Don Bosco basketball runs away from Bergen Catholic in spirited rivalry game

ORADELL - Don Bosco continued to demonstrate its superiority in North Jersey boys basketball.

The Ironmen, No. 1 in the North Jersey Top 25 rankings, pulled away to a 72-50 victory Thursday night over archrival and No. 3 Bergen Catholic, and multiple players had to be separated after the final buzzer.

Junior Dylan Harper scored a game-high 25 points to help Don Bosco (11-1) extend a 30-29 halftime lead to 51-42 entering the fourth quarter of this Big North United Division matchup.

“I don’t think the moment was too big for anybody on the floor for us,” Don Bosco coach Kevin Diverio said.

Sophomore guard Brady Loughlin hit a quartet of 3-pointers and scored 14 for the Ironmen, while junior guard Isaiah Brown scored nine of his 13 after intermission.

Don Bosco dominated the final 10 minutes to extend a 44-42 lead. The Ironmen closed the third with a 7-0 run for a 51-42 lead, then scored the first six points of the fourth to make it 57-42.

“We came out in the second half and our focus to was control their bigs, get on the glass and that’s what I think we did a good job of,” Loughlin said. “That led to a big second half for us.”

Bergen Catholic had one player score in double figures, sophomore guard Austin Spencer, who had 10.

The Crusaders' strength is junior forwards Terry Copeland and Brandon Benjamin, and Copeland scored all of his nine in the first half, while Benjamin scored eight. Freshman guard Chidi Nwigwe also scored eight.

What it means

Veteran Don Bosco has the inside track on the No. 1 seed for the Bergen County Jamboree, whose selection and seeding meeting is Jan. 23. Defending champion, but retooling, Bergen Catholic (8-4) has work to do to secure the No. 3 seed behind unbeaten Ramapo, which it lost to last week, 75-62.

Don Bosco split last season’s four meetings with Bergen Catholic, winning the first two regular-season meetings to capture the Big North United Division title, then losing in the Bergen County and Non-Public A tournaments.

“We definitely have a lot of guys back that know this rivalry, that understand the intensity of the game, the physicality of the game,” Diverio said.

Key sequence

Don Bosco gained valuable breathing room by closing the third with a 7-0 for its 51-42 lead. No doubt, it provided the Ironmen confidence to open the fourth with a 6-0 for the commanding 57-42 lead.

Senior forward Noah Barnett, who scored all of his nine after intermission, started Don Bosco's spurt with two free throws with 2:17 left in the third. Harper followed with a 3-pointer from the left wing for the 49-42 lead, and Barnett turned a Harper miss into a putback for the 51-42 margin. The Ironmen forced Bergen Catholic into three consecutive turnovers.

“I don’t think there was anything that we did differently.” Diverio said. “It was getting stops, getting high-percentage shots, Dylan making plays.”

“It all came out to execution and listening to coach [Diverio] and making sure that we do exactly what he says,” Harper said. “He said it, we did it, and we came out on top.”

By the numbers

Don Bosco shot 49 percent from the field (27-for-55) and 63 percent from the foul line (10-16). Bergen Catholic shot 48 percent from the field (20-for-42) and 56 percent from the foul line (6-for-11).

Don Bosco owns the edge in experience and forced Bergen Catholic into 21 turnovers, including seven coming during the decisive 13-0 run that bridged the third and fourth quarters.

“Unfortunately, it’s part of the process, part of the growing pains, with our young team,” Bergen Catholic coach Billy Armstrong said. “But that’s correctable for us. And we’ll definitely cut those down. We’ll get better at that, and I thought our kids’ attitude and effort was great, which is what they can control.”

They said it

“We executed really well on the defensive end in the second half, really contained their bigs off the glass,” Diverio said. “Playing them, [Copeland and Benjamin] are a huge problem. And I thought our guys did a great job of putting a little better pressure on the ball, a little better job in the post, a little better job off the ball. So as a team I thought we did a better job defensively of what we wanted to do than in the first half.”

“I thought our team has really grown from about 10 days ago,” Armstrong said, referring to improvement from last week’s 13-point loss at Ramapo. “We’re going to continue to grow, continue to get better. And I think as we go along, come playoff time, I think we’re going to be pretty good.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Don Bosco NJ boys basketball runs away from Bergen Catholic