If this is a preview of the Passaic County tournament, it should be something special as Paterson Catholic, Eastside H.S., and Kennedy H.S. all won their Freedom Fighters Challenge game which celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King’s National holiday. All three teams gave a reason why they could win the tournament next month:
Kennedy Highschool showed the true makeup of the kind of team they have. Lockdown defense! The Knight’s pressure defense was a problem for Paramus Catholic’s guards all game as they defended from baseline to baseline in route to an easy 58-42 win. Kennedy forced over 20 turnovers and had three people score in double figures. Asmar Edwards 6 steals along with his 14 points led the way for Kennedy. He, Antoine Alexander (12 pts., 3 stls.), Shondel Stewart (11 pts.) were the other double figure scorers and Dawon Lighty contributed 8, including a break away dunk in the 4th quarter. The lone bright spot for Paramus Catholic was 6′ 6″ sophomore Justin Harris who finished with 18 points and 8 rebounds.
Jayon James scored 22 points and sophomore Myles Mack added 20,including 4 threes as Paterson Catholic took a 24-8 first quarter lead and coasted to a 88-36 win against Hawthorne Highschool. Fuquan Edwin finished with 14 points and Jermaine Peart was the other player in double figures with 11. P.C. also got nice contributions from T.J. Clemmings, Jamir White and freshman Kyle Anderson. Hawthorne’s Bob Velasquez scored 17 of Hawthorne’s 36 points in a tough effort by him.