Post by 01- PirateDave on Feb 15, 2015 9:44:38 GMT -6
T.J. Gibbs(below), Younger Brother Of Star Brother Sterling Gibbs Who Plays For Seton Hall University.
Defense & Rebounding Vital
As SHP Edges East Side In Essex County Tournament
By Aaron Matthews
NEWARK - It's a Saturday in February and the message at the top of the whiteboard in the Seton Hall Prep locker room is the same one which has appeared in front of Pirate players year after year.
"As long as I've been at Seton Hall Prep, the first thing we put on the board on Saturdays is 'defense and rebounding wins county championships.'" said Seton Hall Prep head coach Kevin Williams. "Everybody can score at this stage. You're going to have to get more stops than the other team. That's the thing that we rely on. If you can't stop the other team, you're not going to win a county championship."
That message has been consistent during Williams' four seasons as head coach at Seton Hall Prep and for many more when he was an assistant under the legendary Bob Farrell for 16 years. Equally as consistent has been the Seton Hall Prep success, which has come with it.
When top-seeded Seton Hall Prep (19-1) saw its offense sputter, its defense was there to pick up the slack with key stops to propel the Pirates to another Essex County Tournament final as they defeated fourth-seeded Newark East Side, 53-49, in a semifinal showdown at Weequahic High School's Coach Les Fein Arena.
With the victory, Seton Hall Prep will play for its fourth ECT title in five years when it squares off with East Orange next Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at Essex County College. It will be the 18th ECT final appearance in 20 years for the West Orange school.
"(Defense is) something we worked on in practice a lot this week, knowing that they were going to come out and be aggressive," junior guard T.J. Gibbs said. "We had to keep our man in front of us. Coach really pushed us on defensive slides and keeping us ready for this week."
Despite beating East Side (12-7) twice in the regular season, including by 27 points just nine days earlier, this one would not come easy for the Pirates. Seton Hall Prep, which entered the game averaging 68.8 points per contest, was held to just 15 in the second half by an aggressive Red Raider defense.
What was a 15-point Seton Hall Prep lead at halftime was cut to two at 46-44 on Elijah Oliyani's put-back with 1:48 left in the game. The Pirates held on as Doug Gertner found Kelly Hogan for a layup and Stephen Ferraro forced a steal on the ensuing possession. Gertner, Ferraro and Gibbs combined to hit 5-of-8 foul shots in the final minute to preserve the victory.
"It was a tough game. We knew it was going to be tough," said Ferraro, "We knew we were going to have to pull it out at the end. We knew we had to rebound at the end and that's what we did."
Ferraro had four of his six rebounds in the fourth quarter for Seton Hall Prep. The junior guard, who had seven points, seven assists and three steals, also hit a key shot right before the third quarter buzzer, snapping a 9-0 East Side run to give the Pirates a 42-36 advantage heading into the fourth.
"At the end of the game, (Ferraro's) got five rebounds and he's got some steals and he's played good defense. You need guys like that," Williams said. "We always seem to have somebody who likes to play that role, whether its Spencer Weisz or Matt Skrelja or somebody like that in the past. You need guys that are going to do all the little dirty work."
Gibbs scored 12 of his game-high 15 points in a first quarter, which included back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Pirates a 21-8 lead later in the period. Gertner and Hogan each had eight points while Zach Keller added seven points.
Taj Price paced East Side with 13 points and seven rebounds while Jibreel Ahmad added 10 points and six assists. Oliyani had eight points and nine rebounds while Jahid Jenkins and Ahmad Harrison added eight and seven points respectively.
NEWARK EAST SIDE (12-7) 11 12 13 13 - 49
SETON HALL PREP (19-1) 23 15 6 9 - 53
NEWARK EAST SIDE: Ahmad Harrison 2-1-0-7, Jibreel Ahmad 3-1-1-10, Taj Price 4-1-2-13, Jahid Jenkins 2-1-2-9, Elijah Oliyani 4-0-0-8, Darnell Brodie 1-0-0-2, Jaiyer Jinwright 0-0-0-0, Hassan Ceesay 0-0-0-0, Shamir Johnson 0-0-0-0. Total: 16-4-5-49.
SETON HALL PREP: T.J. Gibbs 0-3-6-15, Doug Gertner 0-1-5-8, Stephen Ferraro 3-0-1-7, Kelly Hogan 4-0-0-8, Zach Keller 2-1-0-7, JJ Jenkins 2-0-2-6, Treyvon Bennett 1-0-0-2, Ryan Toohers 0-0-0-0. Total: 12-5-14-53.
Newark East Side: Oliyani 9 rebounds; Price 7 rebounds; Ahmad 6 assists. Seton Hall Prep: Ferraro 7 assists, 6 rebounds; Gibbs 5 rebounds; Keller 5 rebounds.
