No one denies the talent! There’s plenty on the roster, but the memo on Paterson Catholic is ” Get grimey and they will back down.” Tonight was a different story in their 81-71 defeat of Thomas Jefferson(N.Y.) Highschool and if the Cougars come with this type of passion every night, they have a great chance to repeat as county champs. Thomas Jefferson H.S., led by senior sensation Keith Spellman took it to P.C. in the first half as they took a 12 point lead into intermission and seemed to get to every loose ball and rebound. Spellman (24 pts.,5 rebs., 5 stls.,) and junior Marcus Romain (19 pts., 4 stls.) led the first half assault for Thomas Jefferson, but as inept as they looked in the 1st half , P.C. looked that good in the 2nd. The Cougars came out like gang busters in the 3rd quarter and after a tongue lashing from coach Damon Wright, played with a sense of purpose. Fuquan Edwin (24 pts., 7 rebs.), Myles Mack (13 pts., 7 assts.), Jayon James (12 pts., 5 rebs., 5assts.) and T.J. Clemmings (12 pts., 9 rebs., 4 blks.) all played fantastic halves, with Edwin scoring his 1,000th point in the 3rd. The difference however, was dictated by the play of  6′ 6″ freshman Kyle Anderson, who took over at the point and played beyond his years. He scored 7 points and 5 assists plus blocked 3 shots. More importantly, Anderson committed only one turnover in the second half and helped initiate the ball movement as the sharing of the rock became contagious and a few times ending with an Edwin or a James layup or a Clemmings monster dunk. P.C. took a 61-60 3rd quarter lead then outscored T.J. 20-11 in the 4th. Sophomore Joel Wright finished with 15 points and 8 rebounds for Thomas Jefferson H.S.

If this is a preview of the Passaic County tournament, it should be something special as Paterson Catholic, Eastside H.S., and Kennedy H.S. all won their Freedom Fighters Challenge game which celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King’s National holiday. All three teams gave a reason why they could win the tournament next month:

     Kennedy Highschool showed the true makeup of the kind of team they have.  Lockdown defense!  The Knight’s pressure defense was a problem for Paramus Catholic’s guards all game as they defended from baseline to baseline in route to an easy 58-42 win.  Kennedy forced over 20 turnovers and had three people score in double figures.  Asmar Edwards 6 steals along with his 14 points led the way for Kennedy.  He, Antoine Alexander (12 pts., 3 stls.), Shondel Stewart (11 pts.) were the  other double figure scorers and Dawon Lighty contributed 8, including a break away dunk in the 4th quarter.  The lone bright spot for Paramus Catholic was 6′ 6″ sophomore Justin Harris who finished with 18 points and 8 rebounds.