photo by: Nick Henthorn

Union Local’s Bam Porter readies a 3-point attempt against the Ridgewood Generals on Saturday during the Jets’ Division V East 1 sectional playoff game inside The Hangar.

MORRISTOWN — The Union Local boys basketball squad’s season came to a close on Saturday with a defeat to the visiting Ridgewood Generals in the first round of the OHSAA Division V East 1 sectional playoffs.

Ridgewood survived and advanced in a 54-45 victory Saturday inside The Hangar, the Generals creating some separation from the Jets after a tight first half.

Union Local head coach Zach Delman said that his team was met with some of the same problems that had plagued them all season.

“Ridgewood did a nice job preparing for us,” Delman said after the game. “You know, they took some things away that we were trying to do. I thought we did a decent job in the first half. We just couldn’t put the ball in the hole enough to gain the advantages we needed. I thought we should have had a little bit of a lead there in the first half, and we didn’t take advantage of it.

“Third quarters have been our kryptonite pretty much for the entire season. When you score three points in the third quarter, it’s going to be tough to win a lot of games.”

After trailing 22-19 at halftime, the Jets found themselves looking at a 32-22 deficit heading into the final quarter.

Union Local got as close as within four after putbacks on back-to-back possessions by Brody Gregor and Brody Kerns, respectively, putting the Jets within striking distance down 34-30 with 5:10 on the clock. But Ridgewood proceeded to score on their next four possessions in a stretch where Union Local was in need of stops.

Trailing by eight, 42-34, with under three minutes to play, the Jets put on an aggressive press, but the Generals broke it on their first two tries, Ridgewood’s Logan Ridenbaugh ending up with easy layups at the tail-end of the Generals’ press breaks on both occasions. Down 11 with two minutes to play, there was no miracle comeback in store for the Jets.

“I was proud of our effort down the stretch,” Delman said. “We fought and scratched and clawed, but, you know, credit to Ridgewood. They did enough to keep us away and made enough foul shots and layups against the pressure, and we weren’t able to overcome it.”

Ridenbaugh led the way for Ridgewood with 16 points.

For Union Local, Brody Gregor led the team with 15 points, Bam Porter scored 13 and Brody Kerns scored 10.

After the game, Delman reflected on the season and the offseason to come. Union Local is saying goodbye to two seniors, Dylan Verbeck and Bobby Boone.

“First and foremost, I appreciate our two seniors for sticking it out,” Delman said. “We had two kids stick it out for four years, so we appreciate that. And they’ve been selfless kids for us and they’ve always put the team first and tried to always do whatever I asked. They have always put other success before their own, and we appreciate that. We’re going to miss those guys. You know, they got great personalities and we’re going to miss them in the locker room.

“And for the other guys, we gained some valuable experience this year. We started four juniors and had a sophomore play a lot of minutes off the bench as well. So, the future could be good, but it doesn’t guarantee success. We just talked about that. You know, just because you’re a year older and you got a lot coming back doesn’t mean you’re going to be good. We’ve got to attack the offseason with a different mindset and approach it like we have something to prove next year.”