Rumson-Fair Haven Holds On To Defeat Carteret In Sectional Final

Photo above: Your 2018 Central Jersey Group II champions

RUMSON - For most the game top-seeded Rumson-Fair Haven’s lead over No. 3 seed Carteret hovered around the 10-point mark but with 35 seconds remaining in the game the Ramblers had pulled to within four, 53-49, after Isaiah Daniels-Porter, who had a game-high 24 points for Carteret, sank a floater.

Rumson’s senior point guard Devin Cooper was then fouled bringing the ball up court and sank both shots giving the Bulldogs a 55-49 lead with 20 seconds left, but Carteret wasn’t done yet. After a Elijah McAllister blocked shot, Timothy Ellis grabbed the long rebound in the corner and nailed a three-pointer to make it a three-point game, 55-52, with six seconds remaining.

Carteret had no choice but to foul Cooper again as the seconds wound down and Cooper calmly marched to the charity stripe and hit both free throws to ice the game with five seconds left giving the Bulldogs a 57-52 win and their second consecutive NJSIAA Central Jersey Group II championship.

Cooper, who came over from Red Bank Regional this season after leading the Bucs in scoring a year ago, was asked to play point guard this year and has thrived as a pass-first, on-court leader while stepping his defensive game up as well.

“I knew when I was coming here, I was surrounded by a lot of good scorers so I had to play my role as a point guard,” said Cooper, who scored all of his 11 points in the second half including going 6-for-7 from the foul line in the fourth quarter. “I tell myself before every game, ‘points are overrated.’ I’m not worried about points, I’m just worried about getting the right guy the ball.”

As the only player who saw action Monday night who was not in the program for last year’s sectional championship, Cooper has certainly made his mark on the team in helping the Bulldogs (25-2) repeat as champions.

“This is my new family,” Cooper said. “They were so accepting of me. I love the coach and everybody on the team from the first guy to the bottom of the bench. I sort of fit the perfect mold of what kind of player they were looking for so it was pretty easy for me to fit it.”

Rumson head coach Chris Champeau will agree with his senior point guard that he was the perfect fit for the Bulldogs.

“It’s nice to have a really good point guard to control the game and move the ball around,” said Champeau. “I’ve always been a guy who said if you go to a slow-down offense to early, you end up losing the game, sort of like prevent defense in football. But when you have Devin and you’re in the bonus shooting free throws, I figure we’re in good position to take some time of the clock and win what was not the prettiest game in the history of the Shore Conference.”

Both teams struggled from three-point range with the Bulldogs shooting just 8-for-34 in the game including going 1-for-10 in the second half while Carteret shot 4-for-18 from three in the first half and 8-for-29 in the game.

With Carteret (23-7) content on shooting from the perimeter to avoid going inside against the 6-foot-7 McAllisters, the Bulldogs, normally a man-to-man defensive team, primarily stayed in the zone. But when they did attempt to penetrate McAllister was waiting. The big-man led the Bulldog defensive effort grabbing 13 rebounds and blocking seven shots.

“We didn’t want to let (Daniels-Porter) get going with some easy shots.” Champeau said. “We figured we’d make them knock down shots from the outside and really, it was their other guys and the end that hit some big shots. I’m not really a zone coach because I think our man-to-man defense gives us a lot of energy, but I didn’t like the way we were switching early so I thought we’d try the zone.”

Rumson had the edge in rebounding and was successful penetrating the basket allowing them to score inside making up for their poor outside shooting.

Jackson McCarthy, who before the game, according to Champeau, had an allergic reaction after drinking a smoothie that had traces of peanuts in it, still managed to play a significant role in the win.

McCarthy scored nine of his team-high 13 points in the second half and hauled down eight rebounds. McCarthy and Cooper accounted for 20 of Rumson’s 22 second-half points.

The junior forward repeatedly took the ball to the hoop drawing plenty of company and trips to the foul line going 5-for-7 from the stripe in the second half.

“One of my strengths in being able to drive,” said McCarthy of his ability to penetrate. “We weren’t shooting our best so we thought if we could get them in foul trouble and extend the lead we’d be good. Our coach does a good job recognizing mismatches and one of them was realizing I could take my guy off the dribble and create. We thought if we could drive to the basket and stop before the charge we’d be able to kick it for dishes under the basket.”

While McCarthy and Cooper led the way in the second half, the rest of the team rallied the Bulldogs to a 35-26 lead at intermission.

Junior Ian O’Connor had a team-high 10 points in the first half, including scoring on a putback at the halftime buzzer, while 6-foot-6 sophomore Phillip Wheeler had an active half pulling down five boards, blocking two shots and dishing two assists to go along with his seven points. Senior shooting guards Teddy Sourlis and Jack Salano each hit two three’s for six points.

A year ago after winning their first sectional championship since 1973, the Bulldogs lost to Camden 65-49 in the semifinals of the NJSIAA Group II tournament. They were hoping to avenge that loss this season but Camden was eliminated in the semifinals and Rumson will now face Haddonfield, who won the South Jersey Group II as the No. 2 seed.

“I watched from the bench last season when we lost to Camden,” said McAllister, who has come back from two knee ACL surgeries and will play football at Vanderbilt University next fall. “I knew I wanted to get back to that game and play Camden this year. We wanted to win the section, but our goal is to get to the Tournament of Champions this year. That’s the new standard for this team and for this school as a basketball program.”

“Each year you want to improve a little more,” added Champeau. “We got to here last year and then we got smoked by Camden, who’s no longer in the tournament. So now we’re looking forward to maybe taking the next step. I know nothing about them (Haddonfield) but I know they must be very good if they beat Camden.”

Former Rumson star and Shore Conference Player of the Year, Brendan Barry, was in attendance rooting his old team on. Barry, a sophomore starter at Dartmouth, averaged 9.8 points a game this season while leading the team in three-point shooting hitting 53-of-120 (.442%) and assists with 105.

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