Rutgers University, N.J………In State Championship games St. Anthony, Ewing, Atlantic City And Asbury Park all picked up a New Jersey state title:
ST. ANTHONY 67 GILL ST. BERNARD 39
St. Anthony is playing on all cylinders, especially on the defensive en
d! They locked down the high scoring, perimeter shooting Gill St. Bernards and held them to 3 for 23 in the 1st half as they took a 28-8 halftime lead! By all accounts the game was over and the Friars won the Non-Public B state title 67-39! Senior Kyle Anderson led St. Anthony with a stat line of 15 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 blocks and 2 steals and Senior Jerome Frink and Junior Hallice Cooke each scored 15 points as they had a balanced attack! Junior Josh Brown added 13 points and did a great job defending the perimeter shooters of Gill St. Bernards! Junior Jaren Sina led Gill in scoring with 16 points and Senior’s Alex Mitola and Dominic Hoffman added 9 points in the contest!
NOTE: Hoop Journal would like to acknowledge the highschool careers of Mitola and Hoffman! Mitola is one of the most hard nosed ball players in New Jersey and is a prolific 3 point shooter! He will be lacing them up for Dartmouth next year and they are getting a good one! Hoffman has been the consummate post player and has been the rock of the Gill St. Bernard squad! He will be headed to Bucknell next season! Hoop Journal would like to wish the best for these two outstanding players and individuals!
EWING 59 PASCACK HILLS 50
She tried to make it unimportant, but the significance was not lo
st on anyone! In Ewing winning the Group 2 State Championship over Pascack Hills 59-50, their Head Coach Shelley Dearden became the first female to win a boy’s state title! Coach Dearden had won a title once before for Ewing in 1999 as the girl’s basketball coach! Senior David Azoroh led Ewing with 14 points and 8 rebounds as four players scored in double figures! Junior Isaiah York had 13 points, Senior Dontae Jones had 13 points and Senior Tyquan Crews added 12 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocked shots! Pascack Hills played very tough, cutting the lead to one 32-31 late in the 3rd! Senior Jared Shill led the scoring with 18 points but the Cowboys found it difficult getting to the foulline as they shot only 4 for 5 , while Ewing shot 21 of 27 with 10 of them coming in the 4th quarter! Senior Cole Dorfman added 11 points for Pascack Hills who got further than any team in their school’s history!
NOTE: Hoop Journal would like to wish the best for Senior’s Shill and Dorfman! Both have been integral parts of Pascack Hills attack over the last two years! Shill became a 1.000 point scorer over the season, while Dorfman took control of the team at the point!
ATLANTIC CITY 53 ELIZABETH 47
Atlantic City trailed for three quarters, before getting their first lead wit
h 7:17 left in the 4th on a follow up from Senior Kayshawn Dunston 38-37 as they went on to win 53-47 to win the Group 4 State title! The game seemed to be in Elizabeth’s control and they even regained the lead 37-34 at the end of the 3rd quarter! But Atlantic City made the plays late as Senior guard Martel Johnson put them up 48-41 on a layup with 2:42 left in the game! Senior Jaleem Montague led A.C. with 15 points,12 rebounds and 4 blocked shots! Junior Dayshawn Reynolds finished with 10 points and Dunston added 9! Elizabeth was led by Junior Isaiah Davis with 16 points and Junior Hakeem Rogers who scored 15 points!
ASBURY PARK 79 UNIVERSITY 76
In what turned out to be the most exciting game of the day, Universi
ty was down 15 at the half and came all the way back, but Asbury Park took the hit and held on to win it’s second straight Group 1 Championship! The 4th quarter was a wild affair as Senior Keith Foster hit a”triple” to give University it’s first lead 73-72 with 1:16 since 2-0! It was short lived as Senior Thomond Hammary hit a”triple” with 1:11 left to give Asbury Park the lead for good! Hammary led the scoring with 22 points! Senior Armond Conover scored 21 points and his twin brother Amir added 11! Junior Elijah Brown scored 21 points for University, Foster had 17 points and Sophomore Joseph Kelley added 13!
Tournament Of Champions Seedings:
1. St. Anthony 2. St.Joe’s Metuchen 3. Plainfield 4. Atlantic City
5. Ewing 6. Asbury Park
utscoring them 18-6 which made a 19-17 1st quarter lead into a 37-23 advantage at the half! That was all the Cardinals needed in their 70-48 win over the Falcons! Senior Jahmal Lane(pictured) who has stepped up big of late led the scoring for Plainfield with 22 points, while Senior Sekou Harris scored 17 and Senior’s Dijon Allen-Jordan and Justin Sears scored 12 points apiece! Plainfield did a great job of holding down Joe’s Temple commit star Quenton DeCosey who scored 10 points in the 1st quarter, but finished with 16 as Denzel Plummer and Edward Anderson did most of the defensive work! Stonehill commit Danny Brix added 15 points for St. Joe’s, but freshman sensation Karl Towns was held scoreless in the contest but did block 6 shots!
me was over! The lead balloned to 41-16 at the half and you could get ready for the championship game against Plainfield! U.C.L.A. commit Kyle Anderson(pictured) scored 20 points and dished out 6 assists to lead the Friars! Senior Jerome Frink added 13 points and Junior Hallice Cooke chipped in 11! nobody plays defense the way St. Anthony does and Atlantic City felt it all in the critical 1st half! Senior Kayshawn Dunston led A.C. with 15 points as he was the only player in double figures! St. Anthony and Plainfield will get it on Tuesday at the Izod Center at 8:00pm!
