The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • 213

high cchoolcolleg: SUNDAY, MARCH 12. 1SS3 THE RECORD Infantino's goal saves St. Joseph Elizabeth takes Trenton by storm HOCKEY GROUP 4 1 ''i By Thomas Simons Jr. Correspondent MORRIS TOWNSHIP Senior left wing Dave Infantino scored on a rebound at 4:53 of overtime to give St Joseph a 5-4 victory over two-time defending state champion Montclair in the semifinals of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association hockey tournament in Mennen Arena. The victory put the Green Knights (24-2-1) into the final next Saturday against Delbarton (24-3-2) at 7 p.m.

in Mennen Arena. Delbarton reached the finals with an 8-2 victory over Brick in the other semifinal game. "It was our turn this time," said St. Joseph coach Ron Skibin. "Montclair gave us a lot of trouble all season and after beating us last week in the Gordon Cup final, we knew that this game would not be an easy one." The Mounties (17-9-1) took a 3-2 lead early in the third period on a goal by left wing Erik Bayers-dorfer.

St. Joseph rallied with two goals in 57 seconds to take a 4-3 lead. Center Mark Umeda scored an unassisted goal with 5:48 left and senior center Ken Blum scored his 50th goal of the season on a break- By Bob Kurtand Record Start Writer HACKENSACK A crowd of inore than 2,000 Saturday afternoon watched Trenton attempt to dethrone Elizabeth, the state Group 4 boys basketball champion, and 7-foot-2 Luther Wright The Tornadoes came close. With Wright on the bench with four personal fouls, Trenton took a 61-55 lead with 3V4 minutes to play. But the big junior returned to the game with a roar and lifted the Minutemen to a 70-63 victory for the Group 4 championship at Fairleigh Dickinson University's Rothman Center.

Elizabeth (27-3) could earn the second or third seed in this week's New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Tournament of Champions. Tyrone Billingsley's bank shot started the 11-0 run that put Elizabeth in control. Wright followed with a three-point play. Defensive ace Mike Mateiro who finished with four steals, six rebounds, and 1 2 points hit a jump shot to give Elizabeth a 62-61 lead. After Trenton missed a shot, Wright grabbed the rebound and fired a full-court pass to DeWar-ren Watkins, who was fouled but missed two free throws.

Trenton got the ball and missed another shot. Elizabeth moved the ball up-court to Wright, who stuffed it to make it 64-61 with 1:15 to go. Mike Brennan completed the run with 46 seconds to play. was really down on myself JOHN DECKERTHE RECORD to rally Elizabeth to a 70-63 victory final at FDU's Rothman Center. Grant lifts Trenton into Div.

Ill semis MEN'S BASKETBALL First-half breakdown fatal to Sparta By Bob Kurland Record Staff Writer HACKENSACK Mike Edwards and Jon Deeb played on a championship junior high school team four years ago. They met again as opponents Saturday afternoon with Edwards leading Eastern Regional to a 73-63 win ever Sparta to win the Group 3 state championship. difference was that Eastern held Sparta's point guard to 13 points below his average of 20 while Edwards, even on an off day, pumped in 33 at Fairleigh Dickinson's Rothman Center. The Vikings (27-5) won the game early as they sprinted to a 43-23 halftime lead behind a pressure defense that pinned Sparta in its backcourt. "It was hard playing against Deeb," said Edwards.

"The last time I played with him was in eighth grade and then I saw him in basketball camp. But our defense EWING TOWNSHIP Greg Grant scored 38 points, including 10 in an early 16-0 spurt, to carry No. 1 Trenton State past Potsdam State, 78-62, Saturday night, and into the NCAA Division III men's basketball semifinals for the first time in the school's history. Trenton State (29-1), which won its 24th consecutive game and 30th in a row at home, will play Southern Maine Friday at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. Southern Maine advanced with a 79-71 victory over Franklin Marshall in Saturday's other quarterfinal.

