Senior Tony Efese had a career game with 26 points to lead St. Joseph H.S. to it’s 2nd consecutive Indian Hills Holiday festival championship beating Passaic County Tech  80-79 in overtime. Efese, who also grabbed 10 rebounds was a force inside,but also knocked down two 3’s. Kai Dominguez added 16 points and Mike Marchman had 10. Senior Greg Torchon and junior Lyoha Agho each finished with 9 points. Torchon hit a big three late in the contest. For Passaic Tech it was a heartbreaking game as they led early by as much as 12 points in the 1st half. Their quickness was too much early for Joe’s as junior Brandon James(23 pts) and junior Xavier Nieves (22 pts, 9rebs., 4asts, 4blks.) each had strong halves. Joe’s was able to use it’s size in the 2nd half to neutralize Tech. Sophomore Asaad Hinton played a great 2nd half for Tech scoring all 17 of his points in the stanza. Tech had a few opportunities to finish the game in regulation, but was unable to produce the knockout blow and kept Joe’s alive as Efese layup tied the game in regulation and sent it to overtime. Senior Terrell McDuffie finished with 10 for Tech. Efese was named tournament M.V.P.

                                                 Consolation :      Bergen Catholic – 63            Hackensack -48  

               Senior Doug Rigg scored 17 points and junior Mark Richards added 16 points and 8 rebounds to give Bergen Catholic a relatively easy win over Hackensack 63-48 in the 3rd place game of the Indian Hills Holiday festival. Junior Eric Flanagan made 4 three point baskets to finish the game with 12, while senior Sean McGuire played a solid floor game with 9 points, 6 assists and 4 steals.  Hackensack was led by senior guard Alex George-Sabater with 22 points, including 6 threes and junior Terik Bridgeman with 10 points, 10 points and 3 blocked shots.

The game figured to be a contest between Kennedy’s guards and Passaic’s big men. In the end   Passaic’s bigs won out. Passaic dominated the glass against the smaller Knights, out rebounding them 37-19 to pull out a 61-57 win  and capture the 2nd annual Jingle Bells Jubilee Holiday tournament sponsored by the Playaz Basketball Club. The Indians had five players in double figures led by 6’5 Najee Salaam’s 13 points and 12 rebounds. Salaam, who didn’t start the game due to disciplinary reasons did all his damage in the last three quarters. He was particularly tenacious on the offensive boards. His twin tower partner 6’5 Tyshawn Pickett also got on the boards hard, grabbing 13 rebounds to go with 11 points. Kennedy led most of the game behind the offense of 5’9 guard Daquere Hayes. He became the primary option in the 1st half after Passaic put their main effort on neutralizing Shondel Stewart. They used 6’3 forward Andre Dixon to follow Stewart where ever he was on the floor. The plan worked most of the game as Stewart was held to 7 1st half points.  Dixon did a great job contributing 12 points and 3 blocks. Kennedy still maintained a slight lead early in the 2nd half until Reggie Pennie’s(12 pts., 3 rebs., 3 blks.) three gave Passaic it’s first lead of the game at 48-46. From then on it became a seesaw battle. With Passaic  holding a 4 point lead late Stewart, who finished with 18 points and 8 rebounds hit a free throw to cut the lead to three 58-55. A loose ball on the end bounds gave Zahir Young( 5 stls.) a layup to cut the lead to 58-57. Pickett then hit two clutch free throws to put Passaic ahead 60-57 with 22.7 seconds left. After Stewart lost  the ball on a drive to the basket, Salamm iced it with a free throw. Hayes finished with 20 for Kennedy, while the Indians Shakir Rhodes was the fifth player to get in double figures with 10 points and 5 assists.

                                     Consolation:      Teaneck – 60               Bloomfield Tech – 54

      In the consolation contest, Teaneck seemed to still feel the effects of their overtime game loss to Kennedy as it took them three quarters to get back on track. Trailing most of the game, Teaneck finally tied the contest at the end of the 3rd at 45-45. It then held Bloomfield Tech to 9 4th quarter points enroute to a 60 – 54 win. Kyle Steinbergin led the Highwaymen with 14 points, while Jonathan Blue  had 12 points and 6 rebounds. Junior Brandon Davis sparked off the bench with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Senior Travon King added 12 rebounds and guard Owen Barnes dished out 7 assists for Teaneck. Kevin Philemon had 21 points and Rashid Sabur added 18 points for Bloomfield Tech.

                            Notes:  Passaic’s Najee Salaam earned M.V.P. of the tournament and Kennedy’s Shondel Stewart earned Most Outstanding Player. Passaic’s Tyshawn Pickett won the Sportsman trophy.

   All tournament Players:

   J.P. Koury – Christian Brothers  Academy

  Kevin Philemon and Rashid Sabur – Bloomfield Tech

  Kyle Steinbergin  and Owen Barnes –  Teaneck

 Vaughn Gray -Don Bosco Prep

 Shondel Stewart and Daquere Hayes –  Kennedy

 Najee Salaam ,  Tyshawn Pickett  and Andre Dixon –  Passaic