Someone find a college for senior Jason Rosenberg! Not being heavily recruited this guy can flat out play! The 5’9 Rosenberg’s 25 points and 10 assists helped Wayne Valley beat Passaic H.S. 56-49 and advance to the semifinals of the Passaic County Tournament. Although it was an upset, things evened out when Passaic went to battle without the services of 6’4 senior forward Najee Salaam (personal matters) which left 6’4 senior Tyshon Pickett to do a lot of the work by his self. Rosenberg( pictured) either scored or assisted on every basket that Wayne Valley made in the 1st half. Five of his assists went to guard Tom Larranga who made 5 threes enroute to a 17 point effort. Passaic got a stellar performance from Pickett. The forward had 25 points and 9 rebounds. Junior Shakir Rhodes was the only other person in double figures with 12 points,but fouled out late. Valley’s Rosenberg  proved to be too much for the Indians as he controlled the game clock with his masterful ball handling skills when they took an 8 point lead. Passaic lead in the 1st quarter 14-12 but Wayne Valley quickly took the lead and held on the rest of the way. Wayne Valley will now face Kennedy H.S. in the semifinals of the Passaic County Tournament. One more upset and they could be playing at home for the “County Chip”

Kennedy played a perfect 1st half and then held on for dear life in a 70-64 win over Passaic County Tech to reach the Passaic County Tournament semifinals against Wayne Valley H.S. Senior Shondell Stewart was his typical self scoring 27 points with 15 rebounds and Junior Dawon Lighty also played a good game with 17 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists as Kennedy took a 39-23 lead into the half. But with the up and down Bulldogs finally playing up to their potential in the 2nd half  Kennedy needed another answer. They got it from 6’4 senior Jaemille Barnes. Nicknamed ” Soldier Boy”, Barnes(pictured)scored 18 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and played great interior defense to help the Knights pull out the win. With 1:14 left, senior Terrell McDuffie’s three pointer ( 11 pts, 4 rebs, 4 stls ) finally tied the game up and it seemed PCT had captured the momentum, but a layup, plus the foul by Barnes gave Kennedy the lead for good. Senior  Zahir Young contributed 9 dimes to quarterback his club to the victory. His behind the back pass to Barnes and Lighty’s steal and put back erased any doubts about who would get the win. The Bulldogs were led by sophomore Asaad Hinton with 15 points. Tech’s leading scorers Xavier Nieves (9 pts, 5 stls) and Brandon James (6 pts.) were held to a combined 15 points by the Knights.

Notes : Kennedy again played without senior guard Daquere Hayes ( fainting spell)

DePaul got it’s revenge! After losing a heartbreaking loss in overtime to Passaic Valley earlier in the season, DePaul returned the favor in a game heard on 1500 am beating PV in overtime 66-63 to advance to the semifinals of the Passaic County Tournament where they will be a tremendous underdog to Paterson Catholic. Sophomore Davon Jacobs (pictured, voted player of game by 1500 am) was perfect from the floor going 8 for 8 in scoring a game high 20 points. He added 10 rebounds and combined with freshman Joshua Marquez (16 pts, 5 rebs.) to score 25 second half points. Passaic Valley’s Dom Coiro scored 13 of his 16 points in the 2nd half and Dave Clough added 13 points and 7 boards. Anthony DiSanti (12 pts) and Nick DiCristina (12 pts) rounded up the double figure scoring for PV. DePaul’s Matt Miller scored 12 points and showed leadership down the stretch. Senior Mike Minarik knocked down big free throws late for Depaul. Passaic Valley’s long range specialist Mike Governali could never get  on track scoring 8 points and  shooting just 2 for 10 from behind the arc.