Passaic County Tech picked up the #1 seed in the Passaic County Tournament over Passaic Valley who were picked as the 2 seed! Each team had a legitimate reason to feel they would be top seed! Passaic Valley’s schedule has been tough and they have more than held their own, while Tech(Brandon James,Xavier Nieves and Isaac Williams pictured) has only one questionable loss and that’s the Eastside one and the Ghosts are legit! Tech will get a bye for the 1st round! West Milford was given credit for how well they are playing by getting the # 3 seed! 

Seedings and Matchups:

#2 Passaic Valley  vs.  #15  Clifton

#3  West Milford   vs.   # 14  Eastern Christian

#4   Kennedy    vs.   #13 Hawthorne Christian

#5   DePaul    vs.    #12 Lakeland

#6   Manchester  vs.    #11  Wayne Hills

#7    Eastside   vs.   # 10  Pompton Lakes

#8   Wayne Valley   vs.  #9  Passaic

Emglewood,N.J…………In a day of Private vs Public and New York vs New Jersey, The Gym Ratz 1st Annual Highschool Showcase was a complete success! With three Girl’s games and three Boys games The Gym Ratz coordinator’s Danny Brown and Ozzie Osbourne put together a nice display of basketball which culminated in an exciting last game between 10-0 Tenafly H.S. and 10-1 Dwight Englewood! In the Boys games Hackensack, Paramus Catholic and Dwight Englewood all ended the day victorious! While St. Anthony, Bishop Kearney and Bishop Ford won the Girl’s contests!

                          Dwight Englewood  40      Tenafly  37

In a game that featured two of the best Junior’s in the State as well as the Country, a Sophomore proved to be the difference in the end! Tenafly’s Chris Orozco and Dwight Englewood’s Wesley Dickinson are two of the best Junior’s in the State and they both proved why they have that reputation! Orozco(left) scored 20 of Tenafly’s 37 points to go with 8 rebounds and a block shot! Dickinson(right) finished with 15 points, 7 rebounds and 6 big blocked shots for D.E. and he got help from another tough Junior in Zach Hodges(bottom right) who finished with 18 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists! The game was as exciting as a slow and methodical contest can be, with every possesion played as if it was the last! Tenafly had control of the game going into the 4th quarter leading 30-21! But some uncharacteristic turnovers in the 4th gave Dwight Englewood an opportunity to comeback! After a free throw by Sophomore Keion Osbourne cut the lead to 37-35 with 30.5 left, D.E. forced a tie up which gave them the ball back! That’s when the ball found it’s way into the hands of Sophomore Austin James(bottom left) open on the right side for a “triple” which he calmly knocked down for his only basket of the game to give D.E. the lead 38-37 with 3 seconds left! A desperation shot resulted in Hodges getting fouled on the rebound and completing the scoring by hitting 2 free throws!

                 Paramus Catholic  60            Sacred Heart(N.Y.) 35

  6’8 Senior Justin Harris(middle right with Gym Ratz Dir. Danny Brown and Ozzie Osbourne) scored 15 points,grabbed 9rebounds and blocked 3 shots as Paramus Catholic. after a slow start cruised past Sacred Heart of New York 60-35! Senior Manny Hernandez also added 15 points to go with 4 steals! Sophomore Elijah Davis had 13 points and 5 boards and Sophomore Tommy Rivera contributed 7 assists and 4 steals! Sacred Heart was led by 6’6 Junior Mychal Coleman(#45) with 14 points, while Junior Terry Larrier added 9!

                      Hackensack  50         Bishop Ford( N.Y) 43

Sophomore Chris Myers and Junior Mershon Monroe led the Comets to a 50-43 win over Bishop Ford of New York! Myers(right with Ozzzie and Brown) scored 14 points and Monroe had 12 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals as Hackensack’s pressure kept Bishop Ford on their heals most of the game! Senior Bright Mensah added 9 points and 5 rebounds, while Sophomore Gene Marshall grabbed 8 rebounds in limited minutes! Bishop Ford was led by Senior Ibn Rashid Cooper(middle left) with 19 points and 8 rebounds and Senior Eric Kippins with 12 points!

               Girls Basketball( Aaliyah Lewis with Ozzie Osbourne) 

St. Anthony  52                  Hackensack  48

Megan Hart  20 pts.         Erin Moore  19 pts.

Bishop Kearney  60             Englewood  41

 Samantha Retas  22 pts             Christina Jones  20 pts

Bishop Ford (N.J.) 63          John F. Kennedy  54

Aaliyah Lewis  19 pts           Alisha Brown  15 pts

Shanice Vaughn 14 pts        Erika Brown  12 pts

   Action continues today at Ramapo College:

12:00pm  Abraham Clark vs Marist(Girls)

1:30pm  Newark Tech vs Pathways College Prep(Boys)

3:00pm  Newark Central vs Kenedy H.S.(N.J.)

4:30pm  Paramus Catholic vs Wings Academy

6:00pm  Teaneck  vs  Benjamin Cardoza

West New York, N.J…………….Hudson Catholic’s young basketball squad went into a loud, hostile environment and had to develop a mental toughness that may carry them the rest of the season! Memorial H.S.of West New York is a tough minded senior laden team that can shoot the rock and they made the Hawks grow up fast in this fast paced game! Hudson Catholic walked out with a hard nosed 86-79 victory over Memorial H.S.! Memorial came out quick, raining “triples” all over the place to take a 24-17 1st quarter lead! Hudson regrouped behind the play of Sophomore’s Kavon Stewart, Reggie Cameron and Rakwon Kelly(left)! They have each had great season’s so far for the Hawks, but the main key to this contest was the play of 6’4 Junior Grant Ellis! The athletic Ellis(right) played his best game of the season as he has had to acclimate himself after transferring from St. Benedicts! He showed an abundance of energy on the offensive and defensive end of the floor! Hudson Catholic took their largest lead of the game at the end of the 3rd 56-48, but Memorial, behind the play of Senior guard David Almonte and Senior point guard Kenny Amparo came all the way back to tie the game at 71! But Stewart knocked down a baseline jumper to give the Hawks the lead and Cameron and Kelly finished them off at the foul line! Cameron led the scoring for Hudson with 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while Ellis finished with 20 points and 9 boards! Kelly finished with 16 points and 7 rebounds and Stewart added 11 points and 4 assists! Memorial was led by Amparo’s(left) 21 points and 5 assists and Almonte(right) with 18 points and 8 rebounds! Junior Derek Sierra added 15 points and Senior Alex Carpio had 12 on 4 “triples”!