Raiders Battle Westfield in Close Game Determined in Final Seconds

Should Charles Oliver have been called for a charging foul when he drove to the basket and scored what would have been the tying points with just 40.42 seconds left?

Instead of his basket tying the game for Scotch Plains-Fanwood, he was called for the foul.

Arch rival Westfield went on to score the game's final six points for a hard-fought and thrilling 56-50 triumph in Thursday afternoon Union County Conference-Watchung Division boys' basketball play at Westfield.

This contest was roller coaster basketball at its best.

Scotch Plains had the lead 11 times and Westfield nine.

There were 13 ties.

Westfield went on a 13-0 run to end the first half and take a nine-point lead at intermission.

Scotch Plains began the third quarter with an 11-0 run to take a two-point advantage.

The second half continued with eight lead changes, while the game was knotted on 10 different occasions – five times in each of the third and fourth quarters.

"It was a great game just to be a part of," Scotch Plains junior guard Charles Oliver said. "I just wish I could have been on the winning end of it."

Oliver poured in a career-high 26 points, including 18 in the second half. At times, he was deadly from 3-point ranging, draining five long-range shots in 10 attempts.

 "I think the play of the game was the charge call against me," Oliver said. "I think that was a game-changer right there."

 With the scored tied for the 13^th and last time at 50-50 with 1:27 remaining following two free throws Oliver made, Westfield took possession.

Blue Devils junior shooting guard Ryan Hess gave his team back the lead for good with a one-handed running shot in the right side of the lane, making it 52-50 Westfield.

 After Scotch Plains got the ball past half court, Westfield came up with a steal before Oliver stole the ball away from the Westfield player that just stole it.

Then Oliver – on the right side of the basket – drove to the hoop and made contact with a Westfield player while doing so and also while the ball went in.

The ref decided that the Westfield player had position – meaning the ref felt the Westfield player didn't move while Oliver drove into him – thus he called the charging foul on Oliver, which negated the basket.

"The ref made a call and you have to respect it," Oliver said.

Westfield previously defeated Scotch Plains 43-36 in the Dec. 29 John "Butch" Kowal Tournament championship game at Rahway. Oliver also paced all scorers in that game with a 20-point performance.

He was averaging 17 points before Thursday's game.

Westfield snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 5-4 overall and 1-3 in the Watchung Division. The Blue Devils previously lost to Union, Linden and St. Patrick in division play.

Scotch Plains fell to 4-4 and is now 0-3 in Watchung Division competition. The Raiders previously lost to Plainfield and Elizabeth in division action.

What might it take for the Raiders to beat the Blue Devils at home when the teams meet for a third time this year three weeks from now on Feb. 4?  

"If we get them on a bigger court we can beat them, because we can't really run on a court like this," Oliver said. "All my shots this game were really 3s. I didn't get anything going to the basket like I normally do. This court is small and really crowded. On our court we have space and I think if we can get them up and down we can beat them next time."

After Scotch Plains did not get the basket by Oliver – which would have tied the game for the 14^th time at 52-52, Westfield responded with two free throws by Hess with 23.68 seconds left to take a two-possession lead.

Hess paced Westfield with a 22-point effort.

Blue Devils senior center Pat Sabatino made two free throws with less than nine seconds to go for the game's final points. After not getting one rebound and scoring only two points in the first quarter, the 6-7 Sabatino finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

The last lead taken by the Raiders was 47-45 with just over four minutes to go. It came on a 3-point basket made from the left side by junior shooting guard Tim Bonacum.

That was the only field goal Bonacum made. He finished with four points.

In the game against Westfield last month, Bonacum was held to three points on one 3-point field goal.

Although he scored below his average, Bonacum came up with several key steals that helped lead to Scotch Plains always getting back in the game and even taking a lead.

"It came down to possession by possession, they had a couple of shots inside, and they got easier shots than we got," Scotch Plains head coach Dan Doherty said. "The big play was the charge."

Two free throws by junior guard Patrick Dougher gave the Raiders a 16-12 lead midway through the second quarter.

Then Westfield received a 3-point basket by senior guard Max Fusaro and was on its way to a big surge.

