Hoop Journal caught two of the Passaic County Tournament games and in the contests, Hawthorne Christian and Wayne Valley will move on in the Tournament!

                                                 HAWTHORNE CHRISTIAN  50             LAKELAND  32

   Lakeland made a conscious effort to control 6’8 Junior Alex Thomas by dropping down in the paint and giving his teammates room! It was all Junior guard Jake Hart(pictured) needed! His ability to get to the rim was the key to Hawthorne Christian’s 50-32 win over Lakeland! Hart was a bigtime player in a big time game as he scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to pace the Defenders! Thomas still was able to have a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds! Hawthorne Christian outscored Lakeland 29-16 in the 2nd half!

                                                                           WAYNE VALLEY  61         MANCHESTER  40

       Junior Liam Connor(right) scored 26 points and Wayne Valley, leading  28-23 at the half took complete control of the game in the 3rd quarter! Junior guard Jordan Walode made two “triples” to start the 2nd half and helped open up the game as Manchester was outscored 16-6 in the 3rd and 33-17 for the entire 2nd half! Senior Andrew Keane and Senior Josh Rigoglioso each scored 11 points in the game! Sophomore Jevon Rawls led Manchester with 16 points and Senior Jamir Williams added 13 points!

Prudential Center Newark,NJ…….  83 games! That’s how many games were won before St. Anthony had seen a lost! St. Benedicts Prep finally gave them one! Gill St. Bernards and St. Peters Prep also won!

                                                               ST. BENEDICTS PREP  47                       ST. ANTHONY  38

With over 4,000 people in attendance, St. Benedicts Prep ended the 83 game win streak of St. Anthony! In an about face, St. Anthony got the same defensive pressure it usually gives to everyone else from St. Benedicts Prep! Junior Jordan Forehand and Junior Jon Williams led the defensive surge, starting with pressuring St. Anthony’s guards! St. Benedicts forced St. Anthohy into 20 turnovers! Forehand particularly played tough against Anthony’s point guard Josh Brown! He held the star guard scoreless for three quarters and pressured to the point where it was hard for the Friars to even start their offense! St. Anthony was held to 27% shooting from the floor! The points were hard to come by as Benedict’s went ahead 14-8 in the 1st quarter and never relinguished the lead! Syracuse bound Tyler Ennis led the Gray Bees with 14 points, while Pittsburgh bound Mike Young added 13! Sophomore Isaiah Briscoe ignited the takeover with a few dazzling moves in the first half on his way to his 11 points! Senior Denzel Taylor who will be attending Dominion University grabbed 8 rebounds and had 4 steals for Benedicts and Forehand added 7 points, including a big”triple”! St. Anthony was led by Oregon St. bound Hallice Cooke with 12 points! 10 coming in the first half!  Ennis(left) was chosen the player of the game, while Cooke was chosen for St. Anthony!!!

                                                              GILL ST. BERNARD’S  63              ROSELLE CATHOLIC  59

                  Northwestern commit Jaren Sina’s “triple” with 2:30 left in the game gave Gill St, Bernard’s a 56-53 lead and they wwere able to hold on for a 63-59 win over Roselle Catholic! Sina finished the game with 22 points and 10 assists, with 4 free throws to end the contest! Ilinois recruit Austin Colbert scored 12 of his 15 points in the 2nd half as it helped overcome the play of Syracuse bound Tyler Roberson! Roberson scored 21 points, grabbed 17 rebounds and blocked two shots for Roselle Catholic,while highly rated Sophomore Malachi Richardson scored 17 points!

                                                     ST. PETERS PREP   49               PLAINFIELD   26

St. Peter’s University recruit Trevis Wyche(right) scored 11 points,dished out 6 assists and had 6 steals and Junior Austin White scored 15 points  and 3 steals as Prep took a 22-6 1st quarter lead and never looked back on their way to a 49-26 win over Plainfield! Senior Denzel Johnson led Plainfield with 8 points! 

Jersey City,NJ….. Robert Morris commit Kavon Stewart scored 13 points and dished out 10 assists and Georgetown commit Reggie Cameron added 24 points as Hudson Catholic beat Snyder 69-52! Stewart’s 10 assists raised his career total to 597 as he approaches 600! Senior Kyle Mcleggan added 11 with two coming on an exclamation dunk on the baseline which stopped any type of run that was on Snyder’s mind! Sophomore Nassir Barrino added 11 points with 3 dimes and 2 steals and did a good job on Snyder Senior guard Buddha Richardson who was held to 15 points in the contest! Hudson Catholic improved it’s record to 20-1 for the season!  Note: Stewart was honored before game for reaching the 500 assist plateau with his Coach Nick Mariniello (right)