Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Cranford Girls State Tournament ends
West Morris High School in Long Valley is quickly becoming known as the place where Cranford Girls Basketball seasons come to die. For the second straight season the Cougars’ state tournament dreams came to an end against their Morris County rivals, with the 2012 34-32 loss far tougher to take than 2011’s 53-42 defeat. Although she would not blame the referees for the loss, Cranford Coach Jackie Dyer was still shaking her head over the final two calls of the game-each of which went against Cranford and decided the game.
With the score tied in the final ten seconds, a missed West Morris shot was rebounded by a player clearly jumping on a Cranford player’s back but the play was allowed to continue and the basket turned out to be the decisive points. A final Cranford attempt appeared to draw a foul and when it wasn’t called the crowd rushed the court even though there were 1.9 seconds left. The referees decided to leave the court instead of playing out the final 1.9 seconds.
“There was nothing we could do about the end of the game. That is what happens when you play an away game in front of a large, loud crowd. You don’t expect to get the calls,” said Dyer, who in the previous round’s victory over Nutley won her 100th game at Cranford, which averages out to 20 wins per year.
“I was not aware that I was so close to the milestone when somebody mentioned it to me in February. I am really glad I was able to get to 100 this year and it was nice to see Morgan get 1000 points, too. I wish I hadn’t stopped at 100,” said Dyer.
It speaks to the success of the program when a 24-5 record is greeted with yawns and a general disappointment that none of the team’s three major goals were attained. Cranford was edged by Governor Livingston for the conference crown, lost to the Highlanders in the Union County title game and finished two games from winning the section title, after losing in the finals in 2011 and winning the title in 2010. Despite their regular season success the Cougars have not been seeded higher than third in the section and Dyer knows how important it is to play the final games at home. In 2010, Cranford hosted Somerville in the section finals after Somerville had upset the top seed in the semis, giving Cranford a surprise home game.
Four of Cranford’s five losses this year came by a total of eight points and a two point loss at Linden when Cranford lost a five point lead in the final minute was a loss that could have made Cranford the top seed had it been reversed.
“The Linden and Dayton losses early in January were tough to take. We didn’t finish those games well,” said Dyer, who will lose only one starter, Morgan Miller.
“We should be very good next year. Morgan will be very hard to replace, but we have two four year starters (Jessica McCoy and Kaitlin McGovern) and two three starters (Jenna Goeller and Mairead McKearey) returning and a talented freshman class to add depth,” said Dyer.
Miller was the team’s leading scorer and became the second Cranford player to top 1000 points for her career. A supporting player to Jamie Webb on the 2010 section champions, Miller blossomed into a tremendous all around player who thrived on taking
important shots in the fourth quarter.
“We had a good year but we missed a lot of our goals and that leaves us feeling we did not accomplish what we wanted this year,” said Miller.
“They should be very good next year. There are four really good starters and Carly (Maucione) should be real good,” said Miller.
As is always the case with Dyer’s teams, Cranford was extremely stingy on defense, leading the county in least points allowed. McGovern led the team in blocked shots, McCoy was a tremendous rebounder and an excellent second option on offense.
McKearey was the team’s best ball defender and according to Dyer is the best she has ever coached.
“This team committed itself to playing defense and we played very well defensively all year. Most of the games we lost were not from lack of defense or effort,” said Dyer.
“This team has nothing to be ashamed of. They played hard every game and had a lot of success. We have built something very successful here and we hope to keep it going next year.”
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Cranford Girls Section Finals
For one quarter of Monday night’s section final it looked Cranford might complete a second consecutive unlikely run to a section title but unlike last year when the Cougars had the comfort of a home crowd to push them to victory the road and unstoppable Shayna Ericksen proved too much to overcome and Cranford’s season ended with 53-42 loss to West Morris in Long Valley. The game came just 48 hours after Cranford had won one of the most thrilling games in its history, knocking out top seed Chatham 53-49 in double overtime in the semifinal round of the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 2 tournament in Chatham
“The Chatham game definitely ranks up there in one of the most exciting games I've coached,” said Coach Jackie Dyer.
With the score tied in the second overtime, Mairead McKeary hit a long three point shot for the lead with 24 seconds remaining. After Chatham made a foul shot, Jenna
Goeller was fouled and calmly made two free throws in the closing seconds to make it a two possession game and clinch an improbable comeback. Cranford overcame an eight-point deficit in the fourth quarter to force overtime and held a two point lead late in the first overtime only to see Chatham tie it on two foul shots at the end of the first extra period. Sophomore Jessica McCoy led the Cougars with 14 points, Goeller scored 13 and Morgan Miller added 12 points for Cranford. Despite the formidable odds, McCoy never lost faith in Cranford’s ability to come back.