Grant became the leading scorer in New Jersey collegiate basketball history, reaching 2,540 points. He moved ahead of Bill Bradley, who had 2,503 for Princeton, and Ron Kornegay, who had 2,526 at Monmouth. The senior guard was the Division III scoring leader this season with a 32.2 points per game average. The Lions trailed 14-11 before the 16-0 run that put them ahead, 27-14, with 6:59 left in the first half. Trenton State scored the first 10 points of the second half to open a 49-26 lead with 16:26 remaining.

Kevin Ryan, who scored 14 points, had six points in the run. Potsdam (24-5) was led by Steve Babiarz's 22 points. Big Apple tourney OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. away with 4:51 remaining. "When Blum scored that goal I thought we had them," said Ski-bin.

"But when you play Montclair you have to expect the unexpected." With 1:45 left in the game, senior defenseman Scott Williams was called for roughing and Montclair wasted little time in tying the game on Bayersdorfer's 50-foot blast with 48 seconds left. In overtime, right wing John Lively stole the puck at center ice and went in on a breakaway, but goalie Ryan Hallam made the initial save and Infantino, who trailed the play lifted a wrist shot over Hallam for the game-winner. "This is one of the most exciting games I have ever played in and to have the chance to score the winning goal in overtime is something I have always dreamed of," said Infantino. NJSIAA tournament SEMIFINALS At Mmdm ArtAi 8L Joseph 5, Montclair 4 (OT) (171) Meatclair (24-M) St. jHtpk 1 1 1 1 Gtals: M-Baversdorfer Mandry, Fttor; SJ- Infantino Lively, Umeda, Blum.

Assists: M-Ross 2, Baversdorfer, Kidon; SJ- Umeda, Marouis, Lively. Sam: M-Hallam 21; SJ-Ptarwn II. Former Don Bosco Tech standout Juan Griles scored 23 points Saturday as C.W. Post held off New York Tech, 80-73, to win its seventh consecutive Big Apple Conference championship. Freshman forward Neil King of Jersey City added 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Pioneers (18-10), who extended their win streak to nine.

King made five free throws in the final 1:23 to preserve the victory. Griles, the tournament's most valuable player, scored 24 points Friday to lead the Pioneers past Queens, 88-73, in the semifinals. In that game he set a C.W. Post record by making 16 free throws. With 47 points in the two games, the senior guard increased his career scoring total to 1,275 points, placing him third on Post's all-time list.

Against Queens, Frank Semir-aglio scored 19 points and King had seven points and nine rebounds for Post. Division III tourney Trenton TO, Potsdam 62 POTSDAM ST. Brown 4-7 1-2 9, Barton 4-7 0-0 Oyroff 4-4 3-7 11, Babiari 10-11 1-1 22, Daca 1-3 0-0 2, Norti 0-1 2-2 2, Perryman 0-2 1-2 1, Gardner 1-7 2-2 4, Anthony 0-2 0-0 0, Johnson 0-2 0-0 0, Pitkin 1-5 0-0 2, Lamuraglla 0-0 0-1 0, McPeek 0-1 0-0 0. Totili: 25-61 10-17 42. TRENTON ST.

Glover 5-7 04 10, Broderlck 0-3 0-0 0, Ryan 4-10 2- 4 14, Grant 14-30 3-5 38, Posav 2-7 4-7 10, Mitchell 0-0 0-0 0, Jackson 0-0 0-0 0, Hund 3-3 0-0 4, Brewer! 0-0 0-0 0, Sleraanl 0-0 0-0 0, Gllmore 0-00-0 0, Nelson, 0- 0 0-0 0, Bucchere 0-2 0-1 0, Tulle 0-1 0-0 a 32-43 11-17 78. Halfllme Trenlon SI. 39, Potsdam St. 24. Three-, point coals Potsdam St.

2-13 (Gardner 1-5, Baton. 1- 4, Perryman 0-1, Norti 0-1), Trenton St. 3-9 3- 8, Posey 0-1). Fouled out None. Rebounds Potsdam St.

39 (Dyroff 11), Trenton St. 37 (Glover 11). Assists Potsdam SI. 14 (Dyroff 5), Trenton St. 19, (Posey 7).

