Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey • Page 33

COURIER-POST, Monday, March 11, 2002 7D VARSITY EXTRA Burlington City rolls to Group 1 state crown i 1 vi'' 1 (' J' j. .1 i) jl 'V) ff court press we didn't know what to do," said Steven Lopez, who scored seven points for Cresskill. "It was new to us, seeing pressure like that. Give them credit. We didn't play well and they had a lot to do with it." Burlington City kept going and extended its lead to 62-30 at the end of the third quarter.

"We did what we had to do to win, it's been that way all season," Warrick said. "Like Morris getting the MVP award tonight, it's been a different player practically every game. "These kids have played together since seventh and eighth grade. That's why they play so well together. Now we've got to move on to the next challenge." That next challenge will be against Newark East Side, the Group 4 state champion in the of at 1 p.m.

Saturday at the Dunn Center in Elizabeth. school not having won a state title since 1966," said point guard Keith Watkins, who finished with eight points. "We're all seniors and we wanted to give the school something to remember us with. This is nice." Warrick is looking forward to more games for his team. "The fun isn't over yet," Warrick said.

"We've got the Tournament of Champions to prepare for and we'll be practicing (Monday). That's gravy, though, the of C. You've got to remember nobody can take away our state championship. The kids worked hard to get it." Burlington City, 28-1 and No. 4 in the Courier-Post Top 20 rankings, made a lasting impression on Cresskill's players.

Matt Henry, who came into the game averaging over 23 points and finished with 18, said he hadn't faced a team like Burlington City all year. "We haven't seen anybody like them," said Henry, who will be attending the University of New Hampshire to play basketball in the fall. "We played hard but it wasn't good enough. It was their pressure that we couldn't handle. "We couldn't get into our offense.

It's not as much as what we couldn't do as much as it was their pressure." Burlington City's defense forced Cresskill into 15-for-50 shooting, including 3-for-15 from 3-point range. "When they started the full- Burlington City High School's Joel second quarter of Sunday's Group SCOTT ANDERSONCourier-Post Rodriguez (right) shoots over Cresskill's Christian Varas during the 1 championship game. HeartShawnee comes close Newark East Side defeats Shawnee By WALT BURROWS Courier-Post Staff PISCATAWAY The Burlington City High School boys' basketball team paid back its faithful fans on Sunday. For the first time since 1966 the Blue Devils are state champions after a 75-44 victory over Cresskill in the Group 1 game at Rutgers University's Louis Brown Athletic Center. "It's a small town with a lot of proud people in their basketball," said Burlington City coach Bryan Warrick, who is in his seventh season.

"You see a lot of Blue Devil jackets and we had tremendous support throughout the season and the playoffs." The team had plenty of support on the court, also. Tyrone Morris scored 18 points as three of City's starting five scored in double figures. "We don't worry about who gets what," said Najah Pruden, a little gimpy with a tightly taped ankle after scoring 15 points and handing off six assists. "We're a team, we play that way. I know Tyrone was on fire in the first half and that's when we built up a big lead." It seemed as though the Bergen County school was overmatched from the opening tap as the Blue Devils jumped to a 154 lead in the first quarter and led 39-20 at the half.

"We were motivated by the SHAWNEE NEWARK EAST SIDE 14 7 9 1747 14 11 15 1050 SHAWNEE Johnson 3-4 0-0 6, Martin 4-9 2-4 10. Nielsen 4-7 0-2 8, Kurtz 4-7 4-4 15, McDonald 3-7 0-0 6, Evans 0-1 0-0 0, Bowen 0-1 0-0 0, Romeo 1-30-0 2. Totals 19-396-1047. NEWARK EAST SIDE Carswell 3-5 3-4 9, O'Neil 1-2 2-3 4, McSwaln 7-12 0-1 14, Mitchell 2-12 1-2 7, Foye 7-19 1-2 16, Edwards 0-0 OO 0. Totals 20-50 7-12 50.

3-point goals Shawnee 3-8 (Martin 0-2, Kurtz 3-5, Bowen 0-1), Newark East Side 3-20 (McSwain 0-2, Mitchell 2-9, Foye 1-9). Rebounds Shawnee 32 (Martin 11). Newark East Side 25 (O'Neil 6). Assists Shawnee 10 (Kurtz 4), Newark East Side 1 1 (Foye 7). Fouls Shawnee 14, Newark East Side 12.

Officials Lauterhan, Lewis, Ruth. With less than five seconds remaining, Molosky shot in and was close to securing a takedown, but time expired. "I thought that I lost," said Fisch, who felt he may have underestimated Molosky. "He was a lot stringer than I thought he would be. I think I should have went after him a little more." As for next year, Fisch knows repeating as state champion isn't going to be a given.

