This game really turned out to be a tale of two coaches and a game of adjustments.
One coach (Florence's Cesar Pereda) looked confident he had his players
primed and ready to go with a desire to win this game and set up a possible
rematch Asbury Park the team that defeated them the previous year in the second
round. This was clearly demonstrated by his confident, calm and cool demeanor
on the sidelines which his players mirrored on the court.
The other coach was looking to lead his team with their 22-5 record to
another historical victory and ultimately to their first sectional title
appearance in 33 years against a likely opponent in Asbury Park.
I would like to take this time to define the
five second rule:
The five-second violation occurs when a offensive player, while closely
guarded, holds the ball and doesn’t pass, shoot, or dribble for five
seconds. According to the rule, an offensive player (typically a Guard) with the ball above the foul line is considered closely
guarded when he or she is continuously guarded by a
defensive opponent within 6 feet of
that offensive player. The official will continue the five-second count
until the offensive player with the ball gets his or her head and shoulders
past the defender or moves to place the defender outside of the 6-foot range.
Interestingly, in the first half, Bound Brook played all but 1 minute in a
2-3 zone with no
on the ball pressure or in other words no
Florence player was
closely guarded by a Bound Brook defender
while in their half court offensive sets. As a result, on nearly every
possession, the Florence team brought the ball up and held it at the top of the
key with the point guard almost every time looking at his sideline away from the closest
defender who was more than
six feet away (therefore no five second
violation). This happened so often, it almost appeared to be an attempt by Florence to
taunt Bound Brook into getting out of the 2-3 zone while also running
down the game clock.
Notably, the hold
the ball and force the other team out of the zone tactic is often
utilized by AAU coaches on teams starting at approximately 6th grade on up to
12th grade. Another contributing factor to the loss was that Bound
Brook was significantly out-rebounded on both sides of the ball, which
helped Florence keep the ball for almost 2 straight minutes on one long and
continuous possession. Unfortunately, it was not until one minute left in
the first half that Bound Brook switched to man to try to stop Florence from
dictating control of the game, this late response proved to be one of many
fatal flaws contributing to the loss.
It should be noted, that Bound Brook did make one significant adjustment in
the beginning of the second half when they came out in a 2-2-1 full court press
and continued to play in man. To their credit the Bound Brook players
were able to close the gap to four points in the quarter. However, not to
be outdone, Florence responded by putting together an 8-2 run to take a 33-23
lead into the fourth quarter. Then to make matters worse, Florence
started the fourth quarter with Quintin Harris flushing a one-handed banger off
the dribble, in traffic, that sent the crowd into a loud frenzy. The momentum
from that big play ultimately sealed the deal, as Bound Brook never got any
closer than 10 points after.
In the end, Florence starters were fresh throughout the game never once
looking tired and were able to outlast the tired legs of the Bound Brook
starters who could not get a break during the game except during the few
timeouts and at half-time. Additionally, Florence's controlled tempo and
rebounding prowess helped them to use up substantial game clock (approximately
5-6 minutes in the first and second quarters alone) allowing them to dictate
the flow of the game.
It will be interesting to see if Bound Brook can get a rematch against
Florence in the state tournament next year assuming they both make it
back.
The final score:
Florence 46 Bound
Brook 32.