In OT Loss to Union Catholic, Oliver Becomes SPF’s Number Five to Score 1,000

The Records: The boys’ basketball team entered its Tuesday night game against 14-6 overall and 10-3 in the Union County Conference’s Mountain Division. Union Catholic came to the game 6-9 overall and 6-6 in the Mountain Division.

Notably, Scotch Plains got off to an 8-0 start in the Mountain Division before losing four of its final six division games. Union Catholic began 3-4 in the division and since then has won four of its last six division contests.

The Final Score: Union Catholic, a 67-64 come-from-behind win in overtime in front of a packed house at Scotch Plains. It was the second-straight year that the Vikings won at Scotch Plains – last season, the Vikings eked-out a 43-41 nail-biter. This season, the teams are 1-1 against each other – Scotch Plains won at Union Catholic 56-52 on Jan. 21.

Union Catholic entered the break at halftime trailing 31-22. But it opened the third quarter with a 13-0 run to take the lead for the fifth time in the game, and setting-up the eventual overtime contest.

The Overtime: Union Catholic senior guard Brian Flores scored the first two points of the extra period to give the Vikings their ninth lead and the advantage for good – the Vikings never trailed in the final four minutes.

“This was very satisfying, because they beat us at our place,” said Flores, who is also a team captain. “It was our intensity and things like keeping our hands up on defense that allowed us to win.”

The Vikings scored the first five points of overtime before Oliver made two free throws to make it 61-58 with a minute and a half left. Two more free throws by Flores put Union Catholic ahead 65-61 with 21.6 seconds left.

Bonacum came through once more – from the same spot on the left side – for his second 3-pointer, pulling Scotch Plains to within 65-64 with 14.5 seconds left. Union Catholic sophomore guard Damon Lynn was then fouled and made two free throws to make the score 67-64 with 13.1 seconds to go.

The Raiders then got the ball to Oliver, who took a 3-point shot that hit the front of the rim. However, Scotch Plains got the ball back still in its offensive end and called its last timeout with 3.3 seconds left. Dougher got the ball on the right side and attempted a game-tying 3-pointer that was blocked by Nash as the Vikings held on for their seventh Mountain Division triumph.

“We knew at the half that we had to come back and play D,” Union Catholic senior Jamaad Nash said. “In overtime we just kept playing hard and doing what we had to do. This game is nothing. We’ve got more games, including the counties and the states.”

The 1,000 Point Club at Scotch Plains Has a New Member: Oliver scored 26 points to exactly reach 1,000 for his career. After playing at St. Benedict’s his freshman year and scoring just over 100 points at Seton Hall Prep his sophomore season, Oliver poured in just over 400 in his first season at Scotch Plains last year and this year is closing in on 500.

Oliver’s 1,000th point came on the second of two free throws he made with 25.4 seconds left in overtime, pulling the Raiders to within 63-61. Scotch Plains officials wanted to stop the game for a brief moment at that juncture to recognize Oliver for reaching the plateau, but Oliver waved everyone away, citing the importance of the game at the time.

Oliver became the fifth boys’ player to reach 1,000 points at Scotch Plains. The others include leader Bryan Dougher, Class of 2008, with 1,635; William McCoy, Class of 1986, with 1,482; James McDede, Class of 1969, with 1,165; and Kevin Ford, Class of 1979, with 1,114.

The Hero: An unsung hero for Union Catholic was senior center Mike Marciano. Not known for his scoring – he finished with five points – Marciano came through big-time on the boards, especially in the second half. He had six rebounds and two blocks during his play in the third and fourth quarters.

Tuesdays Are Not Kind to Scotch Plains: After its 8-0 start in the Mountain Division, three of Scotch Plains’ four division setbacks came on successive Tuesdays. On Jan. 25 (three Tuesdays ago) Scotch Plains lost for the first time in the division at Governor Livingston 65-57 in overtime. The following week, the Raiders lost at home to Roselle Catholic 68-60.

Close Games Not Going In Favor of Raiders: When Scotch Plains was 12-3 and had won three in a row, six of those wins were by four points or less and all three losses were by double digits. Since then, the Raiders have lost three games by eight points or less, including two of those in overtime. The exception was last week’s 26-point setback at Rahway.

“These were the kinds of games we were winning in the beginning of the year,” Doherty said. “I think the basketball gods kind of said they will all even out.”

The Quotes: “We were out of sync going into the second half and I missed a lot of shots I normally make,” said Oliver, who shot 7-for-22 from the field and 9-of-12 from the free throw line.

“Defensively, we were just a little off and not talking enough. That was probably where it started there. Toward the end of the third quarter we started focusing and picked up our intensity. We have nothing to be ashamed of. We played hard until the end and that’s all you can do is play hard. We’ll have to go back to the drawing board and figure it out. We just have to learn how to finish games again and not let the other team get back in the game.”

On scoring 1,000 points, Oliver added, “It’s an honor to do in two years, to be able to score 1,000. I work hard. I go to the gym every day and work on my shot. This is my home town, where I grew up, where I lived my whole life and these are the people I know. To do it here and do it on our home court is a special feeling." 

Union Catholic remaining regular season games:
Thursday, Feb. 10 at Oratory Prep, 7 p.m. – conference crossover
Friday, Feb. 18 at St. Mary’s, Elizabeth, 7 p.m. – Mountain Division
Tuesday, Feb. 22 at Somerville, 5:15 p.m. – non-conference
Friday, Feb. 25 at Union, 4 p.m. – conference crossover

Scotch Plains-Fanwood remaining regular season games:
Thursday, Feb. 10 Dayton, 7 p.m. – conference crossover
Saturday, Feb. 12 Elizabeth, 1 p.m. – conference crossover (will most likely be moved and played at a later date)

UNION COUNTY CONFERENCE-MOUNTAIN DIVISION
BOYS’ BASKETBALL AT SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD

UNION CATHOLIC (7-9, 7-6)         11     11     22     12     11 - 67
SCOTCH PLAINS (14-7, 10-4)         16     15     12     13       8 - 64

UNION CATHOLIC VIKINGS:4-Damon Lynn 3-0-2-8
24-Brian Flores 3-2-10-22
14-Anthony Calenda 1-0-0-2
23-Jamaad Nash 9-0-6-24
3-Kevin Polt 0-0-4-4
25-Mike Marciano 1-0-3-5
20-Brandon Vargo 1-0-0-2
10-Drew Hines 0-0-0-0
30-Brandon Reid 0-0-0-0
Starters: Nash, Lynn, Marciano, Vargo, Flores.
Totals: 18-2-25-67.

SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD RAIDERS:
20-Tim Bonacum 0-2-2-8
1-Charles Oliver 4-3-9-26
10-Anthony Byers 0-0-1-1
15-Patrick Dougher 1-4-2-16
5-Dominic Gonzalez 3-0-1-7
23-Brandon Langston 0-1-0-3
25-Matt Jegede 1-0-1-3
24-Thomas Bonacum 0-0-0-0
12-Darnell Brown 0-0-0-0
3-Ian Johnston 0-0-0-0
Starters: Dougher, Oliver, Thomas Bonacum, Jegede, Gonzalez.
Totals: 9-10-16-64.