Ramapo College ………………St. Joseph’s Kai Dominguez found it early and his shooting led to an easy win against Elmwood Park 59-41 to advance to the semifinals of the Bergen County Jamboree. Dominguez(pictured in white) scored 22 points, including  4 three pointers and grabbed 12 rebounds. He hit his first trey of the game and helped St.Joe’s. take a 17-11 1st quarter lead. Senior Tony Efese took over in the 2nd half, scoring 11 of his 17 points as St. Joe’s stretched the lead out to 49-33 to end the 3rd quarter. It was all but over after that. Elmwood Park does have two bright spots in 6’7 senior Ryan Belisle (11 pts, 8 rebs.,pictured top left) and senior Ryan Velez (18 pts) who maybe one of the most improved players in the area.

Someone find a college for senior Jason Rosenberg! Not being heavily recruited this guy can flat out play! The 5’9 Rosenberg’s 25 points and 10 assists helped Wayne Valley beat Passaic H.S. 56-49 and advance to the semifinals of the Passaic County Tournament. Although it was an upset, things evened out when Passaic went to battle without the services of 6’4 senior forward Najee Salaam (personal matters) which left 6’4 senior Tyshon Pickett to do a lot of the work by his self. Rosenberg( pictured) either scored or assisted on every basket that Wayne Valley made in the 1st half. Five of his assists went to guard Tom Larranga who made 5 threes enroute to a 17 point effort. Passaic got a stellar performance from Pickett. The forward had 25 points and 9 rebounds. Junior Shakir Rhodes was the only other person in double figures with 12 points,but fouled out late. Valley’s Rosenberg  proved to be too much for the Indians as he controlled the game clock with his masterful ball handling skills when they took an 8 point lead. Passaic lead in the 1st quarter 14-12 but Wayne Valley quickly took the lead and held on the rest of the way. Wayne Valley will now face Kennedy H.S. in the semifinals of the Passaic County Tournament. One more upset and they could be playing at home for the “County Chip”

Kennedy played a perfect 1st half and then held on for dear life in a 70-64 win over Passaic County Tech to reach the Passaic County Tournament semifinals against Wayne Valley H.S. Senior Shondell Stewart was his typical self scoring 27 points with 15 rebounds and Junior Dawon Lighty also played a good game with 17 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists as Kennedy took a 39-23 lead into the half. But with the up and down Bulldogs finally playing up to their potential in the 2nd half  Kennedy needed another answer. They got it from 6’4 senior Jaemille Barnes. Nicknamed ” Soldier Boy”, Barnes(pictured)scored 18 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and played great interior defense to help the Knights pull out the win. With 1:14 left, senior Terrell McDuffie’s three pointer ( 11 pts, 4 rebs, 4 stls ) finally tied the game up and it seemed PCT had captured the momentum, but a layup, plus the foul by Barnes gave Kennedy the lead for good. Senior  Zahir Young contributed 9 dimes to quarterback his club to the victory. His behind the back pass to Barnes and Lighty’s steal and put back erased any doubts about who would get the win. The Bulldogs were led by sophomore Asaad Hinton with 15 points. Tech’s leading scorers Xavier Nieves (9 pts, 5 stls) and Brandon James (6 pts.) were held to a combined 15 points by the Knights.

Notes : Kennedy again played without senior guard Daquere Hayes ( fainting spell)