Teaneck, Hudson Catholic, Kennedy And Passaic Advance In Jingle Bells Jubilee!

Jersey City….. After a two day delay due to the weekend thunderstorm, The Playaz sponsored Jingle Bells Jubilee Holiday Tournament got under way! Christian Brothers was snowed in, so they cancelled out giving Passaic H.S. a win in the first round! St. Peters Prep will play the loser game tomorrow in place of C.B.A. Meanwhile Teaneck, Hudson Catholic and Kennedy all advanced to the 2nd round Wednesday!

                                    Teaneck 65          Passaic Valley 44

     Sophomore Joel Hernandez(pictured) scored 26 points, including 5 treys and snatched 8 rebounds,while Junior Chris Jones added 16 to lead Teaneck to their first win of the season and 1st under new coach Jerome Smart 65 – 44 over Passaic Valley H.S. The Highwaymen pressured P.V. into a fast paced game and forced the Hornets into turnovers throughout the contest! Led defensively by Sophomore Shakir Lindsey, Duquan Russ and Anthony Upshaw the Highwaymen raced to a 29-18 halftime lead and gradually pulled away in the 2nd half! Russ finished the game with 9 points and 3 steals, while Lindsey dished out 7 assists! The game featured the debut of 6’8 Junior Neville Fincher, a transfer from St. Anthony’s. Fincher made his presence felt in the middle, grabbing 8 rebounds and altering many Passaic Valley shots! The two bright spots for P.V. belonged to Senior guard Nick DiCristina who scored 15 points on 5 “triples” and Junior Olumide Onajide who dropped in 11 points with 7 boards!

                         Hudson Catholic  57     Scotch Plains  47

    Sophomore guards Kavon Stewart and Travis Flagg controlled the tempo of the game the entire contest as they keyed Hudson Catholic’s 57 – 47 win over Scotch Plains H.S. Both squads came in with 3 – 0 records and each played that way in the 1st quarter with Scotch Plains holding an 11-10 lead! but after Senior guard Charles(rifleman)Oliver picked up his 3rd foul in the 2nd quarter, The Hawks out scored Scotch Plains 19-3 to take a 29-15 halftime lead! Even though Scotch Plains made a few runs, cutting the lead down by as much as 5, Stewart#3 and Flagg#5 continued to make plays by either picking up an assist, but more importantly getting to the foul line as Stewart made 12 from the stripe and finished with 19 and Flagg hit 9 from the line and finished with 13! Sophomore Raekwon Kelly added 13 points and Sophomore Reggie Cameron contributed 8 points and 11 rebounds! Oliver finished with 19 points and Patrick Dougher added 13!

                                Kennedy  70            Newark Tech  53 

       Kennedy H.S. got double figure scoring from 4 players and put on a relentless defensive effort against Newark Tech in a 70 – 53 win! Junior Jamar Ellerbee(16pts.), Sammy Singletary( 15pts), Dawon Lighty(15pts) and Jhimir White( 13pts) all scored in double figures for the Knights as they simply out played and out hustled Tech to every ball! Ellerbee(left) got off early, scoring 13 points in the 1st half to ignite    Kennedy! Lighty, Singletary and White took over in the 2nd half with White and Singletary(right) each having 4 steals in a defensive onslaught! Eric Anderson led Newark Tech with 12 points and 6 rebounds, while Jordan Arthur had 8 points, 5 assists and 4 blocks! 

Wednesday’s Games:

2:00pm  Passaic Valley vs. Newark Tech

3:45pm   Scotch Plains  vs.  St. Peters Prep

5:30pm   Teaneck  vs. Kennedy

7:00pm   Hudson Catholic  vs.  Passaic