Passaic County Tournament: Paterson Catholic, Kennedy, Eastside, Depaul Win

Depaul Shocks Passaic 48-33

                           St. Joe’s recruit Justin Crosgile proved to be too much for Passaic H.S. to handle as Depaul stunned them 48-33. Crosgile scored 21 points, but more importantly added 15 rebounds as he took control of the game at the end of the 3rd quarter and entire 4th. Passaic H.S. had to overcome a second quarter injury to star forward Tyshon Pickett. Depaul took advantage, turning a 10-7 1st quarter deficit into a 23-15 halftime lead. Matt Miller(13 pts.,6 rebs.) was the key performer for Depaul in the first half. The second half became the Crosgile show as a few times he would get the rebound and race coast to coast for a basket or dropped a dime to a teammate. He added 4 assists and 4 steals to go with his other numbers. Passaic played a sluggish game despite the fact pickett had returned to the game. He finished with 8 points. sophomore Shakir Rhodes led Passaic with 10.

Kennedy Gets Past Wayne Hills 60-55

      Wayne Hills came to play and proved they can compete with anyone. The problem was they had to play Kennedy H.S,who overcame a sluggish first half and playing with a less than 100% Daquere Hayes to beat Hills 60-55. Wayne Hills came out on fire behind the play of  senior guard Steve Lequerica  , who finished with 20 points and 6 assists. they led 18-12 at the end of the 1st quarter. Kennedy stayed in the game behind the early shooting by sophomore guard Dawon Lighty(19 pts.). They slowly got in the game and tied it at 32 by the end of the 1st half. Kennedy  came out more aggressive in the 3rd, as Shondel Stewart (19 pts., 7 rebs.), Asmar Edwards (10 pts.,7 rebs.) and Antoine Alexander (11pts., 4 rebs.) made their presence felt. With a two point lead in the 4th Kennedy,who play  a fast paced game decided to hold the ball because Wayne Hills stayed in a zone. It resulted in Hills eventually fouling Zaire Young. Young made the first to give them a three point lead. His second shot came off the side, but Edwards got the biggest rebound of the game and was fouled. His free throw proved to be the difference. Hills got a strong performance from bigman Chris Conti, who finished with 14 points. Hayes played the game almost  onehanded due to a displaced bone in his left hand.

Eastside Beats West Milford 64-56

         Karon Abraham, Dave Robertson-West and Bryant Lewis combined for 56 points as Eastside overcame an eight point halftime deficit to beat West Milford 64-56. Abraham (21 pts., 6 rebs.),West( 19 pts., 8 rebs.) and Lewis (16 pts., 7 rebs., 4 asts.) were too much for W. Milford as Eastside scored 46 points in the second half. They took a 41-40 lead at the end  of the 3rd behind two three’s from Abraham. After Rob Nylund’s three gave West Milford a 43-41 lead it proved to be their last lead of the game as Eastside pushed the lead to as much as 11 and held on with good free throw shooting from the Ghosts trio. Nylund led  W. Milford  with 19 points and 8 rebounds. Chad Houser added 13 and Jason Sofman contributed 9 points and 11 rebounds.

Paterson Catholic Survives Wayne Valley 44-37

       It would have been one of the biggest upsets in the history of the Passaic county tournament and for a minute Wayne Valley could dream. The overall talent of Paterson Catholic however, overcame a game in which for many minutes didn’t seem interested. Maybe it was a hangover from their game the night before against nationally ranked Rice H.S, but they slept walked to a 44-37 win. Valley kept the pace slow and methodical and P.C. fell right into it. P.C. held a one point lead going into the 4th and didn’t take control until Myles Mack (12 pts., 2stls.) and Fuquan Edwin (11pts.) made free throws late and a Derrick Randle (6 pts.,7 rebs.) putback. Jason Rosenberg (10 pts., 4 asts., 5 rebs. ) and Nick Siljee (14 pts., 5 rebs) kept them in the game throughout. P.C.’s Jayon James added 9 rebounds and 4 assists.