9TH ANNUAL FREEDOM FIGHTERS CHALLENGE RESULTS: PASSAIC, MEDFORD TECH, ST.PETERS PREP AND TEANECK WIN!!
Eastside HS, Paterson,NJ……The 9th annual Freedom Fighters Challenge sponsored by the Playaz Basketball Club showcased some of the areas top teams and in the end Passaic, Medford Tech, St.Peters Prep and Teaneck came away with”W’s!
TEANECK 68 EASTSIDE 60
Teaneck came into the building against an undefeated Eastside team and just like their game against Hackensack earlier in the season proved once again they are the class team of the area! Senior Joel Hernandez scored 20 points with 7 rebounds, Senior Shakir Lindsey scored 14 points and Sophomore Ceasar DeJesus(left) brought the energy with 11 points
and 3 steals and pressure defense on Eastside’s tough backcourt of Senior’s Jetor Brown and Tommy Rivera! The Highwaymen matched Eastside’s halfcourt sets early. but the key stretch of the game came in the 2nd quarter when Teaneck forced Eastside into some turnovers which resulted into some easy buckets, including a fastbreak dunk by DeJesus off a Hernandez steal! Teaneck led the entire way and stretched the lead to as much as 18 in the 3rd! Eastside made runs but could never get as close as the final margin! Brown led Eastside with 19 points, Senior Selwyn Rodriguez finished with 13 and Rivera added 11 with 5 assists! Eastside fell to 9-1 while Teaneck improved to 12-2! Hernandez(pictured right) was player of the game for Teaneck, while Brown(left) was Eastside’s player of the game!
ST. PETERS PREP 59 HACKENSACK 55
Junior Austin White scored 17 points, St. Peters University commit Trevis Wyche scored 14 points with 6 assists and 4 steals and Senior Sean Cummings added 14 points and 6 rebounds as St. Peters Prep won a close one against Hackensack 59-55! Hackensack, who played without their high scoring Junior Rashard Figures due to illness stayed close primarily because of the play of Senior Eugene Marshall who scored 12 points with 7 rebounds, Senior Chris Myers who finished with 11 points and 5 assists and Senior Jamik Moore who added 11 points! Prep got off fast, taking a 20-12 lead at the end of the 1st quarter, but the Comets closed the gap to 27-24 to end the half! St. Peters maintained the close lead the rest of the way as Wyche and Cummings hit free throws down the stretch to hold Hackensack off! White and Marshall were voted player’s of the game for their respective teams!
MEDFORD TECH 73 KENNEDY 70
By far the game of the day was this contest! Medford Tech, behind the tremendous shooting of Sophomore Myles Powell and Junior Elijah Cain came from behind to catch Kenned
y down the stretch 73-70! Down 70-67 Medford Tech, in one possession got off five “triples” and finally had one fall as Powell banked one home to tie the game at 70! He then hit the game winning “triple to give the Jaguars the win with 9 seconds left! The shot left him with 34 points including 5 “triples”! Cain(left) also made 5″triples”on his way to 25 points! Kennedy held a close lead going into the last stanza and seemed to have the game at the end but could not get that rebound to ice it and the extra shots proved costly! Kennedy was led by Senior Hassan Townes with 17 points and 10 points a piece from Freshman Alphonso Gee, Sophomore Jeloni Morris and Senior Jamire Grant! Powell and Townes were players of game for their respective teams!
PASSAIC 61 PASSAIC COUNTY TECH 58
Passaic is on a seven game winning streak and have improved from 2-5 to 9-5 in the last two weeks! They kept it rolling in the Freedom Fighter by beating Passaic County Tech 61-53! Senior Rashaan Johnson who has picked his game up during the win streak scored 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and was the best player on the floor! Senior Aziah Miller added 13 points and Senior Matt Cancel came off the bench to hit 4″triples” and score 14 points for Passaic! The Indians took control in the 2nd half and despite P.C.T.’s efforts to come back their attempts were futile! Senior Isaac Williams led Tech with 18 points while Junior Ernesto Regaldo added 11! Johnson and Williams were players of the game for their respective teams!
Eastside HS, Paterson,NJ…..If things go the way it’s looking there will be another meeting between these two teams! DePaul and Eastside might have given a preview of the Passaic County final and if that’s true be ready for a good one because it was a good one Saturday! Eastside came away with a 75-70 win over DePaul but it was a game that could have definitely went either way! Each team held slim leads and each got good games from their star players, but in the end two big “triples” and free throws by Senior Jetor Brown(right)) late in
the game was the difference! DePaul led after each of the first three quarters, including the 3rd on a beautiful alley oop end bound pass from Junior Juwuan Carter to Sophomore Donte Wise for a dunk to end the quarter! The 4th quarter was an exciting exchange of plays from both teams! Brown, Senior Tommy Rivera and Sophomore Asem Johnson were the catalyst for the Ghosts, while Carter,Wise, Senior Josh Marquez and Senior Sanders Green made the plays for the Spartans! Brown finished with 21 points and 5 assists, while Johnson scored 16 points and Rivera scored 15 points, dished out 6 assists and had 5 steals! Marquez led the scoring for DePaul with 18 points and 4 assists, Carter(left) scored 15 points including a steal and dunk to cut the Eastside lead to 64-61 with 2:10 left in the game,Green scored 13 points and grabbed 9 rebounds and the 6’2 Wise came off the bench to score 8 points and more importantly play big in the middle! His mere presence altered shots for Eastside as they were very aware of where he was! This was a game that gave each team a barometer of where they are for a future meeting!