Game Lives Up To Hype As Lions Rally, and then Hang On for Win
NORTH BRANCH, NJ–In a highly anticipated matchup in the Region 19 Division II league of the Garden State Athletic Conference, defending Region 19 champion, and NJCAA Division II national finalist, Essex County College traveled to Central Jersey to take on a much improved Golden Lions squad of Raritan Valley Community College. The Lions, which were only 10-14 last season, entered the game with a 5-1 record and averaging 94 points per game. Meanwhile, Essex C.C., came into the contest with a 5-2 mark, and averaging 83 points per game. Both teams were unbeaten in league play as well.
Defense would emerge as the deciding factor though in an entertaining contest that had 9 lead changes in the last 3:34 of play. Both teams held each other at or below their team scoring average for the season to date, and also contained the other team’s best weapon. To their credit though, both RVCC’s Marvin Crawford and ECC’s Dion Rogers kept battling and found other ways to get into the scorebook. Crawford’s team would get the win though thanks to a key 9-1 run over a span of just over two minutes to turn a 74-67 deficit into a 76-75 advantage. Then, after those nine lead changes in a frenetic final minutes, RVCC came up with the big defensive stop in the final seconds to preserve a hard fought, 85-84 upset win.
Crawford, who played high school hoops at J.P. Stevens, ended up with 19 points despite only shooting 6 of 18 from the floor including a rare 0 of 4 night from beyond the arc. Crawford attacked the glass though, and got himself to the line where he went 7 of 10. He also added 5 rebounds, 2 steals, an assist, and a block in the win. Rogers, who ended up his school’s second all time leading scorer while earning all conference honors during a stellar high school career at North Brunswick, managed to get 14 points from the floor on just 3 of 6 shooting including one three, but also feasted at the line with 7 of 10 effort as well. Jonathan Blue, who played at Teaneck High School, led all scorers with 24 points for RVCC while Chris Compass turned in a monster double-double performance for ECC with 19 points and 17 boards along with 3 blocks.
North Plainfield alum, Hanif Holloway turned in a huge effort off the bench for the Lions with 15 points including the go ahead score at the 3:19 mark. Crawford had just helped pull the Lions within one on an off-balanced shot that made the score 75-74 with 3:34 left. Prior to the key run by RVCC late in the game, Essex County College, which ended up holding RVCC some 9 points below its scoring average, held a nine point lead at 68-59 with under eight minutes to play. The Wolverines, which went 25-8 last season en route to the national NJCAA Division II championships in Illinois, seemed to hamper the Lions offensively, especially from three where RVCC was just 3 of 15 for the game. Early on, ECC used a 2-2-1 full court press that rattled RVCC, and enabled the Wolverines to get out to a 5-2 lead.
Raritan Valley settled down though, and rallied back with a 14-6 spurt over a span of several minutes to take a 16-11 lead after a two handed slam. RVCC managed to control the contest for much of the rest of the first half, but ECC stayed within striking distance by not letting the Lions high octane offense go on long runs. Trailing 36-35 late in the half, Essex County College, which is coached by former Piscataway standout and Middlesex County College head coach, Corey Lowery, ended the first period with a 6-1 spurt that included a last second pull-up jumper by Rogers for a 41-37 lead at the intermission. ECC continued to stay in control for the first 14:23 of the second half with a 27-22 showing in the first 12 plus minutes for the largest lead of the game.
At that point, RVCC began to chip away at the lead. Over the next two plus minutes, the Lions scored 8 of the next 14 points to close within seven, and then put together the key 9-1 spurt capped by scores from Crawford and Holloway to take its first lead of the game since late in the first half. Then, the game volleyed back and forth as both teams battled to take control of the contest. Each team seemed to be able to answer the other for four possessions until the Lions took the lead at 85-84 with 25.6 seconds remaining. Following an Essex timeout, and then a second timeout with 13.5 seconds left, RVCC came up with the decisive stop as Danny Scaramella stole a pass with just seconds remaining to preserve the win.
For the game, Raritan Valley went 29 of 60 overall from the floor for 48.3 percent while Essex shot 31 of 65 for 47.7 percent. The Wolverines outscored the Lions from three with a 15-9 showing by going 5 of 12 from beyond the arc. RVCC did come up with a huge edge at the foul line by going 24 of 36 while ECC was only 17 of 31 at the charity stripe. ECC did enjoy a huge edge on the boards by outrebounding RVCC 45-23, and having a 5-1 edge in blocked shots. Both teams had five players score in double figures. With the win, Raritan Valley improved to 6-1 overall on the year and 3-0 in conference, and eventually went to 7-1 overall and 4-0 in Region 19 after a win on the road at Lackawanna (93-79) on Thursday. Essex fell to 5-3 and 2-1 with the loss, but rebounded on Thursday with a 76-65 win over Mercer County College to improve to 6-3 overall, and 3-1 in Region 19. Raritan Valley is now 2-2 in games covered by GMC Hoops while Essex C.C. is 1-1. See a slideshow from photos taken by GMC Hoops as well as stats on the game courtesy of RVCC.