"I'm going to have to work twice as hard to win," he said. Delsea coach Steve lies said there's a lot more of Fisch to come, "He hasn't shown everything he has yet," said lies. "I work out with him everyday and he just amazes me." Cresskill Burlington City 10 10 10 14 17 22 23 1375 CRESSKILL (44) Mercado 0-0-0, Varas 2-0-4, Lopez 2-(1)-0-7, Neira 0-(1)-2-5, Horowitz 2-1-5, Henry 4-(1)-5-16, Duncan r0-0, Nelson 2-3-7. Totals 12-(3)-11-44. BURLINGTON CITY (75) Watkins 4-0-8, Lane 2-1-5, Meador 2-0-4.

Pruden 6-(1)-0-15. Morris 4-(3)-1-18, Husted 1-0-2, Ttiomas 1 -(3)-2-13, Rodriguez 0-0-0, Marshall 0-0-0, Hudson 510. Totals 25-7)-4-75. Games Wanted HAMMONTON St. Joseph is looking for baseball games, home or away, any group.

Call AD Bob McCluskey at (609) 704-2400 ext. 115. GLOUCESTER TWP. Highland High School needs scrimmages for football, Sept. 13 or 14 and boysgirls soccer, Sept.

9 or 10. Call Athletic Director Chris Dziczek at (856) 227-4100 ext. 4032. Johnson played outstanding defense, and junior Dan McDonald widened some eyes with a couple of athletic drives in the second half. "It's a loss, and that's tough," said Kurtz, who was 4-for-4 from the foul line, made all three of Shawnee's 3-pointers and also dished four assists.

"The fact that we came back the way we did, that makes it a little bit worse." Newark East Side won the game with a couple of clutch plays in the final minute. Senior guard Randy Foye hit a tough shot from about 14 feet an off-balance runner with two defenders in his face to snap the 4747 tie with 40 seconds to play, and added a free throw at the 14.7-sec-ond mark. "That's why he's rated as high as he is," Kessler said of the 6-foot-3 Foye. OK, so maybe some past Shawnee teams, especially the ones with Danny Earl or Brian Earl handling the basketball, and with Kirk Luchman or Malik Allen in the paint, would have found a way in the last minute. This team came up a little short.

Kurtz, who was terrific in handling the Red Raiders' pressure for 32 minutes, misfired on a pass with 15.8 seconds on the clock, and Martin missed that 3-point attempt with three seconds to play. In the end, a desperation shot by Kurtz bounced off the side of the backboard and Newark East Side players raced to midcourt to celebrate the first state title in the program's history. "They're scrappy and they're smart," Newark East Side assistant coach Anthony Tavares said. "They kept it real close." Close usually isn't good enough at Shawnee. The Renegades have too many real victories to put much stock in moral ones.

But there are always exceptions. These Renegades, they made their mark. They met the standards at South Jersey's best program over the last decade state title or no state title. Phil Anastasia is the sports columnist for the Courier-Post. x.

By WALT BURROWS Courier-Post Staff PISCATAWAY Shawnee High School, seeking its fifth Group 4 state boys' championship against a heavily favored Newark East Side, took the North Jersey school down to the wire before dropping a 50-47 decision Sunday at the Louis Brown Athletic Center on the Rutgers University campus. All the excitement built to the end when Newark East Side was holding a three-point lead, but Shawnee had the ball looking to set up a 3-pointer as time was running out. Villanova-bound Randy Foye had given Newark East Side the advantage with a free throw with 14.7 seconds remaining. Shawnee's Zach Martin missed a long 3-pointer with 3.4 seconds left but Shawnee retained possession and called a timeout with 1.3 seconds left. Coach Joe Kessler set up the play he wanted to run but Newark East Side used its final timeout to disrupt Shawnee's plans.

At least temporarily. "We wanted to see what they had set up," said Newark coach Bryant Garvin. "Then we decided what to do defensively." The plan worked perfectly because Shawnee's Bill Kurtz was suiTounded by two defenders as soon as he took Dan McDonald's cross-court pass deep in the left corner. "We had Zach coming across the middle and he was covered," Kessler said. "Then he went to Billy and they had two guys on him.

It was a desperation shot at that time." Shawnee, 24-5 and No. 2 in the Courier-Post Top 20 rankings, trailed East Side 42-30 early in the fourth quarter after Newark's David McSwain's twisting layup. But back came the Rene v. Pm 4 .4. iVi- Continued from Page ID line.

It was just a little short" Martin was upset with himself after his final game for the Renegades. But the Harvard-bound athlete should be proud of his performance, and of his team's play. The 6-foot-5 Martin collected a double-double with 11 rebounds and 10 points. Junior point guard Bill Kurtz led Shawnee with 15 points, including a deep 3-pointer with 1:17 to play that tied the score at 47 and sent shock waves through the crowd of around 5,000 spectators. "We got a burst of energy," Kurtz said of the Renegades' rally from a 42-30 deficit early in the fourth quarter.

