Teaneck, Passaic and Kennedy highschool all won their  games in The Playaz Basketball Club 2nd annual Jingle Bells Jubilee Holiday tournament. Don Bosco Prep fell in their opening round contest: 

                                                               Teaneck H.S.- 76                      Newark Tech -50

                 Senior  Kyle Steinbergin drained 5 threes and  sophomore Chris Jones scored 18 points enroute to a 76-50 Teaneck win over Newark Tech. Steinbergin finished with 19 points and 3’s seemed to get deeper and deeper as the game went on and Jones continued to make mid range jumpers throughout. Teaneck got a strong game from reserve Junior Branden Davis who came off the bench to score 17 points and collect 7 rebounds. He, along with Junior Justin Hodge picked up the defensive intensity for the Highwaymen as they took a 21-21 tie in the 1st and turned it into a 62-41 blow out by the end of the 3rd quarter. Newark Tech was led by Kazim Jones with 12 and freshman Jared Hall added 9.

                                                                   Passaic H.S. – 57                   Christian Brothers Academy – 56

            Junior Shakir Rhodes knocked down a 3 point shot with 0:0 seconds on the clock as Passaic stunned CBA 57-56.  Passaic took an 11 point lead into the final quarter, but CBA behind the shooting of Junior J.P. Khoury(27 points) and Nick McMullen( 17 pts., 11 rebs.) came all the way back to take the lead late in the game. Passaic got it from last year’s All Hoop Journal player Tyshawn Pickett who  dropped 22 points and added 10 rebounds. Senior Najee Salaam contributed 9 points and 9 rebounds. Pickett hit a bucket with 35 seconds to give the Indians a 55-54 lead at which point Khoury and McMullen each went 1 for 2 from the free throw line. That set the stage for Shakir’s(11 pts, 4 asts.) heroics.

                                                         Kennedy H.S. – 77                         Hudson Catholic – 52

         With Senior Shondel Stewart in foul trouble early in the game Kennedy looked elsewhere for their scoring. They found it in 5’9 senior Daquere Hayes! Hayes used an assortment of ways to score enroute to a 29 point game. He converted on layups and running floaters to go with an occassional trey. His play spurred the Knights to an easy 77-52 win over a young Hudson Catholic team. Hudson Catholic  boasts a team consisting of 5 sophomores  and 3 freshman and their inexperience showed. Stewart came back into the game to finish with 16 points and 4 steals and Junior Zahir Young played tenacious defense with 6 steals. Hudson Catholic was led by freshman Rakwon Kelly with 13 points and 8 rebounds. Junior Danny Liming added 12 points and 5 rebounds

                                                                   Bloomfield Tech – 70                      Don Bosco Prep – 60

              Bloomfield Tech’s 5’9 point guard Asaad Bell had 22 points and 6’3 senior Rashid Sabur added 19 points and 6 rebounds to lead the Spartans to a  70- 60 win over Don Bosco Prep. Tech doubled Prep’s high scoring swingman Vaughn Gray whenever he touched the rock. It helped neutralize him as he had to give it up to other teammates. Junior Gary Nova and sophomore Jemal Mosley seemed to be the only two willing to accept that responsibility. Gray finished with 18 points and 7 rebounds , while Nova added 13 and Mosley finished with 10. Prep led at the half 29-23 but Tech took control early in the second half as senior Kevin Philemon (15pts., 5rebs., 4asts.) provided a spark to take a 49-43 3rd quarter lead.  Bell’s last 9 points came from the free throw line to ice the game. 

                                                                                           Sunday’s Lineup Dec.27th:

                  2:00pm:     Newark Tech vs. Hudson Catholic

                  3:45pm:      CBA     vs.        Don Bosco Prep

                 5:30pm:       Teaneck H.S.  vs.  Kennedy H.S.

                7:15pm:         Passaic H.S.     vs.     Bloomfield Tech

            Paterson Catholic had no idea what it was in for when it travelled down to Fort Myers, Florida to play in the City Of Palms Basketball Classic. Without a game under their belt they had many questions to answer and what they found out was that if they play as hard in New Jersey as they did in Florida they have a chance to be a very special team! Playing in a field with top teams from all over the country such as Westchester H.S. in California, Dudley H.S. in North Carolina, Montverde H.S. in Florida and even the nationally ranked St. Benedicts in their own state of New Jersey when the smoke had cleared Paterson Catholic walked away the champion of one of the most elite tournaments in the country. They won in the finals by beating Winter Park H.S.of Florida 62-54 in the championship game that was televised on ESPNU. Winter Park is led by one of the top players in the country, 6’5  Austin Rivers who is the son of Boston Celtics coach Glen”Doc”Rivers and has verbally committed to The Univ. of Florida. It actually seemed like it might be easy as PC streaked out to a 13-0 lead to start the game. Rivers and company took the hit by cutting the lead to one 15-14 in the 1st quarter and leading at the half 31-26. That’s when the team effort of the Cougars kicked in as every member had key moments in the contest. 6’5 Seton Hall recruit Fuquan Edwin, who made the All-Tournament team led the team with 17 points and pulled down 7 boards created mismatches in the open court. 5’9 junior Myles Mack was consistent throughout being named player of the game by ESPNU. He finished with 15 points,3 assists and 3 steals including one in the open court  that resulted in a layup for himself. 6’5 senior Jayon James added 11 points and 5 assists and played a solid floor game creating for himself and others. 6’9 junior Derrick Randall was a beast throughout the game altering shot after shot and contributing 6 points before fouling out. 6’4 senior Jermaine Peart played solid defense against Rivers and punctuated a steal with a nice two hand dunk. 6’8 sophomore Kyle Anderson proved why he is considered one of the best players in his class. He stuffed the stat sheet with 6 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocked shots and 3 steals. He made two big baskets in the lane and made a great block on Rivers down the  stretch. The surprise came from 6’6 freshman Reggie Cameron who after sitting for three quarters came in and made one of the clutch plays of the game. Down 45-42 James found Cameron on the opposite side of the floor where he calmly drained a 3 with a man in his face to tie the game up at 45. It was the only shot he would take but he added 3 rebounds and more importantly made no mistakes. That shot seemed to give the Cougars extra life as the rest of the crew took over down the stretch. Mack and Edwin were the catalyst in finishing Winter Park H.S. off. Rivers was phenomenal with 27 points after scoring 45 against St.Benedicts in their semi final game and was named Tournament M.V.P.  The 4-0 Cougars now travel to West Virginia to play Huntington H.S. on New Years Day!