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***Governor Livingston continues to be the best girls basketball team in Union County as the season now prepares to move into February and closer to UCT seeding meeting! ***Nutley's wrestling team has been the best in the SEC all season which certainly made it fitting that the Raiders would capture their first Essex County Tournament title. Check out "Feature Articles" ***As the winter calendar turns to February that means the biggest tournaments await for wrestlers and the best from Essex County set their sights high. See "The Buzz" |
Veteran head coach Rodger Blind and his 24th-seeded Millburn Millers earned an exciting 50-49 overtime win at Newark Academy this past Saturday and now advance and meet 12th-seeded Bloomfield Tech in a second Essex County Tournament "Play-In" bracket game on Thursday at the West Caldwell Center. (photo by corbosport.com) |
Millburn Gets A Breath Of Fresh Air
With OT “Play-In” Win at NA In ECT
By Steve Tober
For sidelinechatter.com
In the midst of traversing the week-to-week rigors of what is certainly a demanding Super Essex Conference-Liberty Division schedule, Millburn was certainly hoping for an opportunity to gain a little positive momentum in the new “Play-In” format in the 66th Essex County Tournament as it visited Newark Academy this past Saturday afternoon.
Nothing has come easy for the Millers (3-12 overall, 1-8 in the SEC-Liberty); however, good fortune was indeed ultimately in the cards for veteran coach Rodger Blind’s 24th-seeded squad, which earned an exciting 50-49 overtime win over the 21-seeded Minutemen, as sophomore forward David Talpalar’s steal and 12-foot jumper in the lane with five seconds remaining in the extra session accounted for the winning margin.
In what have so far been very favorable reviews for the new “Play-In” format in the ECT, where smaller schools and those with sub-.500 records have the opportunity to perhaps play two or more games in the county tournament instead of being 1-and-done against one of the top seeds, Millburn is the perfect example of an otherwise struggling team that can get a fresh breath of air with the positives of a highly-competitive early ECT contest.
In this week’s Play-In bracket second round of games, the schedule will include (18) Weequahic at (15) Montclair Kimberley Academy, 4 p.m., Monday; (20) Verona at (13) Livingston, 7 p.m., Tuesday, and Millburn at (12) Bloomfield Tech on Thursday (tip-off time still to be announced).
The winner of the contest between the Millers and BT will next face fifth-seeded East Side, Saturday, at the Red Raiders’ homecourt in Down Neck, Newark.
The other three contests find (22) North 13th Street Tech at (11) Central, which is playing its first ECT game after a Play-In first round bye; (19 West Orange at (14) Orange and (17) Caldwell at (16) East Orange Campus.
“I told (co-director) Bruce Essing how much I love the new format,” said Blind, in the midst of his 11 th season at the helm of Millburn hoops fortunes. “I just think it gives a lot of the suburban schools like ours the chance to win a game or two, depending on match-ups, of course, but at least it gives your kids some real hope that they have a shot to do something in the tournament.”
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