Scotch Plains Basketball Triumphs Over Westfield, Beats Rival First Time this Season

When a valiant shot taken beyond half court by Westfield junior Ryan Hess fell just short of the basket before the final buzzer, Scotch Plains-Fanwood enjoyed its biggest win of the season and immediately celebrated with the student body that supported the Raiders throughout the entire game.

It may be a cliché, but you can always throw out the records when arch rivals such as Scotch Plains and Westfield get together.

It didn't matter that host Scotch Plains entered Thursday's Union County Conference-Watchung Division boys' basketball contest against visiting Westfield on a nine-game losing streak.

It didn't matter that the Raiders were 0-8 in conference play.

It didn't matter that Scotch Plains was 0-2 this season against Westfield.

What mattered most was that the Raiders had the Blue Devils on their home court for the first time and they were determined to show all in attendance that they were better than their 4-12 record indicated.

After Westfield scored the first three baskets of the game on easy layups, it was the 3-point shooting of junior guard Patrick Dougher – who paced the Raiders with 20 points - that got Scotch Plains going.

Then senior Doran Nelson came off the bench to provide a scoring and defensive spark as he drove to the hoop with authority, grabbed key rebounds and also looked quite smooth while connecting on a couple of 3-pointers.

After grabbing its first lead two minutes into the second quarter, Scotch Plains remained ahead for the rest of the way and eventually hung on for an impressive 57-54 triumph.

"This was a tremendous win," Scotch Plains head coach Dan Doherty said. "That was by far the best game we played all year, simply for the fact that we played as a team. The crowd helped a lot and our kids gave a great effort."

Scotch Plains improved to 5-12 overall and 1-8 in the UCC's Watchung Division. The Raiders will next play at Rahway Saturday at 6 p.m., weather permitting.

Saturday is the state playoff cutoff date, with the sections this year to include teams with records below .500. The Raiders will wait and see if they qualify in North 2, Group 3, which they captured for the first time two years ago.

Scotch Plains won for the first time since beating Newark Tech 56-51 at home on Jan. 9, which was the game Nelson got injured in when he chipped two teeth. After missing five games, he returned to action on Jan. 28 and scored a then season-high 12 points in an 83-40 loss to No. 1-in-the-state St. Patrick of Elizabeth.

Nelson, who scored just four points in the 43-36 loss to Westfield at Rahway in the Dec. 29 John "Butch" Kowal Tournament final and did not play because of his injury in his team's 56-50 conference setback at Westfield on Jan. 14, poured in a season-high 18 points and grabbed six rebounds Thursday.

"The coaches told me to take it to the hole and I did that and got fouled and the team did the rest," said Nelson, who had numerous fans come up to him and congratulate him on the court following the victory.

"This was his best game of the year and he might be sensing that his senior year is coming to a close," Doherty added. "He played fabulous."

With Scotch Plains in front 35-30 and less than three minutes remaining in the third period, Nelson took a pass from a teammate and was all alone at the top of the key from beyond the 3-point line. He took his time - because he had plenty of room to shoot - took one step forward and sank a 3-pointer, hitting nothing but the bottom of the net.

"Those 3s, he can hit them, but normally he doesn't take those," Doherty said. "Once he hit the first one I had no problem. Once you're feeling it, take it. He also did good defensively - rebounding."

It was a sweet shot, one that players dream about and work very hard at in practice to make during the course of a game.

"I was feeling it from there, it was a natural groove for me," Nelson said. "Westfield is a very good team. We just outworked them today and we won."

Scotch Plains' nine-game losing streak began with the conference defeat at Westfield.

Westfield lost for the third straight time and fell to 7-8 overall and 2-7 in the Watchung Division.

The Blue Devils are also scheduled to next play at Rahway Saturday, with a 7:30 p.m. start – again weather permitting – against Middlesex Conference foe Cardinal McCarrick of South Amboy.

Hess paced Westfield with 20 points, while Pat Sabatino finished with 14 and Joe Kasmarsky with eight.

