Hudson Catholic 6’1 Swingman  Kyle McLeggan has decided to play his Collegiate basketball at Division 2 powerhouse Adelphi University! McLeggan had a few offers but liked Adelphi the best particularly the fact that his family can still see him play with it’s close proximity! McLeggan is a superior athlete who has a strong body and can also shoot the rock! Hoop Journal would like to congratulate Kyle, his father Michael McLeggan, mother Teresa Taylor and sisters Jordan McLeggan, Taykor Hart and Yasmine Taylor Hart on his choice and hope for nothing but the best in the future!!

The Hudson County Tournament Semifinals will be played at St. Peters University February 19th and pits Hudson Catholic vs. Bayonne and Marist vs. St. Peters Prep!

The Matchups:

#1 Seed  Hudson Catholic—– It’s no secret that Hudson Catholic is the favorite to win the Tournament, but on paper doesn’t win games! The Hawks are talented and deep, especially at the guard position! They are led by 6’8 Georgetown commit Reggie Cameron(right)! He averages close to 24 points a game and shoots close to 50% from the three line! The backcourt is their strength led by Robert Morris commit Senior Kavon Stewart who averages close to 9 assists a game and Sophomore Stud Nassir Barrino who is one of the best on the ball defenders in the State! Recent Adelphi commit Kyle McLeggan and recent 1,000 point scorer Jared Hall will take some of the scoring load off Cameron! Junior Safee Sabur and Sophomore’s Adam Traore and Sammy Friday are the frontcourt help!

#4 Seed  Bayonne—- The Bees pulled a minor upset by defeating Snyder in the Quarterfinals 65-64! They are playing well and have won 7 straight games! they come into the game with no fear and confident! They are a balanced team with 4 players in double figures! Senior Gary Gaston(13.0), Senior Desmen Richardson(12.9), Senior Biaggio Cancro(11.0) and Junior Quadri Calloway(11.0) all can get it going and 6’8 Sophomore Mohammed Bendary is strong on the glass averaging 11 boards a game! 

# 2 Seed  St. Peters Prep—— Prep can play! Well enough to win it! They go as their backcourt goes and that means that St. Peters University commit Senior Trevis Wyche and Junior Austin White(both pictured) must play at a high level! Senior Sean Cummings and Junior Victor Jusino! the one thing you can count on about Prep is they come to play and they go hard all the time! If you not prepared they can get you! Their 5 losses this season have all came against highly ranked teams so they are used to playing high level competition! 

#3 Seed Marist—–Marist has the best big man in the league in 6’10 Fordham recruit Senior Manny Suarez(middle picture)! The post player averages 18 points a game and 13 boards and swats about 6 shots a game! Senior Jaron Smith is their other scorer averaging close to 16 points a game and 6 assists! They lost a close one to Prep earlier in the season so each team is familiar with the other! Senior Tony White and Senior Devyn Ransom are key contributors to the Marist attack!

Ramapo College, Mahwah, N.J…… In the Bergen County Jamboree #1 Teaneck and #2 Hackensack will get it on in the Finals!

                                                                       #2 HACKENSACK  64       #6 ST. JOSEPH  58

St. Joseph came to win and for 3 and a half quarters they were primed to make it happen! But Hackensack woke up just in time! Junior Rashard Figures(right) scored 19 of his 20 points in the 2nd half and Senior Chris Myers(left) scored on a three point play with 4:42 to play that gave the Comets a 52-49 lead!Hackensack picked up the defensive pressure in the 4th and Joe’s did not do a good job of handling it! St. Joseph guard Kiy Hester did an outstanding job defending Figures in the 1st half but Rashard got it going in the 2nd half! He also contributed 5 assists! Myers who scored 12 points also dished out 7 assists and his alley- oop to Figures late in the 4th was a game breaker!  Senior Jaimik Moore scored a couple late buckets and finished with 13 points and 6 rebounds!St. Joseph’s was led by Senior Pat Mensah with 15 points and 8 rebounds, while Hester and Junior Quai Jefferson each had 9 points in the game!

                                                                                  #1 TEANECK  73     #20 ST. MARY 51

St. Mary fought hard and went into the 2nd half leading 31-29! With Senior Joel Hernandez playing in his first game after coming off an ankle injury Teaneck was out of sync and needed someone to step up until they could get into an offensive rhythm! That someone was Junior guard Lavrone Green-Reels! Green-Reels(right) came off the bench to score 23 points, including 5″triples”! His play kept Teaneck close until they got it together in the 2nd half as the Highwaymen went on a 20-1 run in the 3rd to take complete control of the game! Hernandez took over as he finished with 20 points and 7 rebounds! Senior Shakir Lindsey had 5 steals and 10 points as Teaneck held St. Mary scoreless for 6:00 minutes of the 3rd quarter! Senior point guard Shawn Johnson finished with 15 points to lead St.Mary! Senior Connor Cuccinelli finished with 13 points and 7 rebounds and Junior Keith Bacote scored 11 points for St. Mary!