Senior forward Hugo Nolasco followed by scoring inside and then Hess grabbed an offensive rebound and put the ball back in.

Hess scored off another offensive rebound and then senior guard Jararrd Rogers closed the half with consecutive baskets – the first on a nice give-and-go pass from Nolasco and the second on a steal from half court and ensuing layup.

Westfield went into the locker room at halftime on a high, leading 25-16 at intermission.

"I was on the kids at halftime after what Westfield did at the end of the first half," Doherty said. "We came out and we responded. We're a young team and those are the signs you see, if we could be good and it was a good sign to see."

Scotch Plains began its run through the first half of the third quarter with a 3-point basket by Dougher on the team's first shot of the second half.

Senior forward Alfredo Pawid followed with an inside basket after grabbing an offensive rebound and then Oliver nailed his third 3-pointer.

The Raiders made three of their first four second-half field goal attempts and were on fire at that point.

After getting fouled on a 3-point attempt, Oliver made all three free throws, which first tied the game, second gave Scotch Plains the lead for the fifth time and third put the Raiders up 27-25.

"For a loss, I have no problem with this," Doherty said. "I thought we played very good basketball. It just happened that they're a senior team and we're an underclassmen team."

Oliver leads that group of underclassmen that Doherty looks forward to coaching next year when they are seniors.

"He's got the talent and this is his real, first year of varsity basketball," Doherty said of Oliver. "It wasn't that the shots were selfish. He missed a couple of times. He really did a good job match-wise and, also, in the second half we got a couple of 3s from Patrick and one from Tim and when we get them going and have Matt Manns playing defense, we have something there."

NOTES: Scotch Plains senior forward Doran Nelson suffered a face injury where he got hit in the teeth during the early stages of his team's home game against Newark Tech Saturday. Nelson did not play against Westfield. Doherty said Nelson received stitches.

Pawid, who finished with six points, started in Doran's place.

"Alfredo did a good job for us," Doherty said.

In the first half, Scotch Plains made 5-of-25 field goal attempts and 3-of-4 free throws. Westfield made 10-of-23 field goal attempts and 4-of-5 free throws.

Sabatino grabbed five of his 10 rebounds in the second quarter.

Scotch Plains junior center Mike Manns had two blocks in the first quarter and sophomore forward Matt Jegede three rebounds in the second quarter. 

UNION COUNTY CONFERENCE-WATCHUNG DIVISION GAME

SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD (50)              7          9       22      12 - 50

WESTFIELD (56)                                             7       18       10       21 - 56 

SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD (50): Tim Bonacum 0-1-1-4, Charles Oliver 2-5-7-26, Patrick Dougher 1-2-2-10, Alfredo Pawid 1-1-1-6, Matt Jegede 1-0-0-2, Matt Manns 1-0-0-2, Ian Johnston 0-0-0-0, Denzel Clark 0-0-0-0. Totals: 6-9-11-50

WESTFIELD (56): Max Fusaro 2-2-0-10, Tim Younger 0-0-0-0, Ryan Hess 8-0-6-22, Pat Sabatino 4-0-5-13, Joe Kasmarsky 1-0-1-3, Jaraad Rogers 3-0-0-6, Drew Margolis 0-0-0-0, Hugo Nolaso 1-0-0-2. Totals: 19-2-12-56.

SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD RAIDERS (4-4)

REMAINING REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE:

Jan. 19 Union Catholic, 4 p.m.

Jan. 21 Union, 4 p.m.

Jan. 23 vs. St. Mary's, Elizabeth

in annual Coalition to House the Homeless Classic

at Dunn Sport Center in Elizabeth, 5 p.m.

Jan. 26 at Linden, 4 p.m.

Jan. 28 St. Patrick, 7 p.m.

Jan. 30 Plainfield, 1 p.m.

Feb. 2 Elizabeth, 4 p.m.

Feb. 4 Westfield, 4 p.m.

Feb. 6 Bernoski Games at Rahway, TBA

Feb. 9 at Union, 4 p.m.

Feb. 11 Linden, 4 p.m.

Feb. 16 Rahway, 4 p.m.

Feb. 24 Bridgewater-Raritan, 7 p.m.