Hess also led Westfield in scoring in the other two games against Scotch Plains, pouring in 15 in the first one and 22 in the second. Sabatino had 13 in the first – a game in which he did not play the second quarter because of foul trouble – and also 13 in the second.

Charles Oliver scored a game-high 20 points in the December contest and netted a then career-high and game-high 26 points in the January clash.

Oliver's career-high is now a 33-point effort he produced in a 60-49 home setback to Plainfield last Saturday, connecting on four 3s. He then scored 31 in a 65-61 home loss to Elizabeth two days ago, making five 3s.

After Hess opened the game with consecutive layups and teammate Jarard Rogers followed with one, Westfield took a quick 6-0 lead.

"Coach yelled at us and told us to wake up and go to work," Nelson said.

"With a box-and-1 on a young team, I thought Chuck (Charles Oliver) did a fabulous job," Doherty said. "Some guys sulk and say, 'I'm not going to be able to score.' He didn't and said, 'okay, we've got to get somebody hot.' We got Patrick hot. That's how to beat a box-and-1. They go box-and-1 and they're saying we don't think your other guys can score. Patrick banged those three 3s, got them right out of it and then we just played with them."

Dougher finished with three 3-pointers, Nelson with two and Oliver with one for a team total of six. Kasmarsky made both Westfield 3s.

Sophomore forward Matt Jegede hit a short jumper from the left side that finally put the Raiders on the scoreboard at 6-2 with 5:12 left in the first quarter.

"Matt hit a couple of jumpers," Doherty said.

The basket by Jegede, who hustled the entire game and finished with six points, five rebounds and one block, began what turned out to be a quarter-ending 12-8 run by Scotch Plains, which brought it to within 14-12 heading into the second period.

What got the Raiders back in the game were two 3-pointers made by Dougher in the period, as he scored 10 of his team's 12 points in the first eight minutes.

Nelson scored his first seven points in the second quarter and Oliver his first four of 13 for all 11 Raider points in the period. Scotch Plains outscored Westfield 11-7 in the second to take a 23-21 halftime lead.

Nelson's second free throw and point tied the game for the first time at 14-14. An inside shot he banked in off the glass while driving in the lane tied the game for a second time at 16-16 after an outside shot from the left by Westfield's Joe Kasmarsky gave the Blue Devils their third and final lead at 16-14.

A quick steal and then length of the floor layup by Oliver gave Scotch Plains its first lead and the advantage for good at 18-16 with 6:04 left in the second quarter.

Scotch Plains built that lead up to five points in the period at 21-16 and 23-18.

Westfield got as close as one point when the third quarter began after Hugo Nolasco opened the second-half scoring with a free throw.

An inside basket by Hess pulled the Blue Devils to within 25-24 later in the third, with that being the last time Westfield was that close to taking the lead again.

An outside shot from the left by Alfredo Pawid, his only field goal of the game, gave Scotch Plains a nine-point lead late in the third quarter at 40-31.

Westfield went on a 7-2 run after that to close to within 42-38 heading into the fourth quarter.

Blue Devil senior center Sabatino went to the basket with a bit more authority early in the fourth quarter and scored twice inside.

However, Oliver answered with his only 3-point basket of the game to give Scotch Plains a 50-42 cushion with 5:50 to go.

  Westfield got as close as four points on three more occasions at 50-46, 52-48 and 54-50 before Dougher made his first two free throws of the game to put the Raiders in front 56-50 with 46.6 seconds remaining.

A layup by Hess made it 52-52 and then Westfield called a timeout with 37 seconds left.

After a missed Scotch Plains free throw, Rogers missed a 3-point field goal attempt, but Westfield still retained possession with 17 seconds left.

Hess then missed an inside shot, with Nelson coming up with a huge rebound.

Then Rogers came up with a steal and Hess was fouled in the act of shooting.

Hess made both free throws to make it 56-54 and then Westfield called a timeout again, this time with just 2.7 seconds left.

Nelson took the ball out under the Westfield basket and then the Blue Devils fouled with 1.7 seconds left.

