Paterson Catholic had no idea what it was in for when it travelled down to Fort Myers, Florida to play in the City Of Palms Basketball Classic. Without a game under their belt they had many questions to answer and what they found out was that if they play as hard in New Jersey as they did in Florida they have a chance to be a very special team! Playing in a field with top teams from all over the country such as Westchester H.S. in California, Dudley H.S. in North Carolina, Montverde H.S. in Florida and even the nationally ranked St. Benedicts in their own state of New Jersey when the smoke had cleared Paterson Catholic walked away the champion of one of the most elite tournaments in the country. They won in the finals by beating Winter Park H.S.of Florida 62-54 in the championship game that was televised on ESPNU. Winter Park is led by one of the top players in the country, 6’5  Austin Rivers who is the son of Boston Celtics coach Glen”Doc”Rivers and has verbally committed to The Univ. of Florida. It actually seemed like it might be easy as PC streaked out to a 13-0 lead to start the game. Rivers and company took the hit by cutting the lead to one 15-14 in the 1st quarter and leading at the half 31-26. That’s when the team effort of the Cougars kicked in as every member had key moments in the contest. 6’5 Seton Hall recruit Fuquan Edwin, who made the All-Tournament team led the team with 17 points and pulled down 7 boards created mismatches in the open court. 5’9 junior Myles Mack was consistent throughout being named player of the game by ESPNU. He finished with 15 points,3 assists and 3 steals including one in the open court  that resulted in a layup for himself. 6’5 senior Jayon James added 11 points and 5 assists and played a solid floor game creating for himself and others. 6’9 junior Derrick Randall was a beast throughout the game altering shot after shot and contributing 6 points before fouling out. 6’4 senior Jermaine Peart played solid defense against Rivers and punctuated a steal with a nice two hand dunk. 6’8 sophomore Kyle Anderson proved why he is considered one of the best players in his class. He stuffed the stat sheet with 6 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocked shots and 3 steals. He made two big baskets in the lane and made a great block on Rivers down the  stretch. The surprise came from 6’6 freshman Reggie Cameron who after sitting for three quarters came in and made one of the clutch plays of the game. Down 45-42 James found Cameron on the opposite side of the floor where he calmly drained a 3 with a man in his face to tie the game up at 45. It was the only shot he would take but he added 3 rebounds and more importantly made no mistakes. That shot seemed to give the Cougars extra life as the rest of the crew took over down the stretch. Mack and Edwin were the catalyst in finishing Winter Park H.S. off. Rivers was phenomenal with 27 points after scoring 45 against St.Benedicts in their semi final game and was named Tournament M.V.P.  The 4-0 Cougars now travel to West Virginia to play Huntington H.S. on New Years Day!

               In a contest that wasn’t esthetically pleasing , Depaul Catholic grinded out a win over Hackensack H.S. 48-44. Freshman Josh Marquez came off the bench to lead Depaul with 14 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals. He got help from Mike Minerik with 9 points and Matt Matthews who scored 8 and had 7 boards. The win marked Coach Bart Fazio’ s 400th career victory. Hackensack led at the end of the 1st quarter 9-4 as the only person on the floor that seemed to have an offensive flow to his game was senior Alex George who scored 7 of the 9 points and finished the contest with 21. The rest of the game was a hard fought effort by both teams with no flow. The game was tied at 19 at the half and DePaul held a 1 point lead 35-34 to go into the final stanza. Terik Bridgeman finished with 11 points,6 rebounds and 4 blocked shots for Hackensack. They are looking for junior swingman Bright Mensah to come out of his shooting slump because although the defense is there, the offense has been very erratic accept for the play of George and Bridgeman. DePaul also needs  to find consistency on the offensive end of the floor. Sophomore Davon Jacobs looked as though he would have a big game scoring 6 quick points,but an injury to his back limited his play.Marquez looks as though he will have a lot thrown his way as the season moves on.

      Wayne Valley’s Jake Rosenberg knew just what to do against an Eastside H.S. zone defense. He penetrated and kicked to his two primary scorers, Nick Siljee and Tom Larranga for open 3’s that led to a relatively easy 76-61 win. Rosenberg finished with 9 points, 10 assists and 4 steals. When he wasn’t finding the perimeter people, he found Keith Greeve underneath for easy layups. It was basically a clinic on how to beat a zone! Siljee finished with 17 points(3 treys) and 7 rebounds, while Larranga  added 18 including 4 from behind the arc. Greeve finished with 12. After Valley took a 45-28 lead into the half, Eastside came out playing much more aggressively after intermission by pressuring the ball more. They cut the lead to 8 at one point behind the play of Terrell(Escalade) Spaulding who finished with 18 points and 8 rebounds and Chris Albuquerque (14points, 10 boards). Valley, behind the legs of Rosenberg regrouped to take back control of the game in the 4th. Eastside played without starting swingman Allen Dantzler(back) and Khalil Anderson(leg) due to injuries.