Linden edges Newark East Side in a thriller to win the North Jersey, Section 2 Group 4 boys basketball title

by | Mar 1, 2023

Here is the story by Mike Kinney of NJ.com –

Junior forward Elijah Butler was a force for Linden Tuesday night as a scorer, rebounder and defender.

But when all was said and done and just before half the town of Linden spilled onto the floor in a joyous outburst, it very well may have been a few choice words from Butler that stood as his most powerful contribution of the evening.

Complete Box Score »

Freshman forward Jekhi Burnam had missed the first of three free throws following a 3-point attempt from the corner with 4.3 seconds remaining and his team trailing Newark East Side by one point. He thrust his head back in frustration and stepped away from the line at the urging of head coach Anthony Drejaj. It was then that Butler cradled an arm around the freshman, offered a few words and sent him back to line.

“He said, ‘Don’t worry, keep your head. You practice these every day. Just do how you do it in practice,’ ” Burnam said.

Burnam sank the second free throw to knot the score, pondered his final attempt during an East Side timeout, then buried that one to send second-seeded and 16th-ranked Linden to a 63-62 victory over eighth-seeded East Side in a nail-biting and thoroughly entertaining North 2, Group 4 final in Linden.

Linden (24-6) won its first sectional crown since 2017 and first under Drejaj in his fifth season, and now continues its hunt for a first overall group title since that season. The Tigers battle No. 9 Paterson Eastside in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Elizabeth Dunn Center.

East Side (13-13), seeking its first title since 2018, still had a chance to win it following Burnam’s clutch free throws, but a long pass off the inbound was knocked away and skipped out of bounds as time expired.

“I knew he could knock down those two free throws. That’s my boy,” Butler said of Burnam. “Now we’re gonna keep this going. We’re not done yet.”

Which is just short of remarkable considering that star junior guard Nas Robinson, recently back from an injury, played limited minutes, and senior Elijah Motley had fouled with 1:23 remaining on a technical right after he’d drawn contact and was headed for the line with a hot hand, having scored all of his 14 points in the second half.

In came senior Steven Carty cold off the bench to shoot for Motley. He sank both for a 59-56 lead and also connected inside off a pass from Jaylen Hodge for a 61-59 led with 21 seconds to go.

“We’ve always said our team is built with a next-man-up mentality,” Drejaj said. “We had a kid that didn’t play at all, Steve Carty, and he sank two free throws like it was nothing. That’s what this team is built for. I tell them be ready when you get called. Steve Carty got called and he answered it.”

Butler answered by scoring a team-high 18 points and pulling down eight rebounds while Burnam and junior forward Hashim Nadir scored eight points apiece. Nadir also collected eight rebounds. Senior guard Sutan Fitzpatrick scored 17 points and had four assists, and junior guard Amir Abdullah contributed 14 points and four rebounds for East Side.

Butler wasn’t about to argue with Burnam the freshman hero on the content of his advice, but it did vary slightly from what Burnam remembered

“I said, ‘You can make these. You’ve got to bring us home, Bro. You’re the No. 1 freshman in the state; bring us home,’ ” Butler said.

Drejaj also had the opportunity to ease Burnam’s nerves when East Side called a timeout after the foul.

“I was happy they called a timeout so I could settle him down. I was gonna call a timeout, but they beat me to it. I just said, ‘Listen, deep breath, win the game. Knock two or three down,’ ” Drejaj said. “That’s a freshman in probably the clutchest moment you’ve got in a career.”

Fourteen seconds before Burnam raised the decibel level in Linden to 747-on-your-roof range, senior guard Nasir Wheeler gave East Side a 62-61 lead with a 3-pointer from the left corner. There was some discussion after the shot that it was actually a two-pointer, and the clock was initially changed to the loud displeasure of East Side’s faithful.

The original call stood, and Linden had work to do. And after Burnam hit those two free throws, there was further work to do on defense.

“Now we were just working to stop the ball,” Burnam said. “Those four seconds felt like eight.”

For East Side, they probably felt more like two seconds as its near upset fizzled away.

“It’s tough to swallow, but kudos to the freshman for stepping up to the line and making those,” East Side co-head coach Anthony Tavares said. “Tough one. I’ve gotten on a few bus rides from Linden over the last 23 years feeling the same way I feel today.”