Young Shawnee team falls to Linden in Group 4 state final
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Shawnee High School's basketball players didn't write the Renegades' name in the state championship program on Sunday.
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Shawnee High School's basketball players didn't write the Renegades' name in the state championship program on Sunday.
But they dog-eared the page.
"We learned we can play with anybody," said Shawnee sophomore guard Pat Kernan, one of five non-senior starters for the Renegades. "We know what it takes."
Linden's 57-41 victory over Shawnee in the Group 4 state final looks a lot more imposing on paper than it did on the shiny hardwood of the Rutgers Athletic Center.
Shawnee (29-3) held an eight-point lead in the first half, was tied at halftime and was within 41-37 midway through the fourth quarter.
The Renegades drove south on the New Jersey Turnpike after the game determined to make a return trip in 2018 as a bigger, stronger and much more experienced team.
"We are confident that we will come back," Shawnee junior swingman Sean Heine said. "We're going to do everything we can to come back."
Said Kernan: "Everyone one of us has to get better as individuals, that's what will make us better as a team."
Junior forward Dylan Deveney led Shawnee with 12 points while junior guard Dean Noll scored 9 and Kernan added 7.
Linden was led by senior guard Mikey Watkins with 16 points while junior guard Tavon Jones and senior guard Khalief Crawford each scored 15.
"Their experience showed," Shawnee coach Joe Kessler said of Linden, which won its second straight state title and third in the last four seasons. "Our guys, being up here, they know what it takes.
"They know they have to work. But hopefully you'll see us here again."
Linden (26-4) closed the game on a 16-4 run after Noll made a pull-up jumper to cut the Tigers' lead to 41-37.
Jones, one of the state's top player in the class of 2018, led the Tigers in the fourth quarter, scoring six of his points and repeatedly getting in the paint for layups that fell or that his teammates converted on putbacks.
"They must have had somewhere between eight and 12 layups," Kessler said. "You shoot that many layups, you're going to score a lot of points. We had some breakdowns on defense."
Shawnee, which started four juniors and a sophomore, showed no nerves in the early going against the defending state champion and a team ranked second in the state by nj.com.
The Renegades took a 13-9 lead after one quarter and went to the locker room at halftime under a shower of applause from a several-hundred-strong, blue-clad student section.
Linden opened the second half on an 11-1 run, with Crawford and Watkins making consecutive three-pointers.
Shawnee rallied behind Deveney, who hit a deep three-pointer and muscled inside for a layup.
The Renegades opened the fourth quarter with a pair of buckets, as Daevon Robinson scored inside and Noll made a short jumper off the move to cut the margin to 41-37.
But Linden responded like a poised, polished team that was comfortable on the big stage.
Which is what Shawnee plans to be in 2018.
"Absolutely," Deveney said. "It's not easy to get back here. But we going to do everything we can to get back."
Shawnee 13 12 8 8 - 41
Linden 9 16 16 16 - 57
S: Dean Noll 9, Pat Kernan 7, Dylan Deveney 12, Daevon Robinson 5, Sean Heine 6, Kane Feudtner 2.
L: Tavon Jones 15, KJhalief Crawford 15, Marcellus Livingston 6, Mikey Watkins 16, Luis Rodriguez 2, Kyree Rogers 3.
@PhilAnastasia
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