02/24/05
Wolverines do everything but beat Newfield
SECTION FOUR CLASS D SEMIFINAL
Worcester falls short, 52-50, against No. 1 team
By Jeff Vella
Staff Writer
GRE
| | | Star photo by Michael Chacanaca
Worcester’s Chris Jowell loses the ball as he drives on 6-foot-8 Newfield center Josh Delfino in the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s Section Four Class D semifinal at Greene.
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ENE — The Worcester boys proved that the top-ranked team in the state puts its basketball sneakers on one at a time, too.
The fifth-seeded Wolverines, though, fell one basket short of a colossal upset of top-seeded Newfield in a Section Four Class D semifinal Wednesday at Greene High.
Josh Delfino, a 6-foot-8 center, scored eight of his team-high 14 points in the fourth quarter as the Trojans escaped, 52-50.
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Newfield (20-2), the consensus favorite to win the state title, advanced to play second-seeded Davenport (20-2) at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Broome County Arena.
"We came that close to the No. 1 team," said Worcester coach Jim Kenyon, pinching his fingers about an inch apart. "I almost started crying (after the game). It’s heartbreaking.
"My team laid it out and came away with, ’You played a great game,’ but not a win," he continued. "We had a chance to win against that team, and it’s heart-wrenching. I thought I coached as good as I could have coached and these guys played as good as they could have played."
Senior Travis Hunt had one of his best games in a Worcester uniform, finishing with 21 points and controlling the paint on both ends.
"We wanted to show we weren’t pushovers," Hunt said. "We looked at them as just another team. They might (be ranked) No. 1, but in practice we said they haven’t met us yet."
Hunt’s last basket came with 16.9 seconds left, as he took a feed from Kevin Head and converted a turnaround. That got Worcester within 52-50.
The Wolverines (18-5) needed to foul, but they only had three team fouls at that point, four away from the penalty. So three times, Newfield inbounded and Worcester fouled as valuable seconds ticked off. With 3.7 seconds left, the Wolverines committed foul No. 6.
Needing to inbound once more from midcourt, Newfield tried a lob pass to a cutting Dusty Marshall in the backcourt. But Worcester’s Josh Cristiano was tightly face-guarding Marshall, and the ball doinked off the back of Cristiano’s head. Cristiano reacted swiftly — turning around, diving on the ball and calling a timeout with 1.7 seconds left.
"The first thing I said was who the (heck) threw that pass," said Newfield coach Duane Barrett, whose team won the Class C sectional title last winter before dropping down to D. "Then we looked at the clock. We thought they wanted to get the ball to (Hunt) on the last play, so we wanted someone else to beat us."
It turned out the final play was designed to free up point guard Chris Jowell for a three-pointer in the left corner.
"I told them we’re going for the win," Kenyon said. "I always pre-play things in my head. I drew up two plays yesterday at practice. I decided to go to the corner."
Lance Hunt inbounded the ball from the left side with the 6-8 Delfino on him. Lance Hunt seemed to look toward the middle before throwing an errant pass at the end line. The ball went over Jowell’s head and out of bounds. Newfield then inbounded and time expired.
"I feel bad for Lance," Kenyon said. "I had Chris standing in the corner, my best shooter sitting there. ... I think Lance was looking at (older brother) Travis."
Worcester kept the score close the whole game, never trailing by more than six points. The Wolverines led, 28-23, at halftime and the score was tied at 41 going into the fourth quarter.
Newfield had difficulty breaking down Worcester’s active 2-3 zone despite the Trojans’ surplus of athleticism and talent.
"It’s a zone, but it’s not a zone because they get out on you," Barrett said. "My guards were thinking zone the whole game when they should have been treating it like a man-to-man and attacking the basket.
"We knew little-to-nothing about (Worcester) coming in," he continued. "We were very surprised by their size. We’re used to being big, but we’re not used to seeing a whole lot of big teams. They were quite big. Hats off to Worcester."
In the fourth quarter, Newfield finally solved the puzzle of the Wolverines’ zone. Junior point guard Jordan Clemons, an Ithaca transfer, used his quickness to penetrate, drawing Worcester’s big men out. Delfino stayed under the basket and Clemons fed him for layups on three occasions.
"Late in the game we were able to dribble-drive and drop it off to our big guy," Barrett said. "It took us three quarters to figure it out."
Worcester’s last lead came when Jowell banked in a wild driving jumper to make it 45-43 with 5:37 left.
On Newfield’s next possession, Matt Ruger hit his fourth three-pointer of the game, just getting his shot over the outstretched arms of Travis Hunt. That put the Trojans up for good, 46-45.
Delfino then scored six straight points for Newfield, his last basket making it 52-48 with 1:50 left. No one else scored until Travis Hunt’s inside shot with 16.9 left.
Travis Hunt scored nine points in the second quarter, as Worcester took advantage of Delfino sitting with two fouls. The Wolverines outscored the Trojans, 17-11, in the quarter. Twelve of Worcester’s points came in the paint.
"They were all big, so we wanted to get the ball into Travis and hope for the best," said Jowell, who finished with 12 points. "You have to stick to your guns and just go at it. We were happy at halftime."
Lance Hunt also had 12 points for the Wolverines, who also lost in the sectional semifinals last season.
"We did everything that we said we were going to do," Kenyon said. "We came out one basket short against the No. 1 team in the state.
"The Tri-Valley’s no pushover, and I think they found that out tonight," he continued. "It’s a statement for our league. It’s been a heck of a season. I couldn’t be more proud of these guys."
NEWFIELD 52, WORCESTER 50
5-WORCESTER (18-5): Travis Hunt 10 1-2 21, Jim Fedor 2 0-0 5, Chris Jowell 5 2-2 12, Lance Hunt 5 2-4 12, Kevin Head 0 0-0 0, Josh Cristiano 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 22 5-8 50.
1-NEWFIELD (20-2): Josh Delfino 7 0-2 14, Ryan Miller 1 0-2 2, Dustin James 3 2-2 8, Branigan Donahue 1 1-2 3, Dusty Marshall 4 1-2 10, Matt Ruger 4 0-0 12, Jordan Clemons 1 1-2 3. TOTALS: 21 5-12 52.
Three-point field goals: Worcester 1 (Fedor); Newfield 5 (Ruger 4, Marshall).
