Ridgewood senior point guard Josh Carrasquillo didn’t always play with the calm composure his position calls for.
“I’ve changed a lot since my sophomore year. I had too much anger in me then,” Carrasquillo said. “I’d get in the game for five minutes and not do anything, which would just get me mad. And you can’t play that way.”
Now in his third varsity season, Carrasquillo has worked hard at playing composed.
“The summer going into senior year, I felt like I was a big part of this team now,” Carrasquillo said. “I knew I needed to be a leader and show everyone I could be that coach on the floor.”
In a hostile gym at Elmwood Park, Carrasquillo and the Rebels needed to stay calm in the face of a Tigers team that fought hard throughout on Friday night.
The Rebels led by four points after three quarters, but won the Metro Suburban Red game 66-45 by outscoring the Tigers 24-7 in the fourth quarter.
Carrasquillo netted 13 points and helped provide Ridgewood (11-4, 3-3) with the composure it needed to break the game open against Elmwood Park (5-9, 2-3).
Carrasquillo scored eight points in the second half, but it wasn’t his scoring that Ridgewood coach Chris Mroz appreciated most. After all, senior teammate Zac Rzewnicki dominated the game offensively, hitting nine 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 33 points. Rzewnicki also had six rebounds and five assists.
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Carrasquillo simply provided his usual contribution.
“He’s a quick guard, he’s our floor leader and he puts us in the spots we need to be. He does a good job of that,” Mroz said. “He’s having a nice season and he continues to get better.
“We like for him to keep his emotions down. Everybody else sees that emotion and then you’re all more prone to turn the ball over. But he’s been a lot better about that and he has come a long way. I give him credit.”
As a junior, Carrasquillo wasn’t required to be the Rebels’ primary ballhandler because then-senior Keith Kerrigan filled the role, helping Ridgewood win a Class 3A sectional title.
But Carrasquillo watched and learned from Kerrigan before taking one final step this year in becoming Ridgewood’s main point guard.
“Having a senior guard like Keith last year, he helped me see what it would take to take his spot once he was gone,” Carrasquillo said. “This year, the team trusts me with the ball. I’ve been on varsity longer than most people and they’re willing to follow what me and (Rzewnicki) want for the team.”
Notes
* Junior Dominic DeVivo scored nine points for the Rebels and senior Richie Zacharias scored eight.
* Elmwood Park was led by senior Adrian Lach, who scored 17 points. Alexis Lopez, a senior, added nine points and 13 rebounds in the loss.
* Ridgewood and Elmwood Park played a doubleheader on Friday and the girls teams squaring off in the night’s first game.
Ridgewood won 35-28 over Elmwood Park thanks to a balanced scoring effort. The Rebels got six points apiece from senior Frankie Annunzio, junior Mishel Habaci, senior Katherine Rasche and junior Amanda Burns, and five points from junior Ashley Moisant.
Burns also had six blocks and eight rebounds.
Kersten Brayton, a sophomore, led Elmwood Park with 13 points.
Gary Larsen is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press