Team of the Year

West Milford

Without a doubt the toughest call of any winter award, but we're giving it to the Highlanders after another fine season.  West Milford went 20-7 with a group of seniors who have played together since they were small.  The Highlanders also won the Northern Hills Conference Skyline Division title.

Once again in the state tournament, West Milford proved its mettle, winning two thrilling games on the road at Wayne Hills and Sparta to reach the sectional final.  That game against state-ranked Teaneck would seem to be slipping away from coach John Finke's Highlanders, until a late rally pushed it into overtime.  It wouldn't be a storybook ending, unfortunately, as Teaneck pulled out the win, making it three times in four years that the Highlanders lost a heartbreaker in the sectional final.

West Milford just barely nosed out DePaul for this honor.  Both teams won 20 games on the season, and both had notable victories and near misses against state-ranked teams.  The teams did not play each other, and their results against common opponents were quite similar.  DePaul advanced one round further in the Passaic County tournament, but we chose West Milford based on two factors:  first, the Highlanders won their division while DePaul finished tied for second place in its league;  second, West Milford won two state games in hostile gyms while the Spartans' one win was a home contest.

A team that seemed to have a different hero every night, the West Milford Highlanders are our JSN Boys' Basketball Team of the Year.

Player of the Year

Justin Crosgile, DePaul

What more can we say about Crosgile that hasn't already been said?  He leaves DePaul as not only the top scorer in school history, but #3 on the all-time Passaic County scoring list.  Crosgile wound up with 2,010 points for his career, breaking the two-thousand point barrier in his final game.

Crosgile is a deadly three-point shooter but also dangerous off the dribble.  Many times in a game he would make acrobatic moves to the basket, usually taking on much taller players as he drove into the lane.  Hardly an imposing figure at 6 feet, 170 pounds, Crosgile nonetheless took over games and helped the Spartans to 20 wins.  He almost willed them past state power St. Peter's Prep in that final game with 31 points, before a late rally ended DePaul's upset hopes.

Next year, Justin moves on to play Division I college basketball at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia.  He will leave behind quite a legacy at DePaul, and he is our JSN Boys' Basketball Player of the Year.

Coach of the Year

Mike McCarthy, Pompton Lakes

At a school where many of the limited number of athletes tend to gravitate toward wrestling during the winter, a .500 season is nothing to sneeze at.  But when you throw in the school's first appearance in the state tournament in 18 years, you have a real accomplishment.

This was new territory for coach Mike McCarthy as well as his players.  But the young coach kept his team steady when it needed one more win to secure the state bid.  The Cardinals had their up-and-down moments, to be sure, but still posted one of the best seasons in recent memory.

As for that state game, Pompton Lakes had to travel to Dumont, but the Cardinals did not back down.  They kept it close and tied the score in the final minutes, before a basket with 10 seconds to play gave Dumont the win.  Next year, Pompton Lakes can shoot for its first state win in a long time, but this season, Mike McCarthy is our JSN Boys' Basketball Coach of the Year.

Boys' Hoops Notes

HAPPY RETURNS:  Twice this season, a Wayne Valley player returned from injury just in time to help the Indians defeat rival Passaic Valley.  Nick Siljee came back from a three-game absence to hit the game-winning shot in a one-point win in January.  A few weeks later, after a scary neck injury forced him to miss three games, Jason Rosenberg came back at top form to lead Wayne Valley to victory in a Passaic County tournament matchup.

ONE-MAN GANG:  For much of the season, Montville's Travis Warech was forced to carry an inordinate amount of the scoring load for the Mustangs.  With two fellow seniors out injured, Warech would often score more than half of his team's points.  But it wasn't until the Mustangs got their full lineup back in place that they started to find ways to win regularly, including a big upset of Chatham in the Morris County tournament.

WILD FINISH:  Pretty much all Mountain Lakes had to do was inbound the ball in order to defeat Whippany Park in a January game.  Easier said than done:  the Wildcats deflected the pass and scored on a layup to push the contest into overtime, where Whippany Park pulled out a one-point win.  The game proved pivotal for both teams, helping the Wildcats make the state tournament while derailing the Lakers' state hopes.

-- Paul Mencher for Jersey Sports Now