ND-GP wins 12th straight to close regular season
By earning the top seed in the Colonial League boys basketball tournament, Notre Dame-Green Pond also earned a week off.
The Crusaders won’t be in action until next Wednesday night at Catasauqua High School where they’ll play either Palmerton or Bangor.
But considering Notre Dame enters the postseason on the biggest roll in local boys basketball with 12 straight wins, the Crusaders probably don’t want to wait a week for their next game.
They finished up the regular season with a hard-fought 63-60 win at rival Wilson Area Tuesday night, getting 18 points from Zach Rodgers and 15 apiece from Cameron Bohn and Dainn Vassallo.
“I worry about the long gap and getting out of rhythm, but our practices have been good and we’ll get after it, and now get a chance to heal up a little bit,” Notre Dame coach Pat Boyle said.
Notre Dame (18-4, 17-1) trailed at halftime, used a 13-0 run to start the second half and then withstood a late Warriors surge that cut a 49-31 deficit early in the fourth quarter to 54-53 with 1:53 left.
But the Crusaders cashed in at the foul line, making 8 of 10 free throws over the final 1:21 to put it away.
Defending league champ Wilson, which will enter this year’s tournament as the No. 6 seed and play at Saucon Valley at 6 p.m. Saturday, had its comeback bid run out of steam. A late missed 3-pointer and traveling violation allowed Notre Dame to open a late 6-point lead and a 3-pointer at the buzzer by the Warriors’ Jaire Kelly-Range only made the final margin a little tighter.
“At the beginning of the third quarter our execution was really good, and then we held on for dear life,” Boyle said. “I think we were up 15 or 17 points, but with Shamel Gibson on the other side you never feel comfortable.”
Gibson scored 26 points, all of them coming over the last three quarters including 12 in the final period.
Wilson (13-9, 11-7) finished the regular season with three losses in its last four games after turning its season around with eight straight wins.
The Warriors, who celebrated Senior Night, had a 23-21 lead at halftime, but then got blitzed over the first 2:40 of the second half.
“I didn’t call a timeout because I wanted the kids to fight out of it,” Wilson coach Mike Glovas said. “I think we’re experienced enough where I think we can fight through it. It just took a while to get going and I called one timeout and then we had four in the fourth quarter. I thought we made a good run late.”
Boyle was pleased with how his team responded after a sluggish first half in which the Crusaders made just six of 26 shots from the field. He was also happy with how they stayed poised late.
“When they cut the lead, our guys didn’t panic,” Boyle said. “They didn’t turn the ball over down the stretch and they made the foul shots. In an environment like this with the home fans all excited, surviving that should serve us well going into the playoffs.”
Also serving Notre Dame well is Rodgers, a senior who Boyle believes deserves strong Colonial League MVP consideration.
“There are a lot of great players in our league this year, but I get to see Zach every day and he’s just phenomenal,” Boyle said. “When we get the ball in his hands, good things happen.”
Rodgers wasn’t even slowed by a cut on his forehead that will require stitches.
“We ramped our defensive intensity in the second half and they missed some shots and we capitalized on our offensive opportunities,” Rodgers said. “In the first half, their zone rattled us a little bit and we didn’t attack their zone.”
Rodgers said he loves being a team player.
“Everybody loves scoring, but I am all about winning,” he said. “Whatever I can do to help us win, that’s what I want to do.”
Notre Dame hasn’t won a league title since 2014, but figures to have a
great chance to be the ones cutting down the net at Freedom on Feb. 17. In the semis, Notre Dame will play either No. 4 seed Palmerton or No. 5 Bangor. Those two meet at 6 p.m. Saturday at Palmerton.
“We’re getting hot at the right time, but during this break we’re going to have to work really hard at practice,” Rodgers said. “It’ll also be a good time to get some rest and get Colin [Boyle] and [Dan} Darno back healthy. We want to be at full strength. We’re ready. We have a good group that loves to play with each other. We can make some noise.”
Wilson can’t be overlooked either. The Warriors lost their regular-season finale at home to Notre Dame, 61-59 on Feb. 8 last year and then turned around and beat Salisbury, Notre Dame and Southern Lehigh in the tournament. Will history repeat?