Defense & Rebounding Vital
As SHP Edges East Side In Essex County Tournament
By Aaron Matthews
NEWARK - It's a Saturday in February and the message at the top of the whiteboard in the Seton Hall Prep locker room is the same one which has appeared in front of Pirate players year after year.
"As long as I've been at Seton Hall Prep, the first thing we put on the board on Saturdays is 'defense and rebounding wins county championships.'" said Seton Hall Prep head coach Kevin Williams. "Everybody can score at this stage. You're going to have to get more stops than the other team. That's the thing that we rely on. If you can't stop the other team, you're not going to win a county championship."
That message has been consistent during Williams' four seasons as head coach at Seton Hall Prep and for many more when he was an assistant under the legendary Bob Farrell for 16 years. Equally as consistent has been the Seton Hall Prep success, which has come with it.
When top-seeded Seton Hall Prep (19-1) saw its offense sputter, its defense was there to pick up the slack with key stops to propel the Pirates to another Essex County Tournament final as they defeated fourth-seeded Newark East Side, 53-49, in a semifinal showdown at Weequahic High School's Coach Les Fein Arena.
With the victory, Seton Hall Prep will play for its fourth ECT title in five years when it squares off with East Orange next Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at Essex County College. It will be the 18th ECT final appearance in 20 years for the West Orange school.
"(Defense is) something we worked on in practice a lot this week, knowing that they were going to come out and be aggressive," junior guard T.J. Gibbs said. "We had to keep our man in front of us. Coach really pushed us on defensive slides and keeping us ready for this week."
Despite beating East Side (12-7) twice in the regular season, including by 27 points just nine days earlier, this one would not come easy for the Pirates. Seton Hall Prep, which entered the game averaging 68.8 points per contest, was held to just 15 in the second half by an aggressive Red Raider defense.
What was a 15-point Seton Hall Prep lead at halftime was cut to two at 46-44 on Elijah Oliyani's put-back with 1:48 left in the game. The Pirates held on as Doug Gertner found Kelly Hogan for a layup and Stephen Ferraro forced a steal on the ensuing possession. Gertner, Ferraro and Gibbs combined to hit 5-of-8 foul shots in the final minute to preserve the victory.
"It was a tough game. We knew it was going to be tough," said Ferraro, "We knew we were going to have to pull it out at the end. We knew we had to rebound at the end and that's what we did."
Ferraro had four of his six rebounds in the fourth quarter for Seton Hall Prep. The junior guard, who had seven points, seven assists and three steals, also hit a key shot right before the third quarter buzzer, snapping a 9-0 East Side run to give the Pirates a 42-36 advantage heading into the fourth.
"At the end of the game, (Ferraro's) got five rebounds and he's got some steals and he's played good defense. You need guys like that," Williams said. "We always seem to have somebody who likes to play that role, whether its Spencer Weisz or Matt Skrelja or somebody like that in the past. You need guys that are going to do all the little dirty work."
Gibbs scored 12 of his game-high 15 points in a first quarter, which included back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Pirates a 21-8 lead later in the period. Gertner and Hogan each had eight points while Zach Keller added seven points.
Taj Price paced East Side with 13 points and seven rebounds while Jibreel Ahmad added 10 points and six assists. Oliyani had eight points and nine rebounds while Jahid Jenkins and Ahmad Harrison added eight and seven points respectively.
NEWARK EAST SIDE (12-7) 11 12 13 13 - 49
SETON HALL PREP (19-1) 23 15 6 9 - 53
NEWARK EAST SIDE: Ahmad Harrison 2-1-0-7, Jibreel Ahmad 3-1-1-10, Taj Price 4-1-2-13, Jahid Jenkins 2-1-2-9, Elijah Oliyani 4-0-0-8, Darnell Brodie 1-0-0-2, Jaiyer Jinwright 0-0-0-0, Hassan Ceesay 0-0-0-0, Shamir Johnson 0-0-0-0. Total: 16-4-5-49.
SETON HALL PREP: T.J. Gibbs 0-3-6-15, Doug Gertner 0-1-5-8, Stephen Ferraro 3-0-1-7, Kelly Hogan 4-0-0-8, Zach Keller 2-1-0-7, JJ Jenkins 2-0-2-6, Treyvon Bennett 1-0-0-2, Ryan Toohers 0-0-0-0. Total: 12-5-14-53.
Newark East Side: Oliyani 9 rebounds; Price 7 rebounds; Ahmad 6 assists. Seton Hall Prep: Ferraro 7 assists, 6 rebounds; Gibbs 5 rebounds; Keller 5 rebounds.
good luck to all!