Ramapo College Mahwah, N.J…… In Bergen County Jamboree action Hackensack, Teaneck, Don Bosco Prep and Tenafly all advance to the semifinals!

                                        HACKENSACK  75                 PARAMUS CATHOLIC  70

  In an exciting contest to start the day, Hackensack got double figure scoring from five players and overcame a tremendous effort from Junior Kyle Menard in defeating Paramus Catholic 75-70! The Comets were led by Junior Jamiek Moore(right) who came off the bench to score 19 points, snatch 10 rebounds, 3 steals and make big plays in the 4th quarter! Sophomore Rashard Figures finished with 16 points and made clutch free throws late, Junior Eugene Marshall scored 12 points with 5 of his 7 rebounds coming on the offensive end and Junior Keon Lewis added 11 points and grabbed a key offensive rebound for the Comets, but the key to Hackensack’s win came from the play of Junior point guard Chris Myers(left) who finished the game with 12 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds and 5 steals!! He spent the 1st half getting his teammates involved then made clutch play after clutch play in the 3rd quarter and late in the game! With 48 seconds left in the 3rd he made his first basket on a floater to give Hackensack a 46-41 lead, but after Menard answered with a “triple” to cut the lead to 46-44, Myers matched his “triple” at the end of the quarter to make the score 49-44! Hackensack pushed the lead to as much as 59-50 in the final stanza, but P.C. would not quit and cut the lead to 68-67 on a”triple from Senior Mike Allford with 48.9 left! Figures and Myers then made free throws to clinch the contest! Menard, a Junior was clutch for Paramus Catholic finishing the game with 26 points,10 rebounds and 3 blocked shots! Allford finished with 13 points and 4 assists and Sophomore Jalen Henriquez added 10 points and 5 rebounds!

                                    DON BOSCO PREP 66            DWIGHT- ENGLEWOOD  49

  The game was closer than the final score indicated as for three quarters, Dwight-Englewood gave Don Bosco Prep all it could want! For most of the game D-E Senior Wesley Dickinson was the best player on the floor, but the Ironmen finally began to wear Dickinson and his teammates down! Dickinson scored 23 points with 12 rebounds and 3 blocked shots, but Prep had more horses led by Rutger’s football commit Leonte Carroo(right)! The game went back and forth in the 3rd as Prep started with a 6-0 run, then D-E went on an 11-0 run and Prep completed it with another 6-0 run to end the quarter with the last basket coming off a full court pass from Carroo to Sophomore Tom Sweeny to give Prep a 38-35 lead to end the quarter! Prep then went on a 22-3 run in the 4th to seal the game! Sweeny(left) was the high scorer with 14 points, while Carroo finished with 13 points and 15 rebounds! Freshman Justin Salem came off the bench for Prep and gave them a big lift with 11 points including 3″triples”! Prep will meet Hackensack in the Semifinals!

                                              TEANECK  72            CRESSKILL  53

            Senior Chris Jones and Junior’s Joel Hernandez and Shakir Lindsey combined for 58 points in their 72-58 win over Cresskill! Jones(left) finished with 22, Hernandez(right) had 20 and Lindsey added 16 as Teaneck took a 39-16 lead at the half! Cresskill played the 2nd half pretty much even, but the game was pretty much decided! with Pittsburgh Coach Jamie Dixon in the building Jones and Hernandez had spurts in the contest that showed off their high level talent! Cresskill was led by Junior Tyler Jackson with 15 points and 5 assists and Junior Dominic Wilson added 10 points! 

                                                  TENAFLY  59            BERGEN CATHOLIC  49

   In the surprise game of the day,it wasn’t that Tenafly won but how easy they made it! Tenafly jumped on Bergen Catholic early and took a 13-2 lead at the blink of an eye! They ended up leading the 1st quarter 23-8 and the half 41-21 and the game was more or less decided! Senior Star Chris Orozco led Tenafly with 17 points and 9 rebounds, but he got a lot of help! Junior Steve Sobo (pictured)scored 16 points, including 3″triples” with 6 rebounds  Senior Marco Barrata scored 12 points and Junior Kyle Hioki scored 8! The largest lead was at 35-11! Junior Kyle Quiero led Bergen Catholic with 19 points and 10 rebounds as the Crusaders struggled with their shot the entire night! Tenafly has now reached the Semifinals for the first time in over 20 years! They have their hands full with Teaneck next week!

Kennedy H.S. Paterson, N.J……. In Passaic County Tournament action Eastside and DePaul win as expected, while Kennedy and Hawthorne Christian beat higher seeds!

