Dylan Harper and Don Bosco repeat as Bergen Jamboree boys basketball champions
HACKENSACK — Dylan Harper and Don Bosco reside in a different stratosphere than everyone else in North Jersey.
Harper, the senior All-American and Rutgers commit, and the Ironmen shut down Ramapo, 57-33, in Sunday afternoon's finals of the 67th Bergen County Jamboree boys’ basketball tournament.
Harper scored a game-high 24 points as top-seeded Don Bosco (24-3) led from start to finish to repeat as champion at Fairleigh Dickinson’s Bogota Savings Bank Center.
“There’s a legacy, and having to come here and get this win is special,” Harper said after Don Bosco earned its 12th Jamboree title to tie Teaneck for the all-time lead.
Don Bosco’s defense may have been the best it’s been all season. Keiner Asprilla, the 7-foot-1 sophomore, made it difficult for Ramapo to score inside. Harper locked on Peyton Seals, the senior point guard bound for Princeton, and held him to 11 points.
Don Bosco’s starters did their jobs at both ends. Junior Jordan Ghee hit a trio of 3-pointers and scored nine. Junior Brady Loughlin hit a pair of treys and scored eight, and senior Isaiah Brown scored seven.
“I’m just incredibly happy for these guys, these seniors,” Don Bosco coach Kevin Diverio said. “The effort they gave today defensively was special. Ramapo is a really good team, really good offensively, and I think we probably saved our best defensive game for today.”
“Don Bosco is a tremendous team,” Ramapo coach Nick Vier said. “Ton of respect for coach Diverio and their program. They were the better team today, and they deserve all the accolades. Dylan Harper is as advertised, and he has a great supporting cast around him.”
What it means
Don Bosco is 18-0 against Bergen and Passaic county teams, its lone single-digit win coming in December at St. Joseph, 54-45, while Harper was sidelined with a knee injury. Last month, the Ironmen beat third-seeded Ramapo, 59-45.
The NJSIAA tournament opens Wednesday and Don Bosco is the No. 1 seed in North Non-Public A. Meanwhile, Seals and Ramapo are defending State Group 3 champions and the No. 1 seed in North 1, Group 3.
Key sequence
Don Bosco gained immediate control by opening a 10-0 lead and triggering a Ramapo timeout at 4:07 of the first quarter. Ramapo missed its first seven shots before junior Charlie Wingfield (six points) scored on a putback that was goaltended by Asprilla.
Harper set the tone by opening the scoring with a 15-footer. Brown made it 5-0 by turning a drive into a three-point play. Ghee hit Don Bosco’s first 3-pointer to make it 8-0, then Harper scored on a layup to make it 10-0 and trigger the Ramapo timeout.
“Games like this you need your best players to have their best games, and he showed up,” Diverio said of Harper. “He was unbelievable. He was unbelievable at both ends of the floor. We asked him to guard Seals the whole game, and he took on the challenge, and that’s why he’s headed where he’s headed, and the success we’ve had this year.”
By the numbers
Don Bosco shot 47 percent from the field (20-for-43). The Ironmen shot 32 percent on their 3-pointers (6-for-19).
In addition to his 24 points, Harper had three rebounds, three steals, and two assists. Asprilla had six points, nine rebounds, three blocks and regularly changed the trajectory of Ramapo shots.
Ramapo shot 28 percent from the field (14-for-50). The Green Raiders shot 16 percent from beyond the arc (4-for-25).
In addition to his 11 points, Seals had six rebounds. Senior Chris Cervino had five points, nine rebounds and four assists. Senior Wyatt Eglinton Manner scored five, his 3-pointer in the second quarter cutting the deficit to 12-7.
They said it
“I thought we were prepared today,” said Vier, whose program was making its first finals appearance since 1993. “We didn’t make shots. I thought we got good looks. It’s a big part of the game, making shots, and we didn’t convert those open opportunities, and Don Bosco is just a very tough team. You’ve got to be clicking on all cylinders to compete with them, and we were not there today.”
“Great feeling to come back and win after winning last year,” said Harper, whose Ironmen lost in the 2022 finals to Bergen Catholic. “Lost sophomore year, and that’s still with me to this day that I could have had three, but two is good, too.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Don Bosco repeats as Bergen Jamboree boys basketball champion
