Old Tappan Holds Off Ridgewood 62-53!

Old Tappan…….Senior Shane McLaughlin showed why he is considered one of the best, if not the best point guard in Northern New Jersey as Old Tappan held off a tough Ridgewood Highschool team, winning 62-53 and improved their record to 12-3 as they wait to see their seed in the Bergen County Jamboree! McLaughlin, despite not shooting great from the foul line finished with 23 points and 5 assists and every time the Maroons got close he would make a bucket or find a teammate for an easy shot! With Old Tappan up 25-22 before the half, Ridgewood got called for a charge and with 2 seconds on the clock, McLaughlin raced up the court and banged a half court shot to push the lead to 28-22 to end the half! O.T. held the lead the rest of the way as Ridgewood would keep fighting back, but could get no closer than 5 the rest of the way! McLaughlin got help from Senior Chris Besserer who scored 10 points and grabbed 6 rebounds, Junior Dan Brogan with 9 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocked shots and 10 points off the bench from Senior Mike Matteo! Ridgewood, who will only lose one player this year was led by Junior Evan Bartlik and Junior Alex Cohen with 12 points a piece and Ryan Schofield who added 9 points! They also got a strong defensive effort from Junior Jon Edghill who had 4 steals in the contest!