February 12, 2012

Secaucus' Tom Kessler had seven of his nine points in the second half. (Photo: Jason Bernstein)

Kearny at Secaucus Boys Basketball Photo Gallery

SECAUCUS – During its four-game losing streak this week, Jason Mitchell and his Secaucus teammates have seen the painful consequences of being unable to finish out games.

There wasn't too much positive that could be said about the Patriots offensively yesterday. But this time they were able to close strong and have a victory to show for it.

After struggling for virtually the entire afternoon, Secaucus' offense came alive with 12 points in the final 3:40 to defeat Kearny 41-37 in the Play-In Round of the Hudson County Tournament.

"It's a real big relief. The last couple of games we couldn't do anything (late)," said Mitchell, the team's junior point guard. "We lost in the second half every single game. But today we finally finished one out and got the W."

"We've been playing hard, we just haven't been able to finish," coach Bill Millevoi said. "Tonight we were able to finish and the kids feel good."

There was little the 16th-seeded Patriots (8-12) could feel good about offensively for the first 28 minutes of play as a seemingly endless string of missed shots and turnovers had resulted in just 29 points and six-point deficit.

But the momentum started to turn midway in the fourth. A Joe Curran put-back snapped a near-five minute scoring drought to make it a four-point game. Tom Kessler would tie the game at 35-all with consecutive baskets. The later coming on an open layup off a Mitchell side inbounds pass.

On the next possession, Mitchell attacked the Kearny (5-17) zone and kicked out to an open Shawn Egan for a corner 3-pointer to break the deadlock with 1:03 left in the game.

"(Egan) missed a couple of shots early and I guess they concentrated on (Shawn) Duda on the other side," said Millevoi about Egan, who had scored just two points up until that basket.  "When Mitchell attacked the zone, they came in on him, thinking he would take it for a lay-up and he kicked it out to Egan and Egan was open."

"When he's in the game I think it's so much different," Mitchell said. "He's get us going because he's one of the seniors and he motivates us. When he's in the game, he hits big shots for us."

Pema Lama closed out the game and punched Secaucus' ticket to the next round with three free throws in the final 39 seconds for his only points of the game.

"They made the big plays, give them credit," Kearny coach Bill Mullins said. "They made the plays at the end. We didn't make the plays."

Curran had 10 points and nine rebounds with Kessler adding nine points and six rebounds. Mitchell finished with seven points, seven rebounds and five assists as the Patriots now advance to face No. 1 seed Hudson Catholic on Wednesday.

Evan Piwowarski shook off early foul trouble to score nine second half points en route to a game-high 15 for the 17th-seeded Kardinals. Dylan Hoch added seven points and seven rebounds in defeat. Hoch's layup with 5:30 left gave Kearny its biggest lead of the day at 35-29.

Keavny's Dylan Hoch had seven points and seven rebounds in the loss. (Photo: Jason Bernstein)

Kearny at Secaucus Boys Basketball Photo Gallery