Kennedy H.S., Paterson, N.J….. It’s #1 seed vs. #2 seed as Eastside and DePaul advance to the Passaic County Championship!

                                                                                               EASTSIDE 69      PASSAIC  43

Sophomore Asem Johnson scored 34 points and Senior guard Jetor Brown scored 20 points and dished out 9 assists as Eastside started the 3rd quarter on a 11-0 run to take control of the game in a 69-43 win over Passaic! Eastside’s guard play was superior to Passaic , but the Indians also had problems keeping the Ghosts off the boards! Johnson scored 22 points in the 1st half as he continued to be the finisher on a bunch of Eastside fastbreaks! Brown was the main distributor as he had 7 of his assists in the half! The game got away from Passaic early in the 3rd as the 11-0 Eastside run put them up 42-23 and they finished the 3rd up 49-30! Passaic lone bright spot was the play of Senior Rahsaan Johnson who never let up and went hard the entire contest! He finished with 21 points,11 rebounds,3 blocked shots and 3 steals!

                                                                                             DEPAUL  68            KENNEDY 62

Kennedy held the lead for most of the game,but you could feel the momentum change and DePaul slowly walked them down! DePaul Senior Sanders Green (pictured)scored 16 points and was a beast on the back boards with 22 rebounds! Senior Josh Marquez scored 19 points and dished out 6 assists and Junior Juwaun Carter scored all 18 of his points in the 2nd half after being in foul trouble in the 1st half and grabbed 7 rebounds! Kennedy held a 55-45 lead in the 4th quarter,but DePaul went on to outscore them 23-7 down the stretch! With 3:44 left in the game Carter’s two free throws gave DePaul their first lead since the 1st quarter 58-57! Marquez then had a steal and layup to give them a 60-57 lead and DePaul held on the rest of the way! DePaul’s superior effort on the boards proved to be Kennedy’s undoing as they outrebounded them 42-28! Freshman Alphonso Gee hit 6″triples” and scored 24 points for Kennedy and Sophomore Jailani Morris scored 14 points for the Knights!

NOTES: On a different note Senior Josh Marquez should be commended for wearing the #4 jersey! His regular # is 13 but he has been wearing 4 in honor of his teammate Travis Bligh who is lost for the season after blowing his knee out for the second time this year! A very classy move!

 DePaul  will face Kennedy and Eastside will meet Passaic in the Semifinals of the Passaic Count Tournament at Kennedy Highschool!

The Matchups:

#2 seed  DePaul—- DePaul has a veteran team that has been here before! They are led by Senior Josh Marquez(pictured), Junior Juwaun Carter and Senior Sanders Green and more than anything they should be prepared! The key for them will be the play of Senior guard Tyler Hoskins and Sophomore Dont’e Wise! Wise especially will have pressure as it’s his first meeting against his former Kennedy team(was not eligible in first contest)! The Spartans will need to be sure with the ball and handle Kennedy’s  pressure defense!

#3 seed  Kennedy—- Kennedy is an up and down team but when they get it going will be a problem for anyone! They have been led by their backcourt of Senior Hassan Townes and Freshman Alphonso Gee(pictured) for most of the year! But they need big rebounding games from Senior Justin Kinchen and Senior Shervon St.Louis! The Knights will need to make the game as chaotic as possible and force DePaul to play a little faster than they want and turn the ball over! 

#1  seed  Eastside—- If every team plays their best the Ghosts will be Tournament champs again! The guard play of Senior’s Jetor Brown and Tommy Rivera(pictured) will dictate this game as they are one of the best backcourts in the area! Eastside can play methodical and fast which makes them much more than a one dimensional team! Sophomore Asem Johnson has been the biggest surprise of the season and can create havoc if his rainbow three starts to fall! Eastside is a solid defensive team and are seldom out of position on that end! Must get extra from their frontline!

#4  seed  Passaic—- Passaic has struggled with Eastside in two games! But the Indians are a team that has no fear and are eager for the challenge! Their guards of Senior Aziah Miller and Senior Marquis Stephens must match the play of Eastside’s guards! Senior forward Rahsaan Johnson(pictured) is a flat out baller and he will have to be at his best! Senior Gervon Williams will also have to play a strong all around game to keep Eastside at bay!

Over the last couple days 3 more 1,000 point scorers have emerged! Paramus Senior John Morella, Passaic County Tech’s Isaac Williams and Garfield’s Damon Godbolt all joined the plateau this week!

John Morella—-Paramus— Morella scored 22 points to reach 1,000 for his career! They lost to Pascack Valley but not because of Morella!  Morella finished the game with 1,019 career points!

Isaac Williams–Passaic County Tech— Passaic Tech beat Fairlawn 62-59 and in the process Senior point guard Isaac Williams scored 13 points and went over the 1,00 point mark!

Damon Godbolt—Garfield—- Senior Damon Godbolt scored 25 points to go over the 1,000 point barrier in a 86-53 win over Lodi! Godbolt needed 18 points entering the contest and made sure their would be no question about it!