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Schools

Madison Boys Hoops Routs Pequannock

Improve to 13-2 on the season.

boys basketball head coach Bill Librera says he came into this season with no expectations. With the Dodgers sporting a revamped starting five on the court, the plan for the Madison coaching staff was to get this team playing its best basketball by February.

And, with Librera’s group picking up win No. 13 on Wednesday, a 55-33 thrashing of division rival Pequannock at home, his plans appear right on schedule. 

Madison looked confident on Wednesday night, stifling the Pequannock offense and moving the ball without a hitch. Good shot selection and an unselfish approach with the basketball helped Madison outscore Pequannock in all four quarters, highlighted by a 22-10 fourth-quarter surge to seal the convincing win.

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“We won four quarters tonight, that’s a nice thing,” Librera said. “We knew it was going to be a tough game, we always have a tough game with [Pequannock], so anytime you can pitch four wins together within a game, that’s nice.”

Madison has relied on a “next man up” philosophy all season, looking to a different Dodger to step up and carry the offensive load each game. But on Wednesday night it was the “next men up” approach spearheaded by Sean Haughey, Scott Jouan and Matt Gilbert, who finished with a combined 37 points.

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In their last meeting with Pequannock, it was Madison which found itself trailing in the second half, having to battle back and secure what was then its sixth win of the season. A comeback wouldn’t be necessary in this one, though, as Madison carried a 10-point lead into the fourth quarter.

“We had to come back from 17 [points down] the first time, so it’s good to secure a convincing win against them,” said Cam Dias, who finished with six points. “We just wanted to play our game and not play down to their level.”

This season “our game” is the pure motion offense, an approach that involves all five players screening and slicing to get the ideal shot available. And it appears to be working wonders.

“This is the first time that we’ve really taught pure motion and we’ve had great success with it,” Librera said “It’s tough to guard. When five are working as one, it’s tough to guard all five. We just have to make sure that we heat the ball up, have weak side movement, and we believe that our guys can do all that.”

And with the Madison win total growing each week, it seems that Librera’s expectations too, have risen.  

“We’re on a little bit of a roll right now, we’ve had a lot of games at home and next week we start our away trips,” Librera said. “We’re 13-2 and we’re excited about that, but we know that there are other things to get done.”

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