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.
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