10, and Sahid Dortch '10. It only got worse in the second quarter for the Blue Bishops, as the University lead became 26-10 about two minutes into the quarter. After leading by as much as 23 points in the first half, University took a 41-20 lead into the intermission, and the game seemed well in hand for the Phoenix. The Blue Bishops though did not see it that way, as the slowly but surely chipped away at University's seemingly insurmountable lead. With 2:17 left in the third quarter, on the heels of an 13-0 AP run (18-3 dating back to the end of the second quarter), it was an eight-point game, 44-36. By this point, the Blue Bishops' fans were back into the game and the players seemed to be believing that they could come back and get the win. Jamar Smalls '10 was the main leading the charge for AP. The University lead was as small as seven in the third quarter, and it was 49-41 with eight minutes left in the Group I state championship. With 5:09 to go it was a three-point affair, 51-48, University's smallest lead since it was 11-8. The Blue Bishops never could get the deficit under three points, and the Phoenix pulled away late for a 65-54 win. Jamar Smalls was named MVP for Asbury Park, while University's MVP award recipient was Devon Gibson.

Team                          1           2           H          3          4           F    
University                  20        21         41         8         16        65
Asbury Park               8         12         20        21        13        54

The final game of the day on Sunday was between the North I, Group III champion Teaneck Highwaymen, the third seed in their section, and the Neptune Scarlet Fliers, the champion of Central, Group III, where they were also seeded third. A Neptune three started things off and after Teaneck countered to tie it at three it was all Neptune for quite some time. The Scarlet Fliers went on a 9-0 run to make it 12-3 and then took a 14-8 lead into the second quarter and then a 30-18 advantage into the intermission. Dwayne Gutridge '09, Jabari Joyner '09, Jamaal Hubbard '09, Dan Singleton '09, and Ikie Calderon '12 worked together in a team effort to help Neptune pull away after the break. With 3:11 to go in the third quarter, it was 46-25 Neptune, and Ken O'Donnell's team was in control of the game.  Soon after, with 2:17 to go in the third, Teaneck's star player, Javae King-Gilchrist '09 picked up his fourth foul. He had struggled to that point—Shomari Barber '09 did a great job of stepping in for him—but his absence seemed likely to hurt the Highwaymen anyway. Teaneck was able to cut the lead down to 15 after an 8-2 run despite not having King-Gilchrist, and would trail 50-33 entering the final quarter. The Highwaymen kept trying to fight back in the fourth period of action, cutting the lead to 12, 50-38, with 6:24 left. That was Neptune's smallest lead since it was 23-11 with 3:18 left in the second quarter. It was still a 12-point game with under four minutes to go, but a 6-0 run from Neptune made it 65-47 with 3:09 to play and the boys from Central Jersey pulled away from there. The benches were cleared with 1:24 to go, and the Scarlet Fliers ended up with a 74-52 victory, as the Teaneck comeback fell apart without cutting the lead below 12. Shomari Barber was named MVP for Teaneck, while Dan Singleton was the choice for the Group III champs.

Team                          1          2          H            3          4          F    
Teaneck                     8         10        18         15        19        52
Neptune                    14         16        30         20        24        74