The Montclair Kimberley boys basketball team held on in the fourth quarter to defeat Doane Academy Monday afternoon and win the Prep B championship, the first for the program since 2008.
In addition, Cougars head coach Tony Jones registered his 300th career victory with top-seeded MKA’s 65-61 win at home in Montclair.
“It was nice for us to win and nice for the school,” Jones said.
The victory over second-seeded Doane raised the Cougars’ record to 19-5 and extended their winning streak to eight games as they head to the Non Public B North state playoffs, which started Feb. 22 at St. Joseph’s, Montvale, with results after press deadline.
Montclair Kimberley senior Marley Stewart led the Cougars with 26 points, 13 in the second half, when his team needed them to clinch the championship.
He said he had no idea how long it had been since the school won a Prep B title. “I didn’t know about that until I heard it,” said Stewart, who has led the Cougars in points, rebounds and assists this season.
On the 2008 team was current NBA star Kyrie Irving, a former Brooklyn Net who is now playing for the Dallas Mavericks.
Stewart said that the team’s success this season and its winning the Prep B title was due to one word: chemistry.
“We have great chemistry on this team,” he said. “I love the chemistry on the team.”
Jones used a baseball reference to describe Stewart’s play this season.
“I call Marley our Mariano (Rivera, the hall of fame New York Yankees reliever),” the coach said. “We turn to him to close. When we need a big bucket we turn to him … He’s one of the best I have ever coached.”
It was Stewart who finally helped close out Doane Academy on Monday. He scored eight of the 13 points in the fourth quarter, with each point needed to quell a Doane comeback.
It was another senior, Isaac Wise, who drained two crucial free throws with six seconds left to give Montclair Kimberley the final four-point victory, 65-61.
Stewart said that the talk in the timeouts in the final minutes was the same mantra throughout the game. “You just have to play hard and aggressive, and the best team will win,” he said.
Before Wise’s free throws, the Cougars saw what was an 18-point halftime lead, 43-25, evaporate to two points, 63-61, with eight seconds left.
(EDWARD KENSIK/STAFF).
In the first half Montclair Kimberley drained seven three-point buckets, led by junior Viraj Bansal, who had four triples. For the game Bansal chipped in 15 points, all via the three.
Everything was working like clockwork in the first half for the Cougars.
And then in the second half, foul trouble started to put a crimp in the MKA defense. By the end of the game four Cougars had four fouls, including Stewart.
Doane freshman Elijah Satchell put up 13 of his 16 points in the second half and made a bucket that sliced the Cougars’ lead to 59-56 with 1:30 remaining in the game.
But though Montclair Kimberley turned the ball over on the next possession, the Cougars defense stopped the Doane offense, and junior Manny Udofia brought down a defensive rebound.
Stewart would take the ball down the court and get fouled. He would drain the two free throws for a 61-56 lead with a little more than a minute left in the game.
And then MKA junior Ben Otner drove to the basket for a layup to hand the Cougars a 63-56 lead with 30 seconds left.
But even though it appeared Montclair Kimberley had won the game, Doane Academy came back, as Satchell drained a three-point bucket with 20 seconds left and sliced the Cougars lead to four, 63-59.