The Year of the Dawg: Rumson’s Program Hits New Heights with SCT Title
WEST LONG BRANCH - When Rumson-Fair Haven made a Cinderella run to the 2011 Shore Conference Tournament championship game as a double-digit seed, it laid the groundwork for Friday night's historic win over Christian Brothers Academy that completed the Bulldogs' ascension to the top of the Shore.
Listen to the game broadcast at the end of this report
Bulldogs junior guard Brendan Barry was in seventh grade during that season, watching former star and current Navy senior guard Kevin "Pookie" Alter launch deep threes as the raucous "Dawg Pound" student section roared its approval when it wasn't dancing to Miley Cyrus' "Party in the U.S.A." at halftime. Barry was mulling over where he going to play in high school at the time, and Friday night's SCT championship at Monmouth University showed that his decision ultimately swung the fortunes of two different programs. The fact that Rumson's program was turning the corner at that time ultimately proved to be huge because it kept Barry at home.
"When 'Shemp' (head coach Chris Champeau) came in, he really brought a lot of enthusiasm, and that built it up into our success that we've had,'' said Barry, who is friends with Alter and regularly keeps in touch with him. "I was torn between RFH and CBA, and it was just the chemistry around this team that really drew me here. Just seeing the Dawg Pound back in the day, that was insane, and that really got me going."
"That's the best decision he's ever made, that's all I have to say,'' said senior Thomas Famulary. "He fits in perfectly here. He's an amazing player and an amazing teammate."
The decision between playing for CBA or Rumson used to be a no-brainer for any top player for about 40 years. However, Barry's ultimate decision and the Bulldogs' success over the past five seasons shows how much things have changed. It culminated in one of the most stunning championship performances in the SCT's 78-year history on Friday night, as the 11th-seeded Bulldogs routed No. 1 CBA 50-24 to win their first SCT title in school history. They turned the unthinkable into the undeniable.
Leading the way was Barry, who single-handedly outscored CBA, 27-24, pouring in 25 of his points after halftime to turn a tie game at the break into an eye-opening romp over a program that has 16 SCT titles under its belt in the last 31 years. Rumson may possibly be the first double-digit seed to win the title in tournament history.
"I grabbed Barry aside and said, 'Big stage, big players, big plays,''' Champeau said while catching his breath after some postgame break-dancing with his team. "I'm spreading it out, I'm running you off screens, and I'm putting 'Geigs' (Alex Geiger) in the corner, so take us home.'''
"Everyone had us losing today," Barry said. "We just had to believe in ourselves, and we got the win."
The Bulldogs held CBA to five points in the second half, turning in a defensive performance for the ages.
"One field goal in the second half?" Famulary said. "I can't even get that through my head right now. It's the best defense I've ever seen."
The last time a team was held to 24 points or less in the SCT championship game, Joe Louis was fighting for the heavyweight boxing title and Hitler was pushing the world to the brink of war. Atlantic Highlands, a high school that no longer exists, beat Neptune, 28-22, in the second SCT in history in 1938.
"It's indescribable, it really is,'' said senior forward Morgan Maguire. "David and Goliath. To beat them by twice their score, play defense the way we wanted to and shut them down, it's just crazy."
"I came into halftime and said we had five travels, we're throwing absurd passes, and it's 19-all,'' Champeau said. "We are better than this team. Believe in it. I'm a big 'Hoosiers' fan, and I told the guys, that's what it's like for us. You can play a big monster like CBA and beat them. This is our opportunity."
Barry took care of the offense, blowing by bigger defenders for scores in the lane and running smaller ones off screens. His first deep 3-pointer of the second half was the "He's cut! The Russian's cut!" moment for Rumson when it came to showing it was capable of finishing the upset. Then he launched a Steph Curry-length 3-point bomb from about 25 feet off the dribble early in the fourth quarter with Rumson already up by double digits to send the Dawg Pound into a frenzy.
"My teammate Jackson Reid just came up to me at halftime and said, 'Keep being aggressive, keep attacking the hoop, and it will all come to you,''' Barry said. "That was really great advice and really helped me get going in the second half."
That snowballed into the most significant half of basketball in the history of Rumson's program. It's what Champeau, now in his sixth season, had always envisioned when he took over. It also helped erase the memory of a 44-35 loss in the 2011 final to nemesis Raritan and star center Mike Aaman, now a forward at Wagner College. It also finally put Rumson over the top after several losses in championship games, including one to Matawan in last season's NJSIAA Central Jersey Group II final.
"It was almost surreal because the last time I was here...I still see Mike Aaman in my dreams with his mom screaming at me,'' Champeau joked. "For me to look up in the stands and see all that black and realize it's Rumson because there's some purple in there, it was unbelievable."
Champeau has worked as hard at building a buzz about boys basketball in Rumson as he has on improving the product on the court. Denver Nuggets guard Randy Foye, a former Newark East Side star, is a close friend of Champeau's and regularly works out with the team in the offseason, and Champeau has also created a Thursday night summer league on the outdoor courts in town.
"What 'Shemp' does with the younger kids and bringing in Randy Foye and all these NBA guys, it's truly remarkable,'' said Maguire, who is headed to Old Dominion on a baseball scholarship. "I have little siblings coming up, and they're going to be able to experience it. It definitely skyrocketed once Shemp got here. He took a program and made a tradition."
Champeau also started a developmental league for the youth in town where the varsity players serve as coaches.
"I said from the get-go that we have great, tough kids in Rumson,'' Champeau said. "I just had to get them to believe that we can do anything, and here we are. By the time (the youth players) get up here (to high school), they realize how cool it is, and how much fun it is. I'd like to think we built a culture."
Long overshadowed by the school's powerhouse girls basketball team under the Shore's all-time wins leader, George Sourlis, the boys program has now officially arrived. Surely another future Bulldogs' star in middle school or elementary school watched Rumson's latest Division I guard last night and dreamed of the day it would be his turn on the big stage. That's how traditions are built.
Where some saw that 2011 run to the SCT final as a fluke, a team getting hot for a week, it turned out to be the start of something big for Rumson-Fair Haven basketball.
"It's crazy from where we came,'' Geiger said. "The focus was always on the girls team, so to turn around and have us win one feels great. We were under-seeded in our opinion, so to actually put ourselves on the map and get some respect, that's what it's all about."
GAME BROADCAST
First Half
Second Half
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