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Williamsport produces super comeback, but Teaneck captures tournament championship

By Chris Masse 6 min read

Thomas Takach made a hustling steal and found Jamaire Harden streaking toward the basket. Harden attacked the defense, made a driving shot and was fouled. Seconds later, his free throw tied the game.

After trailing by 19 in the second quarter’s final 30 seconds, Williamsport had tied perennial New Jersey power Teaneck and 2 minutes, 21 seconds still remained Wednesday at the Magic Dome. The Millionaires were producing a great story, but Teaneck flipped the script at the end, scored the next six points and won a 72-66 thriller while capturing the Williamsport Christmas Tournament championship.

That loss stings but this Williamsport (6-2) book is far from closed. Build off that tremendous comeback effort, clean up the mistakes and keep improving and the Millionaires could author up something big this season. Maybe what happened Wednesday just provided a turning point chapter.

“We have a lot of heart,” Takach said. “I think we can make a really good playoff push. We just have to get the little pieces going.”

“They showed their grit and a lot of character battling back. We just have to continue to work on and improve, so we’re prepared for that big moment,” Williamsport coach Allen Taylor said. “We weren’t at our best when our best was needed during crunch time. But we were able to get ourselves to that point where we had the opportunity which was good. I’m proud of that. There’s a lot to learn from this game.”

Obviously, nobody likes losing, but if a team learns from mistakes made in those contests, it can produce a lot of wins moving forward. That is the goal now after Teaneck snapped Williamsport’s six-game winning streak. The Millionaires showed how explosive they can be by erasing that 19-point deficit.

Now what Williamsport wants to do is fix all the things which led to it falling behind so far late in the first half. Teaneck is an outstanding team featuring good size, guard play and shooters. The Highwaymen offer enough problems on their own, but Williamsport compounded those with defensive breakdowns, missed layups and cold shooting.

That is the bad part. The good part is that after it was knocked down, Williamsport came roaring back. Fix the mistakes, keep progressing from that second half performance and Williamsport can become the team Taylor stresses they can be each day at practice.

“The second half was a much better half for us. If we just clean those things up, we’ll get better. I keep telling them good teams don’t do things to beat themselves and we just keep doing those things,” Taylor said. “You can’t do that against quality teams or you’re going to pay the price. I told the guys the good thing is this is the regular season. We can learn from that, so we’ll be better prepared when these situations come up.”

Tournament MVP Tyler Tejada was a matchup problem and the 6-foot-8 center scored 25 points, while adding 11 rebounds. He was one of four Teaneck players who scored in double figures. The first quarter featured seven lead changes, but Teaneck closed on an 8-0 run, extended it to 16 straight in the second and seemingly could not miss. It looked like the Highwaymen may go up by more than 20 by halftime before Takach hit a 3-pointer and George Whaley (19 points) scored off a steal to cut it to 38-24 at halftime.

That sequence proved a harbinger. Caden Holt caught fire in the third quarter and all the things which went wrong during the first half started going right. Holt scored 14 of his 16 points during that third quarter, producing a shooting clinic which would make Larry Bird blush. Holt made all four 3-point attempts he tried and found Whaley (6 assists) for another 3-pointer as Williamsport started cutting into the deficit despite Teaneck also still shooting well.

“I just came out firing it up and not thinking. I was just shooting the ball and it was going in,” Holt said after adding four rebounds and a steal. “It was making me mad because I wasn’t playing how I wanted to play. Then today it kind of boosted my confidence again.”

Holt twice pulled Williamsport within nine points in the third quarter, but Teaneck still was up 14 in the quarter’s final minute. Just like in the second, Williamsport again scored five quick points to stifle the momentum. Then the Jakiha Kline helped Williamsport put its comeback effort into turbo mode.

The versatile senior forward opened the fourth quarter with consecutive steals and quickly made it a five-point game. Kline scored nine of his 11 points in the fourth quarter and finished with nine rebounds, four steals and two assists. Whaley then scored off a drive and Kline made another steal and layup, pulling Williamsport within 58-55.

“We came out strong in the second half and really put things together,” Holt said. “We were scoring points, playing defense and it showed on the court.”

Teaneck went ahead by five again before Zach Lake hit a runner in the lane. That set the stage for the game-tying sequence when Takach made his second steal and found Harden for the 3-point play. The Millionaires twice had shots to take the lead, but the first went in and out before what looked like it would be a layup, turned into a block, a run out and a three-point Teaneck play. Lake found Kline inside, making it 70-66 with 22 seconds left but Teaneck clinched the win at the foul line.

Takach and Harden were part of a deep bench which again provided a big lift. Takach finished with eight points and seven rebounds.

“I just want to help the team win however I can,” Takach said. “If I start; if I’m off the bench it doesn’t matter as long as we win.”

Every player Taylor used attacked that goal hard and had their fans rocking throughout the second half. Caleb Fausnaught grabbed six rebounds and added a key block during the fourth quarter flurry. Take a look at the rotation and one saw each player making a significant mark on the game at different times.

All that is good. Get all those players clicking at the same time and maybe Williamsport can be great.

“Good teams don’t do anything to beat themselves. Great teams impose their will,” Taylor said. “All you can ask for your players is to go out and give their best effort and not quit on you. They definitely gave us max effort. They didn’t quit and we had a chance. You can’t ask for too much more against a quality team like that.”

TEANECK (72)

Tyler Tejada 9 6-6 25, Keith McKnight 6 1-1 15, Bryce Hamilton 1 0-0 2, Mickell Taylor 4 0-0 10, Nasir Middleton 2 1-1 5, Ty Carnegie 5 1-4 12, Jayden Blue 1 1-2 3. Totals 28 10-14 72.

WILLIAMSPORT (66)

George Whaley 8 2-2 19, Caleb Fausnaught 1 1-2 3, Zach Lake 2 1-2 5, Caden Holt 6 0-0 16, Jakiha Kline 5 1-6 11, Jamaire Harden 1 2-3 4, Thomas Takach 3 0-0 8, Chris White 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 7-15 66.

Teaneck 19 19 17 17-72

Williamsport 13 11 22 20-66

3-pointers: Teaneck 6 (McKnight 2, Taylor 2, Tejada, Carnegie); Williamsport 7 (Holt 4, Takach 2, Whaley).

Records: Teaneck 4-2. Williamsport 6-2.

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