It was a tightly fought game between Lyndhurst and Secaucus last Thursday, but the Golden Bears lost the battle in fouls and at the free throw line.

After being down by double-digits at halftime, Lyndhurst rallied to catch up to the Patriots in the second half, but the Golden Bears could not get over the top.

Secaucus stayed undefeated in the BCSL National while Lyndhurst fell for the first time in the 66-57 loss at home. Golden Bears senior guard Anthony Dorio had a big game with 25 points, but no other Lyndhurst player was in double figures. In addition the Golden Bears only made 13 of 30 free throws in the tightly called game.

Golden Bears head coach Chuck Martin, whose team fell to 2-1, said that despite the loss he was "proud" of the team in coming from behind in the second half.

"We were down 11 at the half and we could have just folded up the tent and gone home," said Martin. "Our kids played hard and we just go caught up in the hype of the game."

Martin said that this game was probably the biggest in three years when Lyndhurst defeated Wood-Ridge on the road to win the BCSL National division. In turn the team was overly-excited in playing this game and in turn only made seven of 41 shots from the field in the opening half.

If the Golden Bears played the rest of the way like they did in the second half, there will be more big games later this season.

The second half did not start out well as Lyndhurst turned over the ball twice and were behind 36-21 after their first two trips down the court.

Martin immediately called a timeout. "He just told us to relax and settle down," said Dorio about the timeout. "He said just to play our game."

The pep talk seemed to do the trick. The Golden Bears hit eight straight shots including three, three pointers. Lyndhurst came all the way back and took the lead, although slightly, as Dorio hit three free throws after attempting a three pointer. The Golden Bears led 45-43 with 30 seconds remaining in the third quarter, but the lead was short lived.

Secaucus retook the lead to start the fourth quarter with a Bekim Bujari bucket as Lyndhurst was behind 47-45.

The Golden Bears stayed close to the Patriots, but the fouls kept building and building against Lyndhurst and in turn five Golden Bears fouled out. Lyndhurst could not recover from that.

"We got into foul trouble early and we were not able to run our seven player rotation," said Martin. The Golden Bears went to the bench as players like PJ Miller, Gio Riccardi and Niko Lamort got more minutes than was expected. Players like Nick Abruscato and Glenn Flora were limited in playing time because of foul trouble.

Dorio admitted that the team was too excited in the early going of the game, but will not be in a big game and also against Secaucus. "Next time we play them we will be a little more calmer. I‘ll make sure of that," said Dorio.

The senior guard said that the team is looking to put aside the last two years of basketball as the team struggled off the league title. "The last two years have been tough," said Dorio. "We’re looking to work the team concept."

He added that if they play the "team" concept that they will be successful with a goal of returning to the top of the BCSL National. Lyndhurst will have another chance at Secaucus on the road on Jan. 31.

"Next time we will be a little calmer against them and I will make sure of that," said Dorio. "But we have a lot of games before that one."

Teams skirmish

Although the battle was hard-fought on the court during the game, the battle had just begun after the game as Secaucus and Lyndhurst displayed the bad blood that flows between them.

Something had been building between the two high schools, Secaucus and Lyndhurst.

It had started during the summer as both students started trash talking and other talk of disgruntlement between the two schools, Martin said.

It finally blew up on Thursday night after Secaucus had defeated Lyndhurst boys basketball team, 66-57 in a physical affair.

While the two teams were shaking hands, one of the Secaucus players went after and starting cursing Martin. In response Martin started yelling at the Secaucus player.

"One of the players came after me and started shouting expletives," said Martin.

With the background of hard feelings of the school, pushing and shoving erupted with parents, players and coaches yelling at each other.

With the clash on the verge of becoming a brawl, Lyndhurst Police officers and cooler heads finally prevailed and both sides were separated.

There were a couple of scratches and minor bruises, but no one was seriously injured.

After the hard feelings during the summer, there was a commotion or two during the varsity football game.

Also knowing the anger between the two schools, the officials at the boys basketball game was called very tightly so that nothing would get out of hand.