Total fouls Potsdam SI. 14, Trenton St.i 19. A U00. Prep, New Milford, North Arlington, North, Bergen, Northern Highlands, Nutley, Orange, Paramus Catholic Boys, Passaic, Passaic, Tech, Passaic Valley, Paterson Catholic, Pe quannock, Queen of Peace, Ramsey, field, St. Joseph of the Palisades, St.

St. Peter's, Clifford Scott, Teaneck, Waldwlck, Wellington, Wayne Hills, Weehaw-J ken, West Orange, and Wood-Ridge. Athletic directors are asked to) forward schedules as soon as pos sible to: Sports Department, Record, 150 River Hacken-' sack, N.J. 07601. SCORES GROUP 4 Bloomfleld 54.

Neptune 51; 1 4 GROUP 3 Pascack valley 43 GROUP 1 Sterling 47 GROUP 1 Hoffman 52 HOCKIY State semlllnali Delbarton SI. Joseph 5 Rock University 44; 1 Montclair 4 TOURNAMINT OF CHAMPIONS QUARTIRFINALS Tuesday At Rutgers, 4 JO and I p.m. Girls basketball STATI FINALS PAROCHIAL A Union Catholic vs. Paul VI (Haddonfield) at Brookdal! cc 5 p.m. PAROCHIAL I Sunday Immaculate Conception at Brook-' Bit LLi I'-iv p.rn, TOURNAMINT OF CHAMPIONS QUARTIRFINALS Tuesday fj Al Monmouth College, 4:30 and I p.m.

when I picked up those early fouls, especially the fourth," said Wright. "So when I finally got back in the game I was pumped up to play." Wright said he was nervous when the Minutemen fell behind by six points in the last period. "In last year's championship we were ahead of Camden the whole game." Trenton's up-tempo game backfired in the first quarter. The Tornadoes took some poor shots and turned over the ball to fall behind, 14-9. But two quick baskets by Ra-shawn Dowling, one off a steal, closed the gap to one point at the end of the quarter.

Trenton (26-1), which last won a title in 1961, took a 30-28 half-time lead on an Anthony Young layup. The lead changed hands four times in the third period, with Sam Barber's two free throws giving Trenton a 47-46 edge going into the final quarter. "I thought Luther had an excellent game for the amount of time he played," Elizabeth coach Ben Candelino. Wright had 17 points and 12 rebounds despite sitting on the bench for nearly eight minutes after drawing his third and fourth personal fouls in the third period. "I was just hoping we would stay close enough so when we brought him back we could still win," Can- GROUP 3 was set to stop him because we knew he was their best player." Bob McKeon picked up Deeb as soon as he touched the ball with Edwards coming up to help out.

"We made him give up the ball sooner than he wanted to," said Edwards. "They took away my offense," said Deeb, whose family moved from Camden County to Sparta before his sophomore year. "That was the best defensive pressure we saw all year. It was like they had seven players on the court and we couldn't handle it." The Spartans (25-4), who eliminated Northern Highlands on the way to the title game, threw a scare into the Vikings by opening the third quarter with nine consecutive points five by Deeb. "We came out a little too cocky in the second half," said Edwards, GROUP 2 changed hands three times before Bridgewater took control of this New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association final.

Three-pointers by Tyson Mur-dock and Steve Russell gave the Somerset County team a 55-51 lead with 3:25 to play, and Roselle (25-3) scored only two points in the final five minutes. The Rams opened the second half with a flourish. Miller's jumper gave Bridgewater a 34-33 lead, but the Union County quintet scored nine consecutive points to take a 42-34 lead with 5:11 to play in the third quarter. The Golden Flacons had trouble establishing an inside game as Roselle tried to keep the ball away from Miller. But the Golden Falcons began to exploit Roselle's 2-3 zone from the outside.

