Montvale,NJ…. St. Joseph’s Basketball team seems to have finally found themselves! After a spirited game against Teaneck where they fell late this Saturday, the Green Knight’s played an inspired game against Don Bosco Prep in defeating them 66-52! Junior Kiy Hester becoming eligible after sitting his 30 days has made Joe’s into more of a cohesive basketball team which was echoed by St. Joe’s Coach Mike Doherty! Hester(right) led the way against Prep by scoring 21 points, grabbing 5 rebounds and getting to the rack at will! When Prep pulled to within one 49-48 on a layup by Junior guard Paul Jorgenson, Hester hit a tough pull up to put them up 51-48! Joe’s never lost the lead! Georgia Tech football commit Ricky Jeune(left) was more than a star wide receiver as he was the backbone of St. Joe’s interior defense making it very tough for Prep’s 6’6 Junior Tom Sweeny who was held to 8 points! Jeune scored 13 points and grabbed 15 rebounds with 8 coming from the offensive end! Junior Quai Jefferson (10 pts)made free throws late for St. Joe’s to help keep Prep at bay! St. Joe’s did a lot of this with their best player Senior Pat Mensah in foul trouble! Senior Sean Kelly, Sophomore Andrew McGuire and Sophomore Patrick Dougherty gave major contributions for Joe’s! Jorgenson led Prep with 14 points and 4 assists, while Sophomore Lonnie Rivera who was impressive finished with 11 points and 8 rebounds! The win will be a huge factor in St. Joseph’s bid to get into the Bergen County Jamboree! Their record now stands at 9-7! 

Eastside HS, Paterson,NJ……The 9th annual Freedom Fighters Challenge sponsored by the Playaz Basketball Club showcased some of the areas top teams and in the end Passaic, Medford Tech, St.Peters Prep and Teaneck came away with”W’s!

                                                                                                 TEANECK  68    EASTSIDE  60

     Teaneck came into the building against an undefeated Eastside team and just like their game against Hackensack earlier in the season proved once again they are the class team of the area! Senior Joel Hernandez scored 20 points with 7 rebounds, Senior Shakir Lindsey scored 14 points and Sophomore Ceasar DeJesus(left) brought the energy with 11 points and 3 steals and pressure defense on Eastside’s tough backcourt of Senior’s Jetor Brown and Tommy Rivera! The Highwaymen matched Eastside’s halfcourt sets early. but the key stretch of the game came in the 2nd quarter when Teaneck forced Eastside into some turnovers which resulted into some easy buckets, including a fastbreak dunk by DeJesus off a Hernandez steal! Teaneck led the entire way and stretched the lead to as much as 18 in the 3rd! Eastside made runs but could never get as close as the final margin! Brown led Eastside with 19 points, Senior Selwyn Rodriguez finished with 13 and Rivera added 11 with 5 assists! Eastside fell to 9-1 while Teaneck improved to 12-2! Hernandez(pictured right) was player of the game for Teaneck, while Brown(left) was Eastside’s player of the game!

                                                             ST. PETERS PREP  59            HACKENSACK  55

     Junior Austin White scored 17 points, St. Peters University commit Trevis Wyche scored 14 points with 6 assists and 4 steals and Senior Sean Cummings added 14 points and 6 rebounds as St. Peters Prep won a close one against Hackensack 59-55! Hackensack, who played without their high scoring Junior Rashard Figures due to illness stayed close primarily because of the play of Senior Eugene Marshall who scored 12 points with 7 rebounds, Senior Chris Myers who finished with 11 points and 5 assists and Senior Jamik Moore who added 11 points! Prep got off fast, taking a 20-12 lead at the end of the 1st quarter, but the Comets closed the gap to 27-24 to end the half! St. Peters maintained the close lead the rest of the way as Wyche and Cummings hit free throws down the stretch to hold Hackensack off! White and Marshall were voted player’s of the game for their respective teams!

                                                  MEDFORD TECH   73                      KENNEDY  70

  By far the game of the day was this contest! Medford Tech, behind the tremendous shooting of Sophomore Myles Powell and Junior Elijah Cain came from behind to catch Kennedy down the stretch 73-70! Down 70-67 Medford Tech, in one possession got off five “triples” and finally had one fall as Powell banked one home to tie the game at 70! He then hit the game winning “triple to give the Jaguars the win with 9 seconds left! The shot left him with 34 points including 5 “triples”! Cain(left) also made 5″triples”on his way to 25 points! Kennedy held a close lead going into the last stanza and seemed to have the game at the end but could not get that rebound to ice it and the extra shots proved costly! Kennedy was led by Senior Hassan Townes with 17 points and 10 points a piece from Freshman Alphonso Gee, Sophomore Jeloni Morris and Senior Jamire Grant! Powell and Townes were players of game for their respective teams!

                                           PASSAIC  61      PASSAIC COUNTY TECH  58

Passaic is on a seven game winning streak and  have improved from 2-5 to 9-5 in the last two weeks! They kept it rolling in the Freedom Fighter by beating Passaic County Tech 61-53! Senior Rashaan Johnson who has picked his game up during the win streak scored 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and was the best player on the floor! Senior Aziah Miller added 13 points and Senior Matt Cancel came off the bench to hit 4″triples” and score 14 points for Passaic! The Indians took control in the 2nd half and despite P.C.T.’s efforts to come back their attempts were futile! Senior Isaac Williams led Tech with 18 points while Junior Ernesto Regaldo added 11! Johnson and Williams were players of the game for their respective teams!

Paterson,NJ…. The Playaz sponsored Freedom Fighters Hoop Challenge which is a Highschool Charity event which celebrates M.L.K. National Holiday will take place today at Eastside Highschool:

Schedule:

2:00pm    PASSAIC COUNTY TECH  VS   PASSAIC H.S

3:30pm     PATERSON KENNEDY  VS   MEDFORD TECH

5:00pm     ST. PETERS PREP  VS    HACKENSACK H.S.

6:30pm    PATERSON EASTSIDE  VS  TEANECK H.S.