Passaic County Tech, Wayne,N.J…. It has been established that Kennedy has two go to guys! Senior Hassan Townes and Freshman Alphonso Gee have established themselves early in the year as the players that the Knights rely on the most! But in order to be a team that competes at the end of the season your role players have to give major contributions! Kennedy beat Passaic County Tech behind the play of their role players! The play of Senior Justin Kinchen, Sophomore Jaloni Morris and Senior Jamire Grant proved to be the difference for Kennedy as Kinchen(right) changed the game in the 3rd quarter on both ends of the floor, Morris(center) made key plays throughout and made up for the loss of Gee(fouled out) in the middle of the 4th and Grant(left) scored all of his points in a minute and a half  spurt late in the game to give Kennedy the lead for good! Kinchen scored 11 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and made a huge block late to help secure the win! Morris acored 13 points and Grant’s 7 points were the most important as his “triple” gave Kennedy a 61-56 lead with 2:06 left and his two free throws iced it! Gee led Kennedy with 16 points and Townes finished with 13 points, 7 rebounds, 4assists and 5 steals! Kennedy had to overcome  P.C.T.Senior Isaac Williams 25 points and 4 steals, Junior Zaheem Beal’s 10 and Senior Kori Haggie who was tough on the boards finishing with 13! 

Eastside H.S., Paterson, N.J…. Sophomore Asem Johnson(pictured) scored 14 of his career high 20 points in the 1st half as Eastside took a commanding 35-19 lead and never looked back in a convincing 68-47 win! Johnson scored on an assortment of moves down low and showed a knack for being around the basketball! Things were made alot easier for Johnson with the help of one of the best backcourts in the area in Senior’s Jetor Brown and Tommy Rivera! The smooth stroke Brown scored 17 points on numerous jumpers. while Rivera chipped in 11, while dishing out 6 dimes and 3 steals and being all over the court! They also got a strong showing from Junior Quincy Jones, who scored 9 points and grabbed 8 boards! Passaic was led by Senior Gervon Williams with 12 points!! 

      The Playaz Sponsored 7th Annual New Years Jumpoff Event will take place at Hackensack Highschool Sunday January 6th!  The four games feature some of the best talent in New Jersey with committed Division 1 players and mid and high major underclassmen prospects! The games start at 2:00pm with Hackensack going against Medford Tech! The 3:30pm game features the #1 ranked team in the State St. Anthony vs a talented Newark Eastside! The 5:00pm game features the #4 ranked team in the State in Hudson Catholic who will face Pope John with the #1 ranked player in the State, Jermaine Lawrence! The final contest features St. Benedicts who will be fighting for the mythical #1 ranking in the country vs. Teaneck, who backs down to No One! 

Featured Players Participating:

HACKENSACK—- RASHARD FIGURES( JR.)  CHRIS MYERS

MEDFORD TECH—–ELIJAH CAIN( JR.)

ST. ANTHONY—- JOSH BROWN( TEMPLE)  HALLICE COOKE (OREGON ST.) TIM COLEMAN(NJIT)

NEWARK EASTSIDE—-ISMAEL SONAGO   AKBAR HOFFMAN

HUDSON CATHOLIC—–REGGIE CAMERON (GEORGETOWN)  KAVON STEWART (ROBERT MORRIS)

POPE JOHN—-JERMAINE LAWRENCE(#21 RANKED 2013)  BRYCE AIKENS (FR.) MOUSTAPHA DIAGNE( SOPH.)

TEANECK—JOEL HERNANDEZ   SHAKIR LINDSEY

ST.BENEDICTS—-MIKE YOUNG (PITTSBURGH)  TYLER ENNIS (SYRACUSE) ISAIAH BRISCOE (TOP 25 2015)