Boys Basketball

December 27, 2009

Rambler guards take control

Fransua Garcia St. Mary's

St. Mary's Fransua Garcia scored four points and had a game-high five assists.

Click Here for photos from St. Mary's at Harrison.

By Jason Bernstein
Editorial Director

HARRISON – With four athletic and experienced guards, St. Mary’s has the ability to pile up points in bunches. Harrison learned that lesson the hard way.

After a rough start, the Ramblers scored 31 points over the game’s final 12 minutes to defeat Harrison 61-42 last night in the opening round of the Blue Tide Yule Tide Tournament.

“In the second half we played smarter and we had more confidence in our shots in the second half than we had in the first half,” guard Edgar Garcia said. “We trusted our teammates more often and we got what we wanted.”

Holding a slim three-point lead in what had been a defensive slugfest, St. Mary’s (2-2) and the trio of Edgar Garcia, Miguel Aviles and Isiah Miles erupted for a 13-2 run to close out the third quarter and put the game out of reach.

Garcia opened up the scoring barrage with a try to make it 31-25 in favor of the Ramblers. Miles followed up with a pair of buckets to make it a double-digit advantage and Aviles would add five points of his own as St. Mary’s used their quickness and athleticism to take complete control of the contest.

That offensive barrage would continue into the fourth quarter as the trio scored 16 of the Ramblers’ 20 points in the period.

To jump start his sagging offense, St. Mary’s head coach Tom Lalicato move his zone out more towards the perimeter “just to create a fast pace.” While the Ramblers had limited the Blue Tide to just 18 points in the first half, that improved defense after the break provided the results he was seeking.

“We were really lethargic in the second quarter,” Lalicato said. “We looked like we were ready to fall asleep so I figured if we got going a little bit on defense it would wake the offense up and I think it did.”

“Our defense plays pretty well,” said Aviles. “It starts our offense and from there we’re a hard team to beat.”

The versatile Garcia scored 14 of his game-high 22 points in the second half for St. Mary’s. Aviles and Miles added eights points apiece after halftime. Miles, who provides an inside presence as well, had 14 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double, while Aviles finished with 16 points.

The fourth member of Lalicato’s four-guard attack, point guard Fransua Garcia had a team-high five assists to go with six rebounds and four points in the victory.

“We stick together through thick and thin,” Edgar Garcia said. “When we get on the court we get upset a little bit (at times), but we’re a team so we’ve got to work together.”

 “They’re learning how to play together very well,” Lalicato said about Edgar Garcia and Aviles. “They look for each other and they help each other a lot. Isiah is like the third prong there and Fransua does a great job running our offense. I think we’re searching for a five-man chemistry right now, but we have a good complement of those four helping each other and doing the right job.”

That chemistry was missing for the first two quarters against Harrison (1-2). Trailing by 11, the Blue Tide rallied for a 7-0 run to close out the first half including a 3-pointer from Walter Sessoms at the buzzer.

Ricky Touzet scored Harrison’s first seven points in the third quarter to make is a three-point margin before the Ramblers’ guards put the Blue Tide in a whole they were unable to get out of.

“If you can’t climb out a hole, you can’t reverse the tide,” Harrison coach Nick Landy said. “Once we get into a hole (like that), we’ve got to learn how to get out of it.”

Touzet led Harrison with 12 points and Rahim Douelfakar had 11 points and 12 rebounds in defeat. Passos had eight points and four assists, while Sessoms was limited to just seven points after scoring 45 in the Blue Tide’s first two games.

With the victory, St. Mary’s will face Palisades Park in the championship game of the 35th Annual Blue Tide Yule Tide Tournament today at 7 p.m. Harrison will play Becton in the consolation game at 5 p.m.

David Passos Harrison

Harrison's David Passos (left) had eight points and four assists in defeat.

  1 2 3 4 Total
St. Mary's Ramblers (2-2)
14
8
19
20
61
Harrison Blue Tide (1-2)
9
9
9
15
42
St. Mary's   Harrison
  2s 3s 1s Pts
Edgar Garcia
6
2
4
22
Miguel Aviles
5
2
0
16
Isiah Miles
6
0
2
14
Fransua Garcia
2
0
0
4
Jerry Thompson
1
1
0
5
Rahmire Vaughn
0
0
0
0
Mike Addison
0
0
0
0
Christian Blount
0
0
0
0
Tremoi Ludvig
0
0
0
0
Devyn Ransom
0
0
0
0
Total
20
5
6
61
 
  2s 3s 1s Pts
David Passos
1
1
3
8
Walter Sessoms
2
1
0
7
Anthony Ugarte
1
0
0
2
Ricky Touzet
3
1
3
12
Rahim Douelfakar
5
0
1
11
Steve Jiron
0
0
0
0
Emil Serrano
1
0
0
2
Jack Oliveira
0
0
0
0
Total
13
3
7
42
 
 
     
Harrison: Douelfakar 12 rebounds; Touzet 5 rebounds; Passos 4 assists. St. Mary's: Miles 10 rebounds; F. Garcia 6 rebounds, 5 assists; Aviles 6 rebounds.