Teaneck………….Junior Manny Hernandez (right)came off the bench to spark Paramus Catholic to a 69-62 victory over St. Joseph H.S. in the semifinals of the Bergen County Jamboree. Hernandez scored 21 points and added 4 assists, but more importantly played a tremendous defensive game accounting for 5 steals against St. Joe’s. Senior Andre Blackwood(top right) scored 19 points and made 11 of 12 free throws. He also grabbed 5 rebounds and dished out 5 assists. 6’8 Junior Justin Harris added 12 points and 8 rebounds and 5’7 guard Brandon Perez(top left) scored 12. They overcame the 24 point effort by Senior Kai Dominguez for St. Joseph and the 14 point, 11 rebound and 4 steal game by 6’3 Senior Tony Efese. Paramus Catholic fell behind by as much as 11 points in the 3rd, but behind the defense of  Hernandez PC tied the game early in the 4th on a three point play by Perez on a steal by Hernandez. Perez then returned the favor by turning a steal into an Hernandez layup to put Paramus Catholic ahead 52-50. St. Joe’s didn’t get it’s first field goal of the quarter until 4:20 remained and P.C. held them off down the stretch. Senior Mike Marchman had 9 points and Senior Alex Aitkens finished with 8 for St. Joseph. Paramus Catholic will play Bergen Catholic in the finals

Teaneck…………..Bergen Catholic’s physical play proved to be too much for Don Bosco Prep as they advanced to the championship game of the Bergen County Jamboree and will face Paramus Catholic after their 53-50 win. Junior Eric Flanagan(pictured) led BC with 16 points and 6 rebounds, while Junior Mark Richards had 11 and 9 rebounds.Senior Doug Rigg added 9 points and 7 rebounds and Senior guard Sean McGuire converted 5 of 6 clutch free throws down the stretch. The Crusaders were allowed to play aggressively and took advantage of that by keeping a body on 6’5 Junior standout Vaughn Gray. Although Gray finished with 22 points and 9 rebounds, he had to work for everything he got. Prep was down 42-33 at the end of the 3rd, but fought all the way back to tie it with 1:16 left in the 4th quarter on a three point play by Gray. Bosco could never find a consistent scorer to go with Gray during the contest.After 2 free throws by McGuire, one by Prep’s Junior Gary Nova and two by Richards to make the score 52-49 Prep had a chance to tie, but Nova’s three went in the basket and came out. McGuire got fouled and all but iced the game with a free throw. Nova finished with 8 points and 7 rebounds. Sophomore Charles Wingate came off the bench to score 7 big points for Bergen.

Paterson………….. Shondell Stewart(#22 pictured) needed help! After scoring 21 of Kennedy’s 30 first half points, the senior scoring machine was going to need another player to step up in the scoring department. He found it in 6’2 Junior Dawon Lighty. Lighty(pictured below) scored 23 second half points after only having 3 at the half to help the Knights beat Wayne Valley in overtime 72-64 to reach the finals of the Passaic County tournament, where they will play Paterson Catholic. Dawon became the perfect compliment to Stewart, who didn’t stop his attack. Stewart scored 17 more points in the 2nd half and finished with 38 points and 10 rebounds.The duos play helped offset the play of Wayne Valley’s Senior Nick Siljee and Senior Jason Rosenberg. Siljee finished with 23 points and 9 rebounds, while Rosenberg had 13 points, 12 assists and 4 steals. After trailing the entire 1st half, Wayne Valley got it’s first lead of the game late in the 3rd quarter 40-39 on a Siljee three pointer. They ended the quarter leading 46-44 on a tip in by Rosenberg on a missed shot. The 4th was back and fourth with Wayne Valley having three questionable violations called against them. the first was a 10 second call and the other two 5 second violation with the last coming with 14 seconds left in the 4th with a chance to win after a free throw by Stewart tied the game at 58. Kennedy took over in overtime as Wayne Valley committed turnovers to start the session. The closest they got in overtime was on a long three by Tom Larranaga to cut the lead to three, but that’s when Lighty closed the show making free throws. He finished 12 for 14 from the line.

Notes : Senior Zahir Young actually did a respectable job on Rosenberg defensively, making him work for everything. The ironic part was how good Rosenberg was defensively, particularly against Young. Senior Jaemille Barnes finished with 9 rebounds and 4 blocked shots for Kennedy. Wayne Valley got 10 points and 8 rebounds from the 5’9 Larranaga. Junior Andrew Hersimtschuk scored 11 points for Valley. The game was heard on 1500 WGHT am.