PASSAIC COUNTY TOURNAMENT: Eastside And Kennedy Will Meet!

Paterson……As much as things change,they still remain the same! After all was said and done Eastside H.S. and Kennedy H.S. will meet in the finals of the Passaic County Tournament! Eastside and Kennedy will be meeting in the finals against each other for the 5th time as Eastside will make it’s 17th final appearance and Kennedy will make it’s 16th since the tournament started in 1971:

                                  Eastside 59    West Milford  43

     West Milford started the game out on a 7-0 run and seemed ready to go toe to toe with Eastside! But usually in big games a player least expected comes up big! For the Ghosts that player was Senior Carl Barrett in Eastside’s 59-43 win! Barrett came off the bench and knocked down three huge “triples” to calm Eastside down and more importantly, made West Milford come out of their zone defense and play Eastside’s game! This gave Senior David Burgos and Junior DeAndre Noble the opportunity to put their stamp on the game, and they did it in style! Burgos scored 19 points and dished out 5 assists and took complete control of the game in the 4th quarter when they needed smart, heady plays to be made! Noble,who was the player of the game for 1500WGHT radio(pictured with commentator) has continued to play at a high level the last week or so as he scored 18 points and grabbed 14 big boards! Eastside also did a great job on West Milford’s All County guard Connor Healy as he was guarded primarily by Senior guard Nashian Brimley and held to 9 points by the Ghosts! Senior Tyler Coyle led West Milford with 14 points and Tyler Maurer added 9!

                                  Kennedy 39   Wayne Valley 26

     This game was not good for the eyes, but in Kennedy’s case a “W”is a”W”! And that’s what they got in their 39-26 win over Wayne Valley! This was the lowest combine scoring game in the history of the tournament and it was due to a combination of good defense and bad shooting! Senior Dawon Lighty was the leading scorer in the game with 13 points,11 coming from the foul line! He was 1500WGHT radio player of the game! Kennedy’s defense was impressive as they held Valley to 16 points over three quarters! Junior Gary Simpson was a spark for the Knights as he scored 7 points with 3 assists and 2 steals, while Junior Sammy Singletary and Senior Jhamir White each had 4 steals apiece!Wayne Valley was led by Senior Andrew Herasimtchuk with 8 points!

NOTES: Kennedy will be looking for it’s 11th tournament “chip” while Eastside will be lookking for it’s 8th next week! Game is Saturday Feb 26 at noon at Wayne Valley H.S.