Miller started the comeback with a three-pointer, and Murdock hit two consecutive three-pointers heavyweights threw cradles and rocked out of arm bars. Richardson thrilled the crowd by nearly bringing Phillipsburg's Greg Trox-ell to his back in the semifinals, but Troxell rolled out of it and notched a 17-5 win Richardson's first loss. Bergenfield's Brendan Ferriter did not succumb to the mat 3 jinx. The returning fifth-place finisher at 140 pounds by gaining a reversal with 10 seconds to go in the second period there and adding a third-period escape for a 7-4 victory over undefeated second-seeded Julius DiRisio of Warren Hills to eam his trip to the finals. When 171-pound Patrick Lynch of Ocean City pinned in the semifinals, he became the only one Third straight title for Bridgewater West Luther Wright came off the bench over Trenton in the Group 4 state delino said.

"I think what people found out is that with Luther out of there, we're not a big team." "I just told him to be careful, but we needed him in there to win," Candelino said, referring to Wright. "And he played intelligently down the stretch." "We could have shot the ball who enters Syracuse in September. "But the coach Gary Wilson called a timeout and warned us we could still lose the game." The 5-foot-ll Edwards missed some wild shots but toward the end of the quarter started hitting to help open a 61-46 advantage. He finished the afternoon 13-of-30 from the floor. Sparta did cut it to 67-58 midway through the fourth quarter on baskets by Scott Davisson and T.R.

Moran, but that was its last gasp. In the first-half blowout, the Camden County team came up with nine steals five by McKeon. And 6-4 John Yezzi was outstanding, both on defense and under the boards. He scored eight of his 14 points before halftime. Early in the second period, Yezzi had two consecutive steals followed by one by McKeon to jump the lead to 24-10.

"Their pressure defense took us to make it 45-43. Miller's tap-in tied the score with 1:25 to play in the third. Most of the first quarter belonged to Miller, who opened the game with a three-pointer and finished the quarter with 11 points. He carried the Bridgewater West offense, and the score was tied, 18-18, with 36 seconds remaining. The Golden Falcons were playing for the final shot when Roselle center Rickey Robinson stripped the ball from Peter Strub.

Robinson passed to Eugene Brown, whose layup gave the Rams a two-point lead. Brown, who scored 13 points in the first half, then stole the ball as Bridgewater brought it up court, and scored to give Roselle a 22-18 lead at the end of the first. The Rams, who eliminated Mahwah, held Miller to three points in the second quarter but couldn't pull away. Robinson, Roselle's top rebounder, was benched with his third foul with 4:32 remaining in the half, and Bridgewater scored four consecu among 13 second-seeded wrestlers to reach the finals. Nine top seeds made it.

In the wrestlebacks, Christian Tirone of Fair Lawn benefited from one of the more intriguing tactical moves. When neither wrestler could record a takedown in two overtime periods, Bob Wal-dron of Roxbury let Tirone up, sacrificing a point. They then locked up for the remainder of the bout, Tirone winning, 4-3. Waldwick's Hamid Chalileh got to the finals with an 11-4 rout of Len Leonardi of Hunterdon Central, whom Chalileh downed, 3-1, in overtime last year at Princeton. Bill Bailey, the 160-pounder from West Milford, won in the wrestlebacks, 7-3, over Mark McCollough of Morristown, better," said Trenton coach Tom Smith.

His team hit 45 percent from the floor. "And I thought we did as well as could be expected against the 7-2 player with our biggest man, Derrick Ashburn, at 6-5. "Unfortunately, this was the only goal we didn't get, the state championship." out of our offense in the first half," said Sparta coach Dennis Tobin. "But give our kids a lot of credit as they came out in the second half, behind by 20 in a state final, and getting back into the game." Wilson felt the key was holding Deeb without a first-half basket. "Maybe we celebrated a little early," said the coach.

"But we settled down to win." Eastern's first New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association boys basketball championship earned it a place in this week's Tournament of Champions. Just by reaching the title game, Sparta surprised many observers. After winning the Group 3, North Jersey Section 1 title last year, Sparta lost All-American Chris Jent and three other starters to graduation. That left Deeb as the only returning starter. tive Doints to take a 31-30 lead.

