No. 3 Don Bosco Prep boys basketball blows out rival No. 8 Bergen Catholic

Don Bosco Prep never trailed on Thursday night, but for a brief moment, it did find itself even with Bergen Catholic. The crowd in Oradell came to life when the score was tied up in the second quarter and let Don Bosco Prep hear it. Junior Dylan Harper quickly silenced the Crusader Crazies with one shot.

The 6-foot-5 guard drained a 3-pointer near the sideline and once it fell through the net, Harper blew a kiss toward the Bergen Catholic faithful. Don Bosco Prep led the the rest of the way after that shot. Harper hit another deep ball later in the quarter and reacted with an imaginary bow and arrow.

It was another standout performance for Harper and there were plenty of reasons to celebrate. The junior led the way with 25 points for Don Bosco Prep, No. 3 in the NJ.com Top 20, as it dominated in a 72-50 victory over No. 8 Bergen Catholic, the defending state and county champs.

Harper did have to come off the floor after going down hard after a dunk in the fourth quarter. He stayed down for a few seconds and had to be helped up, but checked back into the game a minute later.

“I come into a game like this and I expect our team to win, so I’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen,” said Harper, who also had five rebounds and five assists. “If I have to score, I’ll score. If I have to rebound, I’ll rebound. We sent a message that we’re not going to back down from anyone, and we have proven that all year. We’re going to keep grinding in practice and keep our heads up knowing we can go toe to toe with anyone. This is a great rivalry and we just tried to come in here tonight, have a good time and win.”

Bergen Catholic did not back down in the first half, even after Harper’s momentum-swinging 3-pointers, and only trailed by a single point at halftime. Don Bosco Prep came back out in the third quarter though and scored the first six points. It ended that same period with 9-2 run against its rival.

In the fourth quarter, Don Bosc Prep outscored Bergen Catholic, 21-8.

The Ironmen held Bergen Catholic bigs Brandon Benjamin and Terry Copeland to single-digit points. That pair combined for just four points in the second half as Don Bosco Prep pulled away.

“We executed really well on the defensive end in the second half and contained their bigs off the glass,” said Don Bosco Prep coach Kevin Diverio. “Playing (Bergen Catholic), those guys are a huge problem. I thought our guys did a better job of putting pressure on the ball, a little bit better of a job in the post and a little bit better of a job off the ball. As a team, we did a better job defensively than we did in the first half.”

Last Friday, Don Bosco Prep (11-1) suffered its only loss of the year against No. 2 Camden.

The Ironmen led at the break in that showdown, but could not sustain its level of play in the final two quarters. Harper wowed with 36 points, but what hurt Don Bosco Prep was the lack of other options later in the game. That was not the case against Bergen Catholic this week though.

Sophomore Brady Laughlin’s shot was falling all game and he finished with 14 points. Junior guard Isaiah Brown was dynamic and added 13. Senior Noah Barnett had one of his better games of the year and classmates Evan Cabral and Marc Herasme stepped up as well. Upperclassmen Nasim Cosby, William Mensah and AJ Anderson checked in too and executed the game plan.

“We have guys who can make plays and guys who can shoot the ball, and they stepped up today,” said Diverio. “To win these games, you need more than one guy and we have more than one guy. Everyone contributed tonight and that’s what we rely on.”

It was the type of total effort that makes this team frontrunners in a pair of title races.

Don Bosco Prep lost to Bergen Catholic in the Bergen County final and the North, Non-Public A championship game last year. Those were the only two losses in the Ironmen’s final 18 games. The loss in the county final snapped a Don Bosco Prep 14-game winning streak that included two regular-season wins over Bergen Catholic. The loss in the sectional final may have hurt even more though.

It was the final blow of 2022, and left Don Bosco Prep wondering what could have been.

This team is back now with hopes of getting revenge and winning championships in 2023.

“We didn’t finish last year in the championship games, so we had to come out today and get the win,” said Brown, who made a name for himself in 2021 when he hit a game-winner at the buzzer to upset Bergen Catholic on its home court. “This is a good win and we have to keep going. We can’t get too happy after this though. Every game is different and we have to bring the same effort every game.”

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Brandon Gould can be reached at bgould@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrandonGou

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