Dougher made the first free throw attempt to give Scotch Plains a 57-54 lead, but missed the second.

Hess grabbed the rebound and let go of a straight-away shot from beyond half court that was on target but short.

Although Scotch Plains starters – 6-4 junior center Matt Manns and 5-8 senior guard Denzel Clark - did not score, they made their presence felt in other ways.

"Denzel harassed their guards," Doherty said. "Matt Manns, a big strong kid, did a good job of staying with (6-7) Pat (Sabatino)."

Once Scotch Plains took the lead in the second quarter, it had to be more aggressive this time if it was going to beat Westfield for the first time in three tries.

This is what it took according to Doherty: "It was getting good possessions all the time," the coach said. "We didn't want to come up and pressure them and put them on the foul line because they're a great foul-shooting team. We backed off a little to the pressure, let them run their stuff on time and down here we wanted to be patient and get good shots, get the ball in the air and pretty much chuck and pack."

Although the Super Bowl will not be played until Sunday, this game was – for all intent and purposes – the Super Bowl for Scotch Plains.

"Crazy, but the way the state does now we're actually still alive for the state tournament," Doherty said. "From my point of view, if we're going to play our schedule, I like it (teams under .500 getting in). Nobody plays a schedule like we do"

That schedule includes two games against conference foes Plainfield, Linden, Westfield, Union and Elizabeth and one vs. St. Patrick.

"You do like the fact that you have to earn it," Doherty said. "But, believe me, for us last week when we had to play Linden, St. Patrick and then Plainfield, if we get in, we've earned it. There are a lot of teams right now who have good records in our section that will be praying for snow Saturday or praying for Rahway to win, they don't want us in it, especially if we play like this."

NOTES: From the second quarter on, there were quite a few blocked shots by both teams, with fans on both sides erupting when they happened.

Here's the sequence:

Second quarter:

Pat Sabatino of Westfield blocks Charles Oliver of Scotch Plains

Matt Jegede of Scotch Plains blocks Joe Kasmarsky of Westfield

Third quarter:

Pat Sabatino of Westfield blocks Matt Jegede of Scotch Plains

Matt Jegede of Scotch Plains blocks Hugo Nolasco of Westfield

Fourth quarter:

Charles Oliver of Scotch Plains blocks Hugo Nolasco of Westfield

Denzel Clark of Scotch Plains blocks Pat Sabatino of Westfield – jump ball, with the possession arrow in favor of Westfield

SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD VS. WESTFIELD THIS SEASON:

Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010 – Scotch Plains-Fanwood 57, Westfield 54

At Scotch Plains-Fanwood in UCC-Watchung Division play.

Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010 – Westfield 56, Scotch Plains-Fanwood 50

At Westfield in UCC-Watchung Division play.

Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2009 – Westfield 43, Scotch Plains-Fanwood 36

At Rahway in John "Butch" Kowal Tournament final.

UNION COUNTY CONFERENCE-WATCHUNG DIVISION GAME

WESTFIELD (7-8, 2-7)                                   14       7       17       16 - 54

S. PLAINS-FANWOOD (5-12, 1-8)                 12     11       19       15 – 57

WESTFIELD (54): Ryan Hess 8-0-4-20, Joe Kasmarsky 1-2-0-8, Hugo Nolasco 2-0-1-5, Pat Sabatino 6-0-2-14, Jaraard Rogers 2-0-1-5. Max Fusaro 0-0-2-2. Totals: 19-2-10-54.

Starters: Sabatino, Rogers, Fusaro, Nolasco, Hess.

SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD (57): Doran Nelson 5-2-2-18, Patrick Dougher 4-3-3-20, Charles Oliver 3-1-2-11, Matt Jegede 3-0-0-6, Alfredo Pawis 1-0-0-2, Tim Bonacum 0-0-0-0, Denzel Clark 0-0-0-0, Matt Manns 0-0-0-0, Anthony Byers 0-0-0-0. Totals: 16-6-7-57.

Starters: Oliver, Dougher, Clark, Jegede, Manns.