Teaneck(point guard Shakir Lindsey pictured) was awarded the #1 seed in The 55th Annual Bergen County Jamboree! The Jamboree committee chose 24 teams for the event. The most teams ever picked for the tournament because of the parity of the squads this season! Defending champ Paramus Catholic grabbed the #2 seed, while Don Bosco Prep, Pascack Hills( only undefeated team) and Dwight Englewood got the top 5 seeds! Tenafly, Pascack Valley and Old Tappan round out the first 8 seeds who all get 1st round byes! Tournament starts Sunday!

Seeding Order:

1.  Teaneck

2.  Paramus Catholic

3.  Don Bosco Prep

4.  Pascack Hills

5.  Dwight Englewood

6.  Tenafly

7.  Pascack Valley

8.  Old Tappan

9.  Bergen Catholic

10. St. Josephs

11.  Ramapo

12. Hackensack

13. Ridgefield

14. Bergenfield

15.  Demarest

16.  Wood Ridge

17.  Elmwood Park

18.  St. Mary

19.  Bogota

20.  Cresskill

21.   Rutherford

22.   Queen Of Peace

23.   Wallington

24.   Saddle Brook

Games:  Sunday January 30, @ Bergen Catholic

11:00 am    Cresskill vs  Ridgefield Park

12:45 pm    Elmwood Park  vs  Wood Ridge

2:30 pm      Rutherford  vs   Hackensack

4:15  pm      Saddle Brook  vs  Bergen Catholic

 @ Westwood Highschool

1:00 pm  St. Mary  vs  Demarest

2:45 pm  Queen Of Peace  vs  Ramapo

@  Old Tappan

1:00 pm   Bogota  vs  Bergenfield

2:45  pm   Wallington  vs  St. Josephs 

Old Tappan…….Senior Shane McLaughlin showed why he is considered one of the best, if not the best point guard in Northern New Jersey as Old Tappan held off a tough Ridgewood Highschool team, winning 62-53 and improved their record to 12-3 as they wait to see their seed in the Bergen County Jamboree! McLaughlin, despite not shooting great from the foul line finished with 23 points and 5 assists and every time the Maroons got close he would make a bucket or find a teammate for an easy shot! With Old Tappan up 25-22 before the half, Ridgewood got called for a charge and with 2 seconds on the clock, McLaughlin raced up the court and banged a half court shot to push the lead to 28-22 to end the half! O.T. held the lead the rest of the way as Ridgewood would keep fighting back, but could get no closer than 5 the rest of the way! McLaughlin got help from Senior Chris Besserer who scored 10 points and grabbed 6 rebounds, Junior Dan Brogan with 9 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocked shots and 10 points off the bench from Senior Mike Matteo! Ridgewood, who will only lose one player this year was led by Junior Evan Bartlik and Junior Alex Cohen with 12 points a piece and Ryan Schofield who added 9 points! They also got a strong defensive effort from Junior Jon Edghill who had 4 steals in the contest!

Jersey City………..Hudson Catholic got their biggest win in a few years as they went toe to toe with St. Peter’s Prep and pulled out a 67-63 victory! The Hawks who improved to 12-3 for the season got four players in double figures and never folded down the stretch! Sophomore Reggie Cameron(right) led Hudson Catholic with 24 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocked shots and put them up for good 56-55 with a “triple” from the corner with 3:57 left in the game! Junior Grant Ellis added 12 points, grabbed 5 boards with 3 blocked shots, but more importantly went at it with St. Peter’s Prep big man Keith Lumpkin! Ellis battled the whole way until he fouled out! Sophomore Rakwon Kelly scored 10 points with 8 rebounds and hit a clutch free throw late! While Sophomore Kavon Stewart manned the point with 6 assists and 5 boards to go with his 5 points, the added play of Junior Marc Wilson(bottom right) was huge in this contest! Wilson came off the bench and played an active game for Hudson, challenging the big guys enough to score 12 points and grab 5 boards! St. Peter’s Prep was led by Senior Kevin Walker with 23 points(15 in 2nd half) and Senior Stephon Whyatt who scored 17 with 15 coming in the 1st half! Lumpkin finished with 9 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocked shots! St. Peters Prep kept coming the whole time cutting the lead to one with 8 seconds left! But Cameron drilled two free throws to give them a three point lead and Prep could only get off a desperation three! St. Peter’s Prep fell to 9-3 for the season!