MONTVALE, NJ: Comebacks overcome controversy for upset victory

For a long time, the Bergen Tropics have had revenge against the Ferrall Ballerz on their mind. They will have to wait until at least next season to try and upend the defending champs, because their season ended a game too soon against The Comebacks in the semi-finals.

The Tropics were missing two of their regulars and were left shorthanded and in need of help to fill their lineup. The Comebacks took advantage of that and took an early 5-0 lead after Marselis Middleton (11 pts, 6 reb, 2 ast) hit a 3-pointer. Dan Gashi (18 pts, 5 reb) put the Tropics on the board by putting back his own missed layup with 17 minutes left in the first half. Gedaliah Lozan (12 pts, 5 reb, 6 ast) answered back with a 3-pointer to put the lead back at 5 (8-2) with 15 minutes left before the break.

Rob Cohan (9pts, 5 ast) then turned his ankle with 10 minutes left before the break, leaving the Tropics with just 3 regulars and 2 helpers from the previous game. This led to controversy and a long delay at 9:45 left in the 1st half when Commissioner Perry Mann walked into the gym and discovered the lineup the Tropics were using for the playoff game.

Ultimately, once the Comebacks said they would continue as long as the Tropics only used one of the leftover players, Cohan reentered and the game got back underway. The Comebacks showed no loss of focus from the delay and debate as Danny Readie (19 pts, 5 ast) nailed a jumper for a 13-6 lead with 8:38 before halftime. Middleton hit another jump shot with 1:30 before the break to extend the lead to double digits (18-7) but a Gashi layup with less than a minute left brought it back to a single digit lead (18-9) at halftime.

The Tropics and Alex Benisatto (12 pts, 3 reb) tried to scratch their way to the finals by outscoring the Comebacks in the 2nd half but they missed free throws (especially in the closing minutes) which kept them from making it all the way back to even. The Tropics actually shot better from the field (42% to 33%) and beyond the arc (36% to 26%) than the Comebacks, but their 12 missed free throws did them in.

The young Comebacks move on and will try to make it two upsets in a row when they play the Ferrall Ballerz for the right to put a banner on the wall next Wednesday.



To see the rest of the highlights from this game go watch the Semi-Finals Playlist on the UHoops Montvale YouTube Page.