                                   HAWTHORNE CHRISTIAN  43        WAYNE VALLEY 40

   Passaic County witnessed the coming out party of 6’7  Sophomore Alex Thomas in Hawthorne Christian’s 43-40 upset of Wayne Valley! Hawthorne Christian has made it to the semifinals for the first time in school history as Thomas(right) scored 17 points, grabbed 17 rebounds, blocked 3 shots and altered at least a half dozen more as he and Senior Paul Little dominated the inside for the second time in the tournament! Little finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds as he and Thomas outrebounded the entire Wayne Valley squad! The Defenders came out slow, trailing 13-6 after the 1st quarter but went on an 11-3 run to go ahead 17-16 with 3:30 left in the 2nd quarter! Wayne Valley seemed to take back control of the game going ahead by as much as 7 in the middle of the 3rd! But by now Hawthorne Christian made a concerted effort to get the ball to Thomas! His short buckets in the paint and good free throw shooting after drawing fouls on Valley’s bigmen was the difference on the offensive end, while their defensive pressure in the backcourt by Jake Hart, Nick and Chris Aust and particularly Jamari Moss(3stls) who came off the bench to give them a lift proved to cause problems for Wayne Valley as they tried to get into their offensive sets! Hawthorne Christian got the lead 35-34 on two free throws from Thomas with 4:41 left in the 4th, but a bucket by Valley gave them the lead once again! Hart’s two free throws gave Hawthorne Christian the lead for good as after a couple baskets gave the Defenders a 43-40 lead Wayne Valley had one more shot but missed a “triple” to tie the score at the buzzer! Valley was led by Senior Jay Mustafa with 13 points and Senior James Grevenitz with 10!

                                            KENNEDY  56              PASSAIC COUNTY TECH 47

       Junior Hassan Townes made his old team pay in Kennedy’s 56-47 win over Passaic County Tech! Townes(right), a transfer from Tech knocked down five”triples” on his way to 19 points! The game was close until late as Kennedy took a 37-36 lead into the 4th quarter! They proceeded to outscore Tech 19-11 in the final stanza! Senior Sammy Singletary and Freshman Donte Wise each scored 14 points for Kennedy with Singletary also adding 5 assists and Wise adding 7 rebounds and 3 blocks! Senior Shackquiel Scott scored 11 points with 16 rebounds and Sophomore Zaheem Beal added 12 points and 7 rebounds for Tech! Kennedy made 9″triples” to none for Tech as their three point shooters never got on track! Kennedy will now face their rival Eastside in the semifinals!

                                                    EASTSIDE  64             PASSAIC VALLEY  48

  Junior Quattier Jackson(pictured) and Junior Jetor Brown each scored 13 points and Senior DeAndre Noble-Haywood added 11 points as Eastside took control early in the 2nd and cruised to a 64-48 win over Passaic Valley! The Ghosts outrebounded P.V. 27-17 in the game and went deep into their bench, playing twelve players in the contest! Passaic Valley was led by Senior Olumide Onajide with 16 points and 7 rebounds, while Sophomore Stefan Minic made four”triples”for 12 points!

                                                     DEPAUL  54                   WEST MILFORD  40 

     DePaul again got strong efforts from a number of players in their 54-40 win over West Milford! Senior Davon Jacobs, Junior Josh Marquez and Sophomore’s Kiy Hester and Juwuan Carter all had big contributions in the game! Jacobs(left) led DePaul with 14 points, Marquez had 11 points and 5 assists, Hester(right) scored 10 points and 2 steals and Carter added 8 points and 2 steals as DePaul led by double figures most of the contest! Sophomore Luke Basket made four”triples” and scored 14 points to lead West Milford and Senior John Quazza scored 10 points and grabbed 7 rebounds! DePaul will now meet the Cinderella Hawthorne Christian squad in the semifinals! 

St. Anthony Senior,by way of Paterson Catholic Kyle Anderson has been selected to play in the prestigious McDonald’s All-American game to be played at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois March 28th! Anderson has been ranked as high as the #2 Senior in the Country by Rivals.com! Anderson has gone 78-1 over the past three seasons with St. Anthony and Paterson Catholic and will go down as one of the winningest players in New Jersey history! The 6’8 point-forward has committed to play for U.C.L.A. in college! He has also been a big winner on the A.A.U. circuit with the Playaz Basketball Club! Hoop Journal congratulates Anderson on being selected to the Nation’s top postseason showcase!