James And Mack Lead Paterson Catholic To County Championship 81-64!

         Jayon James early play andSophomore Myles Mack  3rd quarter domination powered Paterson Catholic to their second straight Passaic County Championship beating a tough Kennedy Highschool 81-64. James kept P.C. close as they took the early run from Kennedy to start the game. The Knights came out fast as Shondel Stewart scored a quick 7 points to start the game and they went up 14-7. But James (21 pts., 6asts., 4 rebs.,3stls.)had it going early, involving his teammates while scoring himself. He punctuated the quarter by hitting a three at the buzzer to cut Kennedy’s lead to 19-18 in the 1st. Paterson Catholic wind up outscoring Kennedy 23-13 in the 2nd quarter to take a 41-32 halftime lead as James had 13 and Mack had 10 to end the half. All year however Kennedy was a team that didn’t quit and it wasn’t going to happen today either as they came out with extra energy and cut the lead to 3 early. That’s when Myles Mack took over. Mack, who finished with 23 points, 4 assists and 2 steals scored 11 of P.C.’s 21 points in the 3rd quarter and showed how big a future he is going to have. He also assisted on two other baskets. Fuquan Edwin added 20 points and 10 rebounds and threw a tomahawk dunk off an assist from Mack that took the life out of the Knights. P.C. took a 62-46 3rd quarter lead and it became a matter of holding on. Trevor Clemmings, who just came back from a knee injury showed how much P.C. missed his presence as he controlled the paint without big offensive numbers. He only scored a bucket, but defensively was a force with 8 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. Freshman Kyle Anderson also played beyond his years, overcoming a shakey beginning to quarterback the team in pressure moments throughout the game. Anderson(4pts., 3rebs., 4 blks.) took alot of the dribbling responsibility which allowed Mack and James to exploit matchup problems against Kennedy. Senior Lance Brown, a Fordham recruit who has had to shut it down due to knee surgery came in the game late and knocked down a three to get a taste of the Cougars win. Kennedy’s Stewart finished the game with 24 points and 5 rebounds. Asmar Edwards added 17 points, 7 rebounds and 4 steals and Antoine Alexander scored 14 points to go with 6 rebounds. Daquere Hayes also was coming off a hand injury for Kennedy and gave it a go. He was not 100% and contributed 4 assists and 2 steals.