“We fought hard all game and I think we knew that we really had a shot to win it if we buckled down, played tough defense, and picked up our offense,” said McCoy.
McCoy, who played a key role in a great Cranford road victory over second seed Voorhees last year, believes that Cranford’s road success can be traced to the oldest basketball adage that defense travels better than offense.
"Defense has always been our strong point. Because of that we've been willing to take more risks offensively which gets us more points on the board,” said McCoy, whose thoughts were echoed by Dyer.
“Strong defense is something we pride ourselves in and work very hard at. Home or away if we are playing our defense it is going to be very hard for our opponent to win,” said Dyer.
After the great victory at Chatham, Dyer underscored her team’s attitude, which may have seemed cocky but was a great rallying point.
“We spoke during the whole state tournament that we are still the state sectional champs and will remain that way until we hand it over to someone else, something the girls aren't going to easily give up,” said Dyer.
“The Chatham game definitely ranks up there in one of the most exciting games I've coached,” said Coach Jackie Dyer.
With the score tied in the second overtime, Mairead McKeary hit a long three point shot for the lead with 24 seconds remaining. After Chatham made a foul shot, Jenna
Goeller was fouled and calmly made two free throws in the closing seconds to make it a two possession game and clinch an improbable comeback. Cranford overcame an eight-point deficit in the fourth quarter to force overtime and held a two point lead late in the first overtime only to see Chatham tie it on two foul shots at the end of the first extra period. Sophomore Jessica McCoy led the Cougars with 14 points, Goeller scored 13 and Morgan Miller added 12 points for Cranford. Despite the formidable odds, McCoy never lost faith in Cranford’s ability to come back.
“We fought hard all game and I think we knew that we really had a shot to win it if we buckled down, played tough defense, and picked up our offense,” said McCoy.
McCoy, who played a key role in a great Cranford road victory over second seed Voorhees last year, believes that Cranford’s road success can be traced to the oldest basketball adage that defense travels better than offense.
"Defense has always been our strong point. Because of that we've been willing to take more risks offensively which gets us more points on the board,” said McCoy, whose thoughts were echoed by Dyer.
“Strong defense is something we pride ourselves in and work very hard at. Home or away if we are playing our defense it is going to be very hard for our opponent to win,” said Dyer.
After the great victory at Chatham, Dyer underscored her team’s attitude, which may have seemed cocky but was a great rallying point.
“We spoke during the whole state tournament that we are still the state sectional champs and will remain that way until we hand it over to someone else, something the girls aren't going to easily give up,” said Dyer.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
St Patrick's Boys
It did not take long to make one realize that this was not going to be your run of the mill weekday high school basketball game on the first Thursday of the New Year. For one thing, the Cranford High School gym was nearly full and rocking to the sounds of high octane inspirational music twenty minutes before game time and nervous smiles abounded among the members of the Cranford team and their Coach Ryan Huber. The basketball contest was unlike any in Cranford’s long history. On the other end of the court was St. Patrick’s, the state’s number one team and second ranked nationally. It was the highest nationally ranked opponent to ever set foot on a Cranford athletic venue and the goal of the heavily underdog Cougar team was simple; leave everything on the court and don’t hold anything back.
The final score of 90-41 does not do the game justice. For five magical minutes in the first quarter the Cranford five could have been wearing Milan High School jerseys like the high school team in Hoosiers. They showed no fear of their larger, more talented rivals and when Bryan Fitzsimmons hit a jumper they had a 12-10 lead with 3:20 to go in the first quarter. The inevitable began to happen as the visitors ran 11 straight points but Kurt Rutmayer finished the first quarter with a three pointer from the corner to cut the lead to 21-15. When Rutmayer hit another three midway through the second quarter the score was still a manageable 32-21 before the size, talent and athleticism of St Patrick’s took hold for a 48-23 halftime lead but after the game the team was as ecstatic as any team that just lost by 49 points. The outcome of this game was never in doubt but for much of the first half the Cougars gave their fans some indelible memories.
“We sat here before the game and talked about taking it to them and nobody backed down,” said Huber, who realized the inevitability of the result.
“They wore us down with their height and talent. Once we lost our stamina the game got out of hand but we proved we belonged,” added Huber, who thought his team was lackluster in a loss to Elizabeth earlier in the week,
“I am hoping this type of game can be a building block for our confidence. If we can handle the ball and run our offense against a team like this then we should be able to do this every game.”
On the other bench, renowned Coach Kevin Boyle of St. Patrick’s seemed almost remorseful about the eventual mismatch.
