Old Tappan holds off West Essex to advance to Semifinals

OLD TAPPAN – Northern Valley/Old Tappan jumped out to a 14-2 first quarter lead, but needed a strong fourth quarter to get past a pesky West Essex team, 46-35, in the North 1, Group 3 state tournament quarterfinals on Tuesday.

“For us it’s just about trying to do the things we do well,” said Old Tappan coach Brian Dunn, “which is making sure that we rebound, taking care of the basketball better than we have been, being able to put pressure on them on ‘D,’  especially on halfcourt, and not giving them any looks.”

Old Tappan scored in every which way early on.

Senior Layla Giordano drove and scored a minute into the game. Then sophomore Mia Derrico drained a 3-pointer and senior Maya Giordano connected from in close. Layla Giordano stole a pass and dribbled the length of the court for a layup and scored again inside, sandwiched around a three-pointer by sophomore Sadie Murphy.

“We had a bad first quarter,” said West Essex coach Amber Tobia. “They were scared, a little nervous, butterflies, a freshman (guard Lexi Castro) starting the game. There were a lot of changes we weren’t necessarily ready for. In quarters 2, 3 and 4 we showed up.”

West Essex got back into the game starting in the second quarter. Junior guard Talia LeBorgne, who had scored the only points for WE in the first quarter, swished a three-pointer. After NVOT sophomore Sienna Drullinsky scored off a great pass from Layla Giordano, WE junior forward Sasha Resnick tallied a three-point play and sophomore guard Brooke Balzano added a bucket from inside to cut the lead to 16-10.

The teams traded points until WE sophomore guard Maddy Schlosser hit a two pointer at the buzzer and the half ended with Old Tappan up 23-15.

“It’s a testament to them,” Tobia said of her team. “We say it’s the little moments that can keep you in the game – going after the loose balls, offensive rebounds. We had 11 offensive rebounds in the first half. We have games where we don’t have 11 offensive rebounds in the entire game.”

Early in the second half Layla Giordano fed twin sister Maya underneath for an easy 2 points to put the Golden Knights ahead by 10, 25-15, but WE went on an 11-5 run to close out the third quarter, thanks, in part to excellent passing.

First, Schlosser found Castro for a layup. Then, after OT senior Grayson Housley drained a three-pointer, LeBorgne zipped a pass inside to Resnick for two more points. Maya Giordano scored to give Old Tappan an 11-point lead but Schlosser canned a trey, Resnick stole the ball and went coast-to-coast for a layup and Balzano hit a jumper to cut the lead to 30-26 heading into the fourth quarter.

“We said to them every single game of the season we can be in any game we put our hearts and our heads into,” Tobia said. “We have the ability to compete with anyone. One of our senior captains (Ava Visaggio) is hurt and we had a starter who couldn’t be here today because she is sick. We proved regardless of all of that we could still play hard.”

“The thing about them is they’re scrappy and tough,” Dunn said of WE. “They’re not going to quit, they’re not going to stop playing.”

Old Tappan righted the ship in the fourth quarter as no fewer than six players each scored at least two points in the final frame to emerge with a victory.

Layla Giordano led all scorers with 17 points, including career point No. 1,000. Maya Giordano had 9 points and Derrico, Drullinsky and Housley chipped in with 5 points apiece. The Golden Knights (22-6) will host Ramapo (24-3) Thursday night in the tournament semifinals.

The season ended for West Essex (15-13). Schlosser scored 13 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. LeBorgne tallied 9 points, while Resnick had 7 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocked shots. Senior guard Sofia Brignola and Balzano each grabbed 4 rebounds and Balzano chipped in with 4 points.

“We say we’re not the biggest team, we’re not the most technically sound team – we make plenty of mistakes – but they work their tails off,” Tobia said. “I can’t be more proud of them and I’m thankful to coach a group of kids like this. It doesn’t come around every year and I think my biggest takeaway is you can coach basketball but you can’t coach heart and you can’t coach toughness. The hardest part as their coach is having the season end. Every day is so much fun to be around them.”

 By JC Baumuller/NJS.com Staff Writer