Boys Basketball

February 19, 2010

Bruins stay cool with Abrue's hot hand

Dany Abrue North Bergen

North Bergen's Dany Abrue hit four 3-pointers and finished with 19 points.

Click Here for photos from Lincoln at North Bergen.

By Jason Bernstein
Editorial Director

NORTH BERGEN – With tempers and emotions nearing a breaking point, Dany Abrue let his shooting do talking.

After a wild start of the second half littered with technical fouls, Abrue scored seven points in less than two minutes as North Bergen had 10 unanswered points and never looked back in a 69-53 victory over Lincoln in the quarterfinals of the Hudson County Tournament.

“We were able to regain focus,” North Bergen coach Kevin Bianco said. “We’re trying to continue to keep playing and they know that the loser goes home. Once we refocused in the second half, I felt we started dictating the tempo a little bit to our style and open up the game.”

After Noel Allen’s old-fashioned three-point play made it 41-28 in favor of the Bruins (17-3), Abrue delivered the final daggers. The junior sniper delivered a pair of 3-pointers from the left corner to cap off a 10-0 Bruin run that followed three technical fouls (two on North Bergen, one on Lincoln) in the first 67 seconds of the third quarter.

“It’s difficult (to stay composed) because you’re mad,” Abrue said. “They’re talking to us and they’re looking to get you out of your calmness. We kept our composure, but it’s difficult.”

Abrue would score on a jumper less than two minutes later and had nine points in the third quarter. Abrue, who finished with a game-high 19 points, had a similar scoring binge in the opening quarter. He scored nine points in less than two and a half minutes as part of an 11-4 run which gave second-seeded North Bergen a lead they would not relinquish.

Abrue buried four 3-pointers, all of them coming from his favorite shooting spot – the corner. Abrue said he “practices that every day in practice and before games.”

The Abrue-Allen combination was on the same wave length all game long for North Bergen. Rather than force shots against the double-coverage from the seventh-seeded Lions (13-9), Allen kicked it outside to his teammates.

The 6-foot-5 senior center assisted on all four of Abrue’s 3-pointers and had six assists in total.

“If they’re going to keep doubling-down on Noel, we got have guys to knock down their shots,” Bianco said. “Dany was able to do that tonight.”

“I saw the double teams coming,” Allen said. “So I just passed it down.

“I’ve been working really hard passing it back out, kicking out (to my teammates) for the 3-pointers because they’re wide open.”

More than just a passer on this night, Allen scored 17 points (12 in the second half), pulled down 15 rebounds and had seven blocks in the victory.

Senior Chris Rodriguez had a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds and Peter Ramanand scored nine points as North Bergen took full advantage of the mistakes that haunted Lincoln.

Smith in particular, was disheartened by his team’s struggles from foul line. The Lions converted on just 14-of-33 shots from the charity stripe and missed nine in a row midway through the game.

“We just missed a lot of shots,” Smith said. “And you just can’t do that in playoff basketball.

“We practice free throws every day for a number of minutes. Free throws, that’s a free shot.”

Tre Brooks had team-highs in points (15) and rebounds (10) for Lincoln before being ejected early in the fourth quarter after a hard foul. Shamar Bey had 13 points and nine rebounds and junior Marquise Hallman scored 12 points.

With the victory, North Bergen will advance to Wednesday’s semifinals to be held at St. Peter’s College. The Bruins will face the winner of Saturday’s matchup between No. 3 Marist and No. 11 Dickinson.

Marquise Hallman Lincoln

Guard Marquise Hallman had 12 points and four rebounds for the Lions.

  1 2 3 4 Total
Lincoln Lions (13-9)
15
10
14
14
53
North Bergen Bruins (17-3)
21
13
24
11
69
Lincoln   North Bergen
  2s 3s 1s Pts
Jamall McDaniel
1
0
2
4
Tre Brooks
4
1
4
15
Marquise Hallman
2
2
2
12
Jahmal Brown
0
0
0
0
Zakee Adams
0
0
0
0
Randy Henry
1
0
1
3
Shamar Bey
5
0
3
13
Lamar McKnight
1
0
2
4
Dyllin Smith
0
0
0
0
Donovan McClean
0
0
0
0
David Rivers
0
0
0
0
Robert Lane
1
0
0
2
Total
15
3
14
53
 
  2s 3s 1s Pts
Justin Glennon
2
0
1
5
Chris Rodriguez
3
0
4
10
Noel Allen
5
0
7
17
Dany Abrue
2
4
3
19
Peter Ramanand
2
1
2
9
Giovanni Rodriguez
1
0
2
4
Alejandro Vasquez
0
1
0
3
Chris Taveras
0
0
0
0
Khalied Saled
1
0
0
2
Jonathan McIntosh
0
0
0
0
Freddy Claros
0
0
0
0
Eduardo Garcia
0
0
0
0
Total
16
6
19
69
     

Lincoln: Brooks 10 rebounds; Bey 9 rebounds; Henry 7 rebounds; McKnight 7 rebounds; Hallman 4 rebounds. North Bergen: Allen 15 rebounds, 7 blocks, 6 assists; C. Rodriguez 12 rebounds; Abrue 5 rebounds; Glennon 4 rebounds; Ramanand 4 rebounds.