Newark Academy Falls Short Against Millburn

For much of the second half, Millburn guard Joe Kizel used crisp passing and deft awareness to break a constant press by the Newark Academy basketball team. But it was his actions on the other end of the court that kept Millburn's perfect season intact.

Kizel hit an acrobatic shot under the basket to force overtime and converted a 3-point play to open the extra session as the Millers rallied for a 64-53 victory over previously unbeaten Newark Academy in the Super Essex Conference battle Tuesday night in Livingston.

"This is a huge win for us because with 14 divisional games I don't know how many wins it's going to take to win this conference," Millburn coach Rodger Blind said.

With Millburn facing a 51-49 deficit, Kizel appeared to be more of the goat than a star when he was called for an offensive foul with 18 seconds left in regulation. Newark Academy in-bounded the ball under the basket but the entry pass was tipped by Alex Rosenberg and collected by Max Miller. Miller quickly fed Kizel, who used an up-and-under shot to get around the defender for the tying basket with seven seconds left.

The Minutemen failed to get a shot off, sending the game into overtime as Kizel stepped up again. Just 15 seconds into the extra session, the junior drove through the paint for a basket and was fouled. Kizel nailed the free throw to lift the Millers to a lead they would not relinquish.

Millburn (6-0) hit 7-of-9 free throw attempts in overtime, closing the game out by scoring the game's final nine points. Rosenberg had 19 of his game-high 31 points in the second half and overtime for Millburn.

After the teams traded eight leads in the first half, Millburn appeared to be in control in the second half. The Millers went on a 9-0 run to open the third quarter as Newark Academy (6-1) went nearly eight minutes without a basket. Sophomore Griffin Glatt ended the scoreless stretch with a 3-pointer from the right corner to stem the widening deficit.

Millburn only had two turnovers in the second half against the Minuteman press, which was handled effectively by the guard duo of Andrew Spelman and Kizel. Will Spelman also helped key the transition with some steady minutes off the bench for the Millers.

"I knew they'd handle the press, and I knew we wouldn't get many turnovers out of it," Newark Academy coach Jim Stoeckel said. "We just wanted to slow them down and have them take time."

Glatt had 14 points and Jordan Jett added 12 points to lead four players in double figures in scoring for Newark Academy, which was playing without starter Chris Cutri. Cutri was sidelined with an illness.

The first half was back-and-forth with Millburn grabbing the 25-24 halftime lead on a basket from Rosenberg off of an offensive rebound.