The Golden Falcons struggled to contain Brown, particularly from the outside. His three-pointer with 1:39 to play gave Roselle a 33-32 halftime lead. Robinson led the Rams with 16 points and seven rebounds. Murdock added 15 for Bridgewater. Group 1 LAWRENCEVILLE Doug Stewart and Charlie Weiler combined for 45 points Saturday night as Haddonfield trounced Newark Tech, 74-56, for the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Group 1 boys basketball title at Rider College.

Stewart scored 14 of his game-high 23 points in the first half as the Bulldogs (31-0) opened a 36-23 lead. Stewart, who also had eight rebounds, was named the game's most valuable player. Weiler had 20 points and was the defensive star. The 6-foot-9 center blocked eight shots and grabbed 10 rebounds. to an end thanks to a snap-down and single-leg takedown.

The toughest losses were by Chris Steinbacher of Ridgefield and David Walton of Northern higniands, one round away from medaling. Roger Juntilla of Voorhees was the success story of the semifinals, winning, 7-5, in overtime over Anthony Facchinei of Summit. That extended his journey from third place in Region 5 (and barely qualifying for the state tournament) to the final round at 119 pounds. Randy Eno of Ridge continued to work his magic with a Peterson roll for a reversal with 39 seconds to go to defeat previously undefeated Kemal Pegram of Pember-ton in the semifinals. The Record seeks spring schedules By'Mark J.

Czerwinski Record Staff Writer LAWRENCEVTLLE Senior forward Lance Miller scored a game-high 23 points Saturday night as Bridgewater West 'stopped Roselle, 59-53, in the Group 2 state boys basketball championship game. The victory, before a sellout crowd of more than 2,000 at Rider College, was the 52nd consecutive for the Golden Falcons (28-0). It -also was their third straight state title, the previous two coming in Group 3. Miller, who also had 11 rebounds, three blocks, and three steals, was named most valuable player. "They have better athletes, but we've been here before," said Bridgewater coach Vaughn Staple-ton.

"We told the kids before the game that with our experience, we'd be OK if we just kept them The Golden Falcons led, 48-45, after three quarters, and the lead The Record still needs spring sports schedules from the following local high schools: Barton, Belleville, Bergen Catholic, Bergen Tech, Bloomfleld, Butler, Cliffaide Park, Clifton, Cresskill (tennis), Delbarton, DePaul, Don Bosco, Don Bosco Tech, Dwlght-Englewood, Eastside, Emerson, Engtewood, Essex Catholic, Fort Lee, Hackensack Christian, Harrison, Hasbrouck Heights, Holy Angels, Hudson Catholic, Indian Hills, Klnnelon, Lyndhurst, Madison, Manchester, Memorial (WNY), Midland Park, Mlllburn, Montclair, Montvllle, Morris Catholic, Mount St. Dominic, Neumann NJSIAA Boys basketball STATI FINALS GROUP 4 Elliabolh 70 GROUP I Eastern 73 GROUP 1 Brldgewater-Rarltan Wnt 59 GROUP 1 Haddonfield 74 Trenton 43 43 53 Newark Tech 54 Girls basketball STATI FINALS MM KraiXIS: Dream comes NJSIAA SCHEDULE From Page S-15 three were state place-winners. Tony had finished with 103 career victories, Andy with 109 after taking fifth later in the day. Shane had 93 victories and a sixth-place medal. No.

3 at Princeton University's Jadwin Gym proved to be quicksand for Bergen County wrestlers. That's where each of the Van Horns lost two bouts, and where Mahwah heavyweight Dexter Richardson lost his wrestle-back to Lou Benfatti of Morris Knolls by a pin. was a member of a uniquely fluid, athletic group of heavyweights. All the top Hockey Final Saturday Meatus Arena, Merrli Top. wo Brick (3)-Delbarton (2) vs.

wo Montclair (41-51. Joseph (1), it 7 P.m. Boys basketball STATI FINALS PAROCHIAL A SiMdiV Bergen Catholic vs. McCorrlslln at Brookdale CC, 4:30 p.m. PAROCHIAL I St.

Rose vi. SI. Anthony at Brookdal CC, 130 p.m..