Paterson……Down by as much as 17 in the 3rd quarter, Kennedy made a valiant comeback but came up short to the Passaic County #1 seed Passaic County Tech! Tech who played without Senior point guard Brandon James(out 3 weeks with torn ligament in thumb) had it’s way early in the game as Junior Shackquiel Scott, Senior Xavier Nieves and Sophomore Isaac Williams helped P.C.T. take control of the game early! But Senior Jhamir White tried to will his squad back into the contest! After trailing by 17 in the 3rd, White began taking the ball to the basket and scoring on an assortment of shots! He and Senior Dawon Lighty put the pressure on Tech offensively and the Kennedy squad picked up the pressure defensively! Kennedy cut the lead to three 61-58, but Nieves steal and assist to Williams and a Williams free throw pushed the lead to 64-58!  Kennedy again fought back as White’s layup cut the lead to 64-62! Williams hit another free throw with 20 seconds left to give Tech a three point lead 65-62! Kennedy tried to set up a three to tie but couldn’t manage a good shot! Scott(pictured) played tough down low scoring 15 points with 16 rebounds and 3 blocked shots! Nieves finished with 12 points, 5 assists and 13 boards as Tech was a problem throughout the game on the glass! Williams was Tech’s high scorer with 19 and 4 steals! White played a tremendous game scoring a career high 29 points and grabbing 10 rebounds while Lighty added 18 points and 7 boards!

    Passaic County Tech picked up the #1 seed in the Passaic County Tournament over Passaic Valley who were picked as the 2 seed! Each team had a legitimate reason to feel they would be top seed! Passaic Valley’s schedule has been tough and they have more than held their own, while Tech(Brandon James,Xavier Nieves and Isaac Williams pictured) has only one questionable loss and that’s the Eastside one and the Ghosts are legit! Tech will get a bye for the 1st round! West Milford was given credit for how well they are playing by getting the # 3 seed! 

Seedings and Matchups:

#2 Passaic Valley  vs.  #15  Clifton

#3  West Milford   vs.   # 14  Eastern Christian

#4   Kennedy    vs.   #13 Hawthorne Christian

#5   DePaul    vs.    #12 Lakeland

#6   Manchester  vs.    #11  Wayne Hills

#7    Eastside   vs.   # 10  Pompton Lakes

#8   Wayne Valley   vs.  #9  Passaic

Emglewood,N.J…………In a day of Private vs Public and New York vs New Jersey, The Gym Ratz 1st Annual Highschool Showcase was a complete success! With three Girl’s games and three Boys games The Gym Ratz coordinator’s Danny Brown and Ozzie Osbourne put together a nice display of basketball which culminated in an exciting last game between 10-0 Tenafly H.S. and 10-1 Dwight Englewood! In the Boys games Hackensack, Paramus Catholic and Dwight Englewood all ended the day victorious! While St. Anthony, Bishop Kearney and Bishop Ford won the Girl’s contests!

                          Dwight Englewood  40      Tenafly  37

In a game that featured two of the best Junior’s in the State as well as the Country, a Sophomore proved to be the difference in the end! Tenafly’s Chris Orozco and Dwight Englewood’s Wesley Dickinson are two of the best Junior’s in the State and they both proved why they have that reputation! Orozco(left) scored 20 of Tenafly’s 37 points to go with 8 rebounds and a block shot! Dickinson(right) finished with 15 points, 7 rebounds and 6 big blocked shots for D.E. and he got help from another tough Junior in Zach Hodges(bottom right) who finished with 18 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists! The game was as exciting as a slow and methodical contest can be, with every possesion played as if it was the last! Tenafly had control of the game going into the 4th quarter leading 30-21! But some uncharacteristic turnovers in the 4th gave Dwight Englewood an opportunity to comeback! After a free throw by Sophomore Keion Osbourne cut the lead to 37-35 with 30.5 left, D.E. forced a tie up which gave them the ball back! That’s when the ball found it’s way into the hands of Sophomore Austin James(bottom left) open on the right side for a “triple” which he calmly knocked down for his only basket of the game to give D.E. the lead 38-37 with 3 seconds left! A desperation shot resulted in Hodges getting fouled on the rebound and completing the scoring by hitting 2 free throws!

                 Paramus Catholic  60            Sacred Heart(N.Y.) 35

  6’8 Senior Justin Harris(middle right with Gym Ratz Dir. Danny Brown and Ozzie Osbourne) scored 15 points,grabbed 9rebounds and blocked 3 shots as Paramus Catholic. after a slow start cruised past Sacred Heart of New York 60-35! Senior Manny Hernandez also added 15 points to go with 4 steals! Sophomore Elijah Davis had 13 points and 5 boards and Sophomore Tommy Rivera contributed 7 assists and 4 steals! Sacred Heart was led by 6’6 Junior Mychal Coleman(#45) with 14 points, while Junior Terry Larrier added 9!

                      Hackensack  50         Bishop Ford( N.Y) 43

Sophomore Chris Myers and Junior Mershon Monroe led the Comets to a 50-43 win over Bishop Ford of New York! Myers(right with Ozzzie and Brown) scored 14 points and Monroe had 12 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals as Hackensack’s pressure kept Bishop Ford on their heals most of the game! Senior Bright Mensah added 9 points and 5 rebounds, while Sophomore Gene Marshall grabbed 8 rebounds in limited minutes! Bishop Ford was led by Senior Ibn Rashid Cooper(middle left) with 19 points and 8 rebounds and Senior Eric Kippins with 12 points!

               Girls Basketball( Aaliyah Lewis with Ozzie Osbourne) 

St. Anthony  52                  Hackensack  48

Megan Hart  20 pts.         Erin Moore  19 pts.

Bishop Kearney  60             Englewood  41

 Samantha Retas  22 pts             Christina Jones  20 pts

Bishop Ford (N.J.) 63          John F. Kennedy  54

Aaliyah Lewis  19 pts           Alisha Brown  15 pts

Shanice Vaughn 14 pts        Erika Brown  12 pts

   Action continues today at Ramapo College:

12:00pm  Abraham Clark vs Marist(Girls)

1:30pm  Newark Tech vs Pathways College Prep(Boys)

3:00pm  Newark Central vs Kenedy H.S.(N.J.)

4:30pm  Paramus Catholic vs Wings Academy

6:00pm  Teaneck  vs  Benjamin Cardoza