Back-2-Back

By Mike Kinney

Junior guards Kasim Chandler and Tariq Carey had already done plenty to help East Side keep pace with upset-minded Central.

But both knew their jobs would not be nearly done until one of them fed the ball to Aaron Bodie for one of his thunderous dunks. Because when Bodie soars high above the rim and throws one down, it’s always worth a lot more than the two points recorded in the scorebook.

Chandler did the honors with a feed in transition to Bodie, who finished it with a two-handed jam that highlighted an early fourth-quarter spurt and sent defending-champion East Side to a 59-50 victory in the finals of the Newark Public Schools Tournament yesterday before a capacity crowd at Barringer High.

``We had to get a dunk,’’ Chandler said. ``When we got that dunk, the crowd got going, our momentum got going and we started making a little run.’’

That dunk opened a 43-42 lead and Bodie scored again a half-minute later on a putback jam. Carey scored on a fastbreak layup 1:54 into the fourth quarter for a 48-42 lead it never relinquished.

It was not quite as stirring as East Side’s 29-12 fourth-quarter rally that beat University, 62-57, for last winter’s NPST crown. But it was darn good.

Chandler scored a game-high 19 points and also had four steals, Carey collected 18 points and nine rebounds and Bodie closed with 11 points and eight rebounds for East Side, No. 9 in The Star-Ledger Top 20. Central, ranked No. 13 and playing in its first final, received 14 points and six assists from senior guard Patrick Cole and 13 points and 12 rebounds from senior center Ramon Johnson.

Cole was an all-round spark for Central with his ability to locate open shooters or drive hard into the lane and Johnson was a steady presence off the low block. Their team had comeback opportunities, but was undone by 2-of-8 foul shooting in the fourth quarter, 4-of-16 for the game.

``Free throws cost us,’’ Cole said. ``Next time in practice, we have to stop messing around during free throws and take that practice more seriously. How you practice is how you play.’’

East Side likely would have won even if Bodie had kissed in Chandler’s skip pass off the glass instead of jamming it home. But the 6-6 junior is a gifted athlete whose feats are already well known among the student population. Chandler and Carey both understand how important a frenzied fan outburst can be to a run.

``Every time Aaron gets a dunk, the crowd gets up and we go from there,’’ Carey said. ``He’s an engine and he never stops working.’’

Carey was a scoring force in the second quarter with eight points, including four on feeds by Chandler and two on one of his three offensive rebounds. Chandler added seven points that period to help East Side to a 30-29 edge.

``Our coaches said play smart, share the ball and make hustle plays,’’ Carey said. ``Once that happened, things fell into place for us.’’

Cole scored six points and had two assists in the third quarter to help Central grab a 42-39 lead.