Sports Update: Maroons Must Rebound From Tough Week to Make Waves in State Tournaments

All the wins, losses and hard work is finally meeting its end for winter sports teams, as the basketball and hockey team find themselves in the state playoffs. The basketball teams, slightly over .500 this season, will have to kick it into gear if they can advance deep into the tournament. The hockey team–among the better in North Jersey–will also have a tough road ahead after coasting through a relatively weak schedule in the regular season.

Boys Basketball

The boys just didn't have enough to win the inaugural Bergen Invitational Tournament title despite favorable odds. The Maroons was hoping that the home cooking on Saturday night would be enough to defeat Northern Highlands in the BIT final but a barage of three-pointers couldn't keep the Saddle River neighbor down.

Both teams hit 14 threes in the contest including eight from Northern Highlands, four of which came from Highlanders Stephean Koleff who had a game-high 21.

Ridgewood's Evan Bartlik almost matched Koleff with 20, but the Maroons just did not have enough in the fourth quarter and Highlands pulled away 72-64. With the loss the Maroons boys team dropped to 14-12 in the regular season.

To get to the final the Maroons defeated Englewood, 78-72, on Friday night in Ridgewood. It was a big Friday night for the Maroons top scorer, Bartlik, who had a game high 36 points.

With the game tied at 53 heading into the fourth quarter, Ridgewood came out on top for the victory. Stefan Sengun added 15 points to the Maroons victory.
The boys team, the 14th-seed, will travel to Hudson County and take on third-seeded Memorial at 7 p.m. on Monday in the first round of the Group 4 North 1 state tournament.

If the Maroons upset Memorial they would take on the winner of 11th-seeded Montclair-sixth-seeded Vernon on Wednesday.

Girls Basketball

The Ridgewood girls team host the first round game in Group 4 North 1 on Monday night. The Lady Maroons are the eighth seed and take on ninth seeded Clifton. If Ridgewood defeats Clifton, they will take on the winner of 16th-seed Fair Lawn-top-seeded North Bergen on Wednesday night.

The Lady Maroons prepped for the state tournament with a 52-40 victory at Fair Lawn on Friday afternoon. Ridgewood was 13-10 heading into the state playoffs.
Against Fair Lawn the Maroons started out fast with a 17-8 lead after the first quarter. Kelci Smesko continued her big season wiht 25 points against the Cutters. Meghan Roxas added 14 points to the Ridgewood cause in the Big North contest.

Hockey

With a thrilling Big North Gold Cup title in their pocket, the Ridgewood ice hockey team will host Wall on Monday at 6 p.m. at Ice House in Hackensack. The Maroons are the 11th seed and Wall is the 22nd seed. A victory over Wall would send Ridgewood into the second round of the Public A section tournament against the winner of 27th-seeded Bayonne-sixth-seeded Hillsborough, most likely on Thursday.

Wrestling

At the wrestling regional in Hackensack, Ridgewood sent two wrestlers to the state finals in Atlantic City this weekend. Joe Oliva and Brandon Giovanetti qualified for the state finals with third-place victories at 112 and 130 pounds respectively.
The top three in each weight class at the regionals qualify for the state finals. Oliva defeated Dean Piterski of Pascack Valley, 3-2 while Giovanetti nipped Joe Rizzitello of Paramus, 3-1, in overtime.

For Giovanetti he just missed making the 130-pound final. The junior Maroons grappler lost a tough 2-1 verdict to a familiar face, Glen Rock/Saddle Brook’s Matt Jacobson.

In the district meet Giovanetti pinned Jacobson in overtime to win the 130-pound title. Jacobson would go on and win the 130-pound regional title.
For Oliva he was sent into the wrestleback semi-finals after being pinned by Bergen Catholic’s Tyler Albrecht at 3:31. Oliva defeated River Dell’s D. J. Tirelli, 5-2 in the wrestle back semi-finals.

Before taking third place Giovanetti needed to beat Michael Valle of Bergenfield, 7-5 in the wrestleback semifinals.

One Ridgewood wrestler, Kyle Gibson, just missed getting a shot at a trip to Atlantic City. Gibson dropped a 3-1 decision to St. Joseph’s Jeff Farina in the semi-finals.