“It is not easy to coach games like this when you are supposed to win by a lot of points. We much prefer more competitive games but we are playing within the guidelines we are forced to,” said Boyle referring to a rule established in 2009 that forces schools to play at least 70% of their games against in state competition.
St. Patrick’s, despite being a small parochial school from Elizabeth, draws its players from all over the metropolitan area and plays a national schedule. Two of their alumni currently play in the NBA and several others will soon join them including their currently prodigy, 6’7 senior Michael Gilchrist, who wowed the crowd with his silky moves.
Although Boyle would prefer not to play such one sided games, he added that the Watchung Conference is as competitive a high school league as you can find. Cranford, which dropped to 2-4 after the loss realized that playing in the top division of the Watchung Conference, would be a humbling experience.
“This is a big step up from anything we have ever experienced but it will make us a better team in the long run. So many of our starters are multi sport athletes and are used to winning almost every game they play so this can be tough on them,” said Huber.
For the Cougars it was an opportunity to compete against an elite team.
“It was an honor to be out on the court with those guys. At least one of them is going to be in the NBA in a few years,” said guard Sean Trotter, who led Cranford with 14 points.
“That was a great experience. We brought it to them and took our shots. And they never blocked any of my shots,” added Rutmayer.
“Once the game starts you don’t think about the names on their uniforms. It’s a basketball game and we were competing. You can’t look at it any other way,” added guard Joey Papandrea.
For Huber, who said he gave the most impassioned pre game and half time speeches of his career, the aftermath was the important lesson.
“This game was memorable but it will only mean something if we remember how we played and take this attitude into every game.”
The final score of 90-41 does not do the game justice. For five magical minutes in the first quarter the Cranford five could have been wearing Milan High School jerseys like the high school team in Hoosiers. They showed no fear of their larger, more talented rivals and when Bryan Fitzsimmons hit a jumper they had a 12-10 lead with 3:20 to go in the first quarter. The inevitable began to happen as the visitors ran 11 straight points but Kurt Rutmayer finished the first quarter with a three pointer from the corner to cut the lead to 21-15. When Rutmayer hit another three midway through the second quarter the score was still a manageable 32-21 before the size, talent and athleticism of St Patrick’s took hold for a 48-23 halftime lead but after the game the team was as ecstatic as any team that just lost by 49 points. The outcome of this game was never in doubt but for much of the first half the Cougars gave their fans some indelible memories.
“We sat here before the game and talked about taking it to them and nobody backed down,” said Huber, who realized the inevitability of the result.
“They wore us down with their height and talent. Once we lost our stamina the game got out of hand but we proved we belonged,” added Huber, who thought his team was lackluster in a loss to Elizabeth earlier in the week,
“I am hoping this type of game can be a building block for our confidence. If we can handle the ball and run our offense against a team like this then we should be able to do this every game.”
On the other bench, renowned Coach Kevin Boyle of St. Patrick’s seemed almost remorseful about the eventual mismatch.
“It is not easy to coach games like this when you are supposed to win by a lot of points. We much prefer more competitive games but we are playing within the guidelines we are forced to,” said Boyle referring to a rule established in 2009 that forces schools to play at least 70% of their games against in state competition.
St. Patrick’s, despite being a small parochial school from Elizabeth, draws its players from all over the metropolitan area and plays a national schedule. Two of their alumni currently play in the NBA and several others will soon join them including their currently prodigy, 6’7 senior Michael Gilchrist, who wowed the crowd with his silky moves.
Although Boyle would prefer not to play such one sided games, he added that the Watchung Conference is as competitive a high school league as you can find. Cranford, which dropped to 2-4 after the loss realized that playing in the top division of the Watchung Conference, would be a humbling experience.
“This is a big step up from anything we have ever experienced but it will make us a better team in the long run. So many of our starters are multi sport athletes and are used to winning almost every game they play so this can be tough on them,” said Huber.
For the Cougars it was an opportunity to compete against an elite team.
“It was an honor to be out on the court with those guys. At least one of them is going to be in the NBA in a few years,” said guard Sean Trotter, who led Cranford with 14 points.
“That was a great experience. We brought it to them and took our shots. And they never blocked any of my shots,” added Rutmayer.
“Once the game starts you don’t think about the names on their uniforms. It’s a basketball game and we were competing. You can’t look at it any other way,” added guard Joey Papandrea.
For Huber, who said he gave the most impassioned pre game and half time speeches of his career, the aftermath was the important lesson.
“This game was memorable but it will only mean something if we remember how we played and take this attitude into every game.”
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