Jayon James early play andSophomore Myles Mack  3rd quarter domination powered Paterson Catholic to their second straight Passaic County Championship beating a tough Kennedy Highschool 81-64. James kept P.C. close as they took the early run from Kennedy to start the game. The Knights came out fast as Shondel Stewart scored a quick 7 points to start the game and they went up 14-7. But James (21 pts., 6asts., 4 rebs.,3stls.)had it going early, involving his teammates while scoring himself. He punctuated the quarter by hitting a three at the buzzer to cut Kennedy’s lead to 19-18 in the 1st. Paterson Catholic wind up outscoring Kennedy 23-13 in the 2nd quarter to take a 41-32 halftime lead as James had 13 and Mack had 10 to end the half. All year however Kennedy was a team that didn’t quit and it wasn’t going to happen today either as they came out with extra energy and cut the lead to 3 early. That’s when Myles Mack took over. Mack, who finished with 23 points, 4 assists and 2 steals scored 11 of P.C.’s 21 points in the 3rd quarter and showed how big a future he is going to have. He also assisted on two other baskets. Fuquan Edwin added 20 points and 10 rebounds and threw a tomahawk dunk off an assist from Mack that took the life out of the Knights. P.C. took a 62-46 3rd quarter lead and it became a matter of holding on. Trevor Clemmings, who just came back from a knee injury showed how much P.C. missed his presence as he controlled the paint without big offensive numbers. He only scored a bucket, but defensively was a force with 8 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. Freshman Kyle Anderson also played beyond his years, overcoming a shakey beginning to quarterback the team in pressure moments throughout the game. Anderson(4pts., 3rebs., 4 blks.) took alot of the dribbling responsibility which allowed Mack and James to exploit matchup problems against Kennedy. Senior Lance Brown, a Fordham recruit who has had to shut it down due to knee surgery came in the game late and knocked down a three to get a taste of the Cougars win. Kennedy’s Stewart finished the game with 24 points and 5 rebounds. Asmar Edwards added 17 points, 7 rebounds and 4 steals and Antoine Alexander scored 14 points to go with 6 rebounds. Daquere Hayes also was coming off a hand injury for Kennedy and gave it a go. He was not 100% and contributed 4 assists and 2 steals.

     Paterson Catholic won’t have it this easy saturday against Kennedy H.S. They coasted against Midland Park H.S. 89-65 in their final regular season home  game. The Cougars had four people in double figures led by sophomore Myles Mack’s 21 points to go along with 5 assists and 3 steals. Sophomore Derrick Randall had a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds which included 9 offensive boards. Fuquan Edwin( 14 pts., 6 rebs.) and freshman Kyle Anderson (13 pts.,7 rebs.,4blks.) were the other double figure scorers. Midland Park was led by Tyler Dravis-Stark with 27 points, including 7 treys. Kenny Kruis had 14 and Stu Pace added 10 for Midland Park. P.C. tried not to look ahead to their game against the Knights of Kennedy in their quest for back to back Passaic County championships, but it was hard not to as Midland Park  tried to stay close but once P.C. got their rhythm it was lights out. The best play of the night being a dunk by Randall from a pass off the glass by Mack.

     The public school is back ! After a 9 year hiatus Teaneck H.S. gave the public schools their first Bergen County Jamboree championship since 2000 when Englewood H.S. was the last winner as the Highwayman beat St. Joe’s 55-53. Javae King-Gilchrist, who transferred from Queen of Peace after losing a heartbreaker in the semis of the jamboree to Hackensack H.S. last year, made the most of his second opportunity this year. King-Gilchrist brought a new found maturity to his game this year, and in the biggest game of the high-school career Gilchrist showed onions. Teaneck was down by as much as 15 in the 1st half and cut the lead to 7 at 32-25 after Kyle Steinbergin’s (13 pts.) three point banker at the buzzer. The 2nd half is when Teaneck decided that they could not miss out on this opportunity led by Gilchrist who scored 12 of his 17 points. With 8 of those coming in the 4th quarter. When he had the ball, good thing happened for the Highwayman. He either got to the basket or left it for Shomari Barber (6 pts. 6 rebs.) or Jonathan Blue (12pts. 8 rebs.). Gilchrist layup gave  Teaneck its first lead 37-35 with 1:49 in the 3rd. St. Joe’s tied it on a Joe Efese (9 pts. 7 rebs.) basket as the 3rd ended at 37. The 4th quarter was back and forth with Mike Marchman (12 pts.), will Giles (6 pts.), Andrew Belizaire (5 pts. 8 rebs), Kai Dominguez (7 pts.) and Efese all making big baskets for St. Joe’s. The game was not decided until Teaneck’s Owen Barnes free throw with 8.1 seconds. St. Joe’s had one last chance but could not get a shot off at the end.