The Russ Matera Recreation Basketball League of Lyndhurst completed another a very successful season. The league consists of two divisions: the Biddy League for ages 9-11 and the Junior League for ages 12-14.

In the Biddy League playoffs, number one seed Gelone Restaurant easily defeated Pinnacle Construction in one of the semi-final games to advance to the championship. In the other semi-final Michael’s Salumeria avenged its loss to Lyndhurst Florist last year and was able to defeat them by six points. This game was an old fashion shoot-out between two of the leagues best players. For Lyndhurst Florist, Jonathan Hoff scored 43 points in a losing effort, while Mark Estevez poured in a game high 46 points to carry his team to the championship. The 2008 Biddy League championship game was an exciting one as Gelone led by four points at half time. Gelone then opened up a 16-point halftime lead, but saw it cut to three points with less than two minutes to go. In the end, Gelone proved to be as dominant in the championship as they were all season long. The championship marks Gelone’s fourth title in the past six seasons. Can you say dynasty?

In the Junior League playoffs, RP Landscaping was able to control the tempo of their semi-final game behind the ball handling of Adam Plonski and the consistent play of Anthony Calabro and Ravi Shah. RP knocked off a powerful Gelone Restaurant team to earn a trip to the championship. Adam Plonski led all scorers with 24 points and Gelone was led by Joe Catena, Marc Carrier and Patrick Rono, who each had 12 points. In the other semi-final, La Cibeles opened up a 17-point lead (30-13) at halftime over defending champion Mr. Bruno’s. But, Mr. Bruno’s came to play in the second half going on a 12-2 run to cut the lead to seven points, and they did come to within three points with eight minutes to go. However, in the end, La Cibeles was just too much. They used their athleticism and pressure defense to control the game and move on to the championship vs. RP Landscaping after a 41-35 victory. Kyle Pollio led all scorers with 16 points and Mark Lodato had 14 for Mr. Bruno’s. In the championship, La Cibeles took an early lead over RP and hung on to it for the entire first half for a 22-15 halftime lead. RP Landscaping clawed their way back into the game behind Adam Plonski’s relentless pursuit of the basketball and his ability to take the ball to the basket possession after possession. RP had a six-point lead with four minutes to play but it was then when La Cibeles’ defense stepped up creating turnovers. Michael Walker and Kyle Pollio’s sharp shooting did the rest. The final score was 68-62 in favor of La Cibeles. La Cibeles finished the game with four players in double figure: Jeremy Schaefer and Justin Cosenza had 12 points while Michael Walker and Kyle Pollio had 15 and 17 respectively. Adam Plonski had a game high 39 while Anthony Calabro added 16.

The season was concluded on March 2 when the Sixth Annual League Day was held at Lyndhurst High School. This was a skills competition between all children and coaches in the league on a team as well as individual basis. Over 100 children participated and everyone received a Lyndhurst Rec. Basketball T-Shirt and was allowed to keep their sponsor-donated jerseys. In the Jr. League individual competitions, Justin Cosenza was the winner of the three-point championship and Ravi Shah was the winner of the slam dunk competition. In addition, Phil Mazarella was named Biddy League Coach of the Year after leading Gelone to their fourth championship in six seasons and Greg Caswell was named Coach of the Year in the Jr. League after leading his franchise to their first title since the early 90’s.

The Russ Matera Recreation Basketball League would like to thank all of the players, coaches, parents and sponsors as well as the Lyndhurst Parks & Recreation Department for all of their help and support this year. The 2008 season was truly a wonderful season and we can only hope to repeat the same excitement next year.