Passaic County Tournament: Kennedy H.S. Gets Past Wayne Valley H.S. In O.T. 72-64!

Paterson………….. Shondell Stewart(#22 pictured) needed help! After scoring 21 of Kennedy’s 30 first half points, the senior scoring machine was going to need another player to step up in the scoring department. He found it in 6’2 Junior Dawon Lighty. Lighty(pictured below) scored 23 second half points after only having 3 at the half to help the Knights beat Wayne Valley in overtime 72-64 to reach the finals of the Passaic County tournament, where they will play Paterson Catholic. Dawon became the perfect compliment to Stewart, who didn’t stop his attack. Stewart scored 17 more points in the 2nd half and finished with 38 points and 10 rebounds.The duos play helped offset the play of Wayne Valley’s Senior Nick Siljee and Senior Jason Rosenberg. Siljee finished with 23 points and 9 rebounds, while Rosenberg had 13 points, 12 assists and 4 steals. After trailing the entire 1st half, Wayne Valley got it’s first lead of the game late in the 3rd quarter 40-39 on a Siljee three pointer. They ended the quarter leading 46-44 on a tip in by Rosenberg on a missed shot. The 4th was back and fourth with Wayne Valley having three questionable violations called against them. the first was a 10 second call and the other two 5 second violation with the last coming with 14 seconds left in the 4th with a chance to win after a free throw by Stewart tied the game at 58. Kennedy took over in overtime as Wayne Valley committed turnovers to start the session. The closest they got in overtime was on a long three by Tom Larranaga to cut the lead to three, but that’s when Lighty closed the show making free throws. He finished 12 for 14 from the line.

Notes : Senior Zahir Young actually did a respectable job on Rosenberg defensively, making him work for everything. The ironic part was how good Rosenberg was defensively, particularly against Young. Senior Jaemille Barnes finished with 9 rebounds and 4 blocked shots for Kennedy. Wayne Valley got 10 points and 8 rebounds from the 5’9 Larranaga. Junior Andrew Hersimtschuk scored 11 points for Valley. The game was heard on 1500 WGHT am.