NORTH 1 GROUP 4 SEMIFINALS: KENNEDY TO MEET RIDGEWOOD FOR SECTIONAL TITLE!

In two bigtime North 1 Group 4 Semifinals, Kennedy and Ridgewood had to hold off two tough teams in Hackensack and Randolph! They both did enough to move into the Sectional title game!

Paterson, N.J…… In an epic battle, Senior Deishon Harrison scored 5 straight points to tie the game at 60 and Sophomore Yasen Crawford made the second of two free throws to give #1 Seed Kennedy a 61-60 nail biter win over # 4 Seed Hackensack! The Comets had an opportunity at the end of the game but could not convert on the front end of a 1and1 free throw attempt! Hackensack came from behind after trailing 30-20 at the end of the half as their press caused Kennedy some problems! Seth Sharif- Brown and Senior Kevin Mateo were the catalysts as Hackensack took a 46-42 lead into the 4th quarter! Both teams went back and forth as when it seemed like one squad had control the other would come roaring back! Harrison led the Knights with 20 points and 6 assists, while Senior Mark Heber added 13, including a big “triple” late in the game! Sophomore Jay’Quan Briggs added 8 points and 7 rebounds for Kennedy! Hackensack was led by Senior Kevin Mateo who was tremendous making big bucket after big bucket in the game finished with 24 points while Sharif-Brown finished with 11 points and 9 rebounds!

RIDGEWOOD 61 RANDOLPH 59 O.T.

Ridgewood, N.J….. In another North 1 Group 4 Semifinal classic, # 3 Seed Ridgewood outlasted # 7 Seed Randolph 61-59 in O.T.! Senior Jared Powers led Ridgewood with 22 points, while Senior Devin Johnson scored 15 points, including 5 big overtime points and Senior Matt Favieri added 13 points! Ridgewood led by as much as 10 in the 3rd, but Randolph fought back in the 4th quarter as Senior Ryan Ross bucket tied the game at 53 to put the game into the extra session! Johnson’s three point play in overtime gave Ridgewood the lead for good! Ridgewood’s Senior Tristan Wennerstein added 8 points, 8 rebounds and3 blocked shots! Randolph had four players in double figures as Justin Lawler and Brian Eames each scored 11 points and D.Q Hendrickson and Jamal Santana each chipped in 10 points!