Bulldogs Survive And Advance

The Dayton boy’s squad survived and advanced in the preliminary round of the Union County Interscholastic Athletic Conference tournament.  

Led by a manic fourth quarter run, stifling defense, and late clutch buckets, the 10th-seeded Bulldogs knocked off a very competitive 15th-seeded Cranford squad, 50-44. Justin Grant scored seven of his team-high 14 points in the final stanza to help Dayton [15-4] avoid its third-straight loss and a rare early exit in the UCIAC tourney.   

Following a nip-and-tuck first half in which neither team had a lead larger than five points, Grant and Co. saw things unravel in the third quarter. Cranford went on a 13-4 run to start the third, as foul trouble was begot by questionable calls against Dayton. The Bulldogs were saddled with seven team fouls—opposed to only one for Cranford—during the run, including three suspect charging calls against Aaron Williams. As an added salt to the wound, Williams scored on all three buckets but were nullified by the calls. Those were six points that Dayton could’ve used, as Cranford outscored Dayton 13-7 in the quarter.  

Head coach Bob Martin said despite everything going against his squad, he implored them to stay focused and not let questionable calls, Cranford’s aggressive play, and missed shots affect them.  

“I told them they gotta play through it. Let us [coaches] talk and in the end it’ll even out. It can be frustrating when you think you’re not getting calls going you’re way but you still have to play through it,” Martin said. “We address it [sketchy officiating] all the time. I tell them, ‘Make your play get you the call.’ You can’t let your mouth [get in the way] because they’ll [referees] turn the other way and you won’t get another call.”    

The whistles seemingly went Cranford’s way during the first three quarters – much to the dismay of Martin, the Bulldogs, and the very loud and partisan Bulldogs fans. But something staggering happened to start the fourth, as Dayton began to chip away at the Cougars’ lead. Grant scored the first two buckets for Dayton; Christian Wortman forced a Cranford turnover on the baseline; Anthony Cioffi got a key offensive rebound and putback to cut the deficit to two; and then Cioffi nailed one of two free throws with 5:30 remaining after being body-checked by a Cougar; Williams then gave Dayton its first lead since an 11-6 advantage late in the first quarter with a layup off a Kevin Kirk pass with 3:30 remaining.     

The maelstrom of action culminated an 11-0 run. It was the first such stretch that Dayton went on all game and according to Williams it was something that was made possible by the Bulldogs’ desire to end its rare losing streak.  

“We couldn’t afford to lose three in a row because that’s unacceptable,” said Williams, adding they never wavered in their belief that they’d win the game. “Just keep pushing. We knew we could go on a run. We were due for one because everyone was struggling, myself included. We couldn’t get anything going…and a lot of us were in foul trouble.”   

Williams, who was called for a technical foul midway through the third quarter, recounted the emotional fourth quarter sequence when he was called for a charge with 56 seconds remaining and then atoned for that with a steal and an assist to Cioffi, who executed a three-point play with 41 seconds remaining. The senior forward smiled when told that Dayton imposed their will on Cranford.  

“We knew they weren’t really…we knew we could beat them, so we just told each other to get it to together and play defense,” Williams said.   

Inconsistent refereeing may have been a sidebar to the game’s recap but the real story was how well Dayton’s defense clamped down on Cranford, allowing Dayton to outscore them 23-8 in the final quarter. It said a lot for the sophomore Cioffi that the coaching staff had so much faith in him playing crunchtime minutes. Cioffi took the minutes that are usually reserved for senior guard Ronnie Herman and ran with them, scoring all seven of his points in the final quarter.    

Martin said although Cioffi saw the brunt of the fourth-quarter minutes, it wasn’t anything against Herman, rather a gut feeling that leaving Cioffi in would pay off for Dayton. 

“Ronnie is still our starter and Ronnie is going to play. It’s just a matter of what’s going on in the game. No one is in the doghouse or anything like that. Ronnie is a hard worker and I never question his heart or energy,” explained Martin. “But I thought Anthony was giving us some good minutes. It could’ve happened to anybody, not just Ronnie. When someone is getting us some good minutes, they’ll play. It’s not a punishment or anything like that.”   

Martin added that reserves like Wortman, Cioffi, and Fred Davis made it possible to come back.  

“Freddie was in there because they were in a zone and I thought they were going to trap out of it and there might be some seams in the defense for him to attack because that’s his strong point,” Martin said. “And Anthony was playing well on defense because before he came in we were getting broken down [off the dribble] a little bit. Anthony’s speed is exceptional and he was able to stop guys from getting to the basket…he made a couple of big plays in the end and got some steals and that three-point play.”   

Cioffi, who was humbled by the praise, said he was elated to help contribute to the comeback. 

“It felt good because I was finally getting into the swing of things. I usually come in just to play defense and that’s what I did in the fourth quarter because defense turns into offense,” Cioffi said with a smile. “We just locked them up.”    

Grant, who wore an exhausted look on his face afterwards, said he was happy how it was a total team effort and proud that his team fought through the adversity of the previous three quarters. 

“They [Cranford] were talking [trash] and were a little grimy. But I don’t really know what happened [in the third quarter],” he said. “The refs were definitely getting into our heads. It was tough. We had to grind it out. But we got ourselves up and finally started getting some calls…everybody contributed in the fourth quarter. It felt good.”   

Now that Dayton has survived its early-round scare, they’ll move on to 18th-seeded St. Mary [8-10], Wednesday, at Cranford. Martin said while the team can celebrate yesterday’s win for a few hours, he and his staff are already on to the next gameplan.  

“They’re a good team and run a lot of side screen and rolls,” he said of St. Mary. “They have a point guard who can shoot and we’re familiar with them because they were in our division last year. They’re athletic and they beat a real good GL [Governor Livingston] team. This is fun, though. It’s a tournament and everyone brings their ‘A’ games.”