The Alternative Press

WEST ORANGE, NJ—It has been a season of ups and downs for Mark Cacciacarne and his young Mountaineer squad. Monday afternoon was the highpoint of West Orange’s season as they defeated Bloomfield, 63-55. The Bengals, one of Essex County’s premier teams, lost in the Essex County semifinals to University this past Saturday 61-52.

“This was a great win for us,” sophomore guard Isaiah Scott said. “We came out with energy and executed the game plan. They fought back in the second half but we made some big plays down the stretch.”

Scott made numerous “big plays” as he finished with a game high 24 points.

The Mountaineers came out in an active 3-2 zone and for the entire first half Bloomfield had trouble solving it.

“They have three very good guards,” West Orange Head  Coach Mark Cacciacarne said. “We wanted to try to show them an odd front up top to neutralize the guard play and contest the long range shots, which they are so good at.”

After junior Bloomfield guard Jameel Patterson knocked down the first shot of the game, a 3-pointer at the 7:40 mark, the Bengals would not make another shot till 1:12 remained in the first period. During those six minutes, the Mountaineers went on a 13-0 run and held the Bengals to 2-of-11 shooting for the first quarter.  West Orange led 13-6.

West Orange continued to remain patient in the half court and work for open shots while keeping up the intensity on the defensive end and took a commanding 27-14 lead into half.

“The guys communicated and rotated well in the zone during the first half,” Cacciacarne continued. “We were happy with the lead we took into the half but we knew they would shoot better in the second half.”

In addition to shooting better, Bloomfield picked up the pace of the game and started to press West Orange turning the half court game into a transition affair.

At first, West Orange struggled with the full-court press as the Bengals forced four straight turnovers and went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to five, 27-22.

The Mountaineers then started to break the press with ease and Sterling Baker scored 12 of his18 points in the second half.

“We broke the press and attacked the rim,” Baker said. “We knew once we beat the initial trap we would have numbers at the other end and we converted.”

West Orange still had an 11-point lead, 42-31, heading into the final quarter.

However, the fourth quarter belonged to Bloomfield guard Jaleel Jimenez. Jimenez scored 16 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter while knocking down four 3-pointers.

Bloomfield cut the 13-point halftime lead to four points, 53-49, with 3:34 but West Orange remained composed and Scott came down and knocked down a 3-pointer from the quarter to bring it back to a seven point lead.

From there, West Orange never looked back and Baker would end up scoring West Orange’s final six points.

“We know this was big for us but we can’t get caught up on this one because we get right back at it tomorrow and then again on Thursday,” Baker concluded.