"I knew we had to make one last run. It was now or never. When I hit that (3-pointer), everything was going our way." Said Kessler "We had the momentum. I thought if we could make one more defensive stop It was remarkable that Shawnee was in that position. Giving up quickness at every position against a Newark East Side team that hadn't lost since an opening day setback to St.

Anthony's, the Renegades struggled to bring the basketball up the court and to create open looks. But Kessler and Shawnee always seem to find a way in games of this magnitude. They control the tempo, stay close, move the basketball, maneuver themselves deep into the fourth quarter and suddenly the score is tied and there's less than a minute on the clock. "When you come up here this time of the year, you have to turn it up a notch," Kessler said. "The pressure, the quickness, we don't see that in South Jersey.

That's why we play teams like Neptune in the regular season." Later, Kessler said, "Our kids are smart and tough and they play together. When you do that, you can compensate for a lot of things." Given the caliber of competition, Martin and Kurtz were terrific. Senior Henrik Nielsen chipped in with eight points and five rebounds. Sophomore Brett if gf fc' Wfef' A iifllifcriiiiiL gades. Kurtz hit a 3-pointer, Brett Johnson a layup and Martin l-of-2 free throws to make it 42-36 with 5:46 left.

Newark's Calvin O'Neil hit two free throws that Martin offset with a basket and Shawnee trailed by six with just over three minutes remaining. The margin remained at six until Henrik Nielsen and McDonald scored on a putback and short jumper, respectively, to bring Shawnee within 46-44 with less than two minutes to go. Jeff Carswell's free throw put the North Jersey 28-1 champs ahead 47-44 with 1:31 left. It got a little louder when Kurtz hit a 3-pointer to tie it at 47 with 1:16 remaining. However, Foye hit a bucket to set the stage for the wild finish.

"Shawnee is very smart and they scrap," said East Side's assistant coach Anthony Taveras, who handled-most of the questions in the postgame interview. "Their point guard (Kurtz) created shots for the other people. "Most of our kids have played together for three or four years and always play under control in any situations." That experience was evident in the turnover category. East Side turned the ball over only four times compared to Shawnee's 15. Foye, who shot 7-for-19 overall but only l-for-9 from 3-point range finished with 16 points and seven assists for East Side.

"Foye is a great player," Kessler said. "He did everything for them. They needed a basket, he got the ball. He's going to be a fine college player." Kurtz finished with 15 points. Shawnee hurt itself as much as East Side disrupted its offense.

"We got hurt by our own mistakes." Kessler said. "We knew how good they were. They had five guards out there. Some of them were listed as forwards but impressive season with a 3-2 win over Butler's Anthony Leardi. It was also Bridge's 100th career win.

Bridge, who won a Beast of the East Title in Newark, earlier in the year, had two pins and a technical fall in his previous three matches. "I'm gonna take a little break, start lifting again, then get back to wrestling," said the three-time Region 8 champion. After Stinson broke his brother's record, Absegaml junior Jeff Black (189) reclaimed something for the family when he won his first state title with a 12-6 win over Southern Regional senior Dan Clark. Black (35-1), who came in as a fourth sleed, feels that conditioii- SCOTT ANDERSONCourier-Post Henrik Nielsen hangs his head In disappointment after Shawnee lost the state Group 4 title to Newark East Side. TitlesStinson completes career with state championship they were very quick.

"We haven't seen that pressure all year." In the end, it was Foye who did in the Renegades with his basket at the end. "Good ballplayers make their shots but I'm very proud the way our kids came back," Kessler said. "I knew we had one more run left in us. We just fell a little short." ing was the determining factor between this year's title and last year, when he lost in the consolation quarterfinals. "All a high school wrestler can ask for is good people to work out with," said Black, who mentioned 215-pounder Zach Hammond and assistant coach and two-time state champion Pat Lynch as two of his biggest workout partners.

Unlike Bridge however, Black doesn't plan to take any time off. "I like wrestling too much," he said. "It's not a chore for me." Time was a factor in Delsea junior Don Fisch's 10-9 win over Pinelands senior Mike Molosky in the 135-pound final. It was also B'isch's first state title. Continued from Page ID weights like Tom and Mike (Mendenhall) for a long time," he said.

Curl joined Cherry Hill West senior Ryan Cunningham (160) as South Jersey's only repeat champions. Cunningham (37-0) beat Toms River East senior Vinnie Salek 9-2 and ended his career with a 74 match win streak. "I wanted to do it for everyone that came here to support me," said a teary-eyed Cunningham. "It took a lot of pressure to win because it's so hard to repeat." Absegaml took home the first of its two titles when junior Ryan Bridge (37-0)'capped off an JOHN ZIOMEKCourler-Post Delsea's Don Fisch celebrates after defeating Pinelands' Mike Molosky for the 135-pound championship..