St. Peters College, Jersey City, N.J…..For the first time since 1975, Hudson Catholic took home the Hudson County Championship! They did it the right way, defeating the 4 time defending champion St. Peters Prep 67-53 and winning their 19th straight game! Prep strategy was to box and one Junior Reggie Cameron and keep him from getting off! Well Cameron(bottom right) did just enough as he shot 7 for 11 from the floor for 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds! His 11 first half points led the Hawks early and when he got into foul trouble in the second half Junior Mike Young(bottom left) took over, scoring 14 of his 16 points in the 2nd half! He also grabbed 14 boards! Cameron and Young were far from the only Hawks to play well as it started when Junior Kavon Stewart(10pts,10asts) picked up his second foul in the 1st quarter and sat the entire half! Junior Travis Flagg(7asts), Freshman Nassir Barrino and Junior Kyle McLeggan made up for the lost of Stewart! Then wings Raekwon Kelly(11pts) and Grant Ellis(6pts,5asts) put their mark on the contest! Hudson Catholic took a 49-33 lead into the 4th quarter as Stewart came back to ignite them in the 3rd! The last time Hudson Catholic won the County final former pro players Jim Spanarkel and Mike O’Koren were leading the squad! Junior Sean Cummings led St.Peters Prep with 18 points, while Sophomore Austin White had 17 and Junior Trevis Wyche added 11! Senior Tyrone O’Garro was held to a free throw in the game!

Wayne Valley H.S., Wayne, N.J…… Senior DeAndre Noble Haywood and Eastside was not going to let what happened to them last year happen again! Last year the Ghosts let the County title slip away to Kennedy Highschool, but this year they were focused from the beginning to the end of the game as they beat DePaul 61-41! It marked Eastside’s 8th title and first one since 2004! Noble-Haywood(1500 WGHT player of game) scored 15 of his 26 points in the 1st half as nothing came less than 12 feet from the basket! The game was tight for two quarters as Eastside held a 27-21 halftime lead but scored the first 5 points of the 3rd quarter to take an 11 point lead! They then went up 37-23 on a”triple” from Junior Jetor Brown(9pts) and made DePaul chase the rest of the contest! Senior Ky’re Jackson didn’t put up big numbers but finished with 9 points and 9 rebounds and did a good job on DePaul Senior Davon Jacobs! Sophomore Juwuan Carter showed he will be a player to be reckoned with stepping up on the big stage to have 17 points,6 rebounds,4 steals and a breakaway dunk that tied the score early at 16 for DePaul! Junior Josh Marquez finished with 16 points for DePaul and Jacobs was held to 7 but grabbed 10 rebounds! 

Pompton Lakes H.S. has had a tough year this season, but one person who can not be blamed is Senior Larry Gelok! His perseverance has enabled him to reach the 1,000 point plateau! Gelok got his mark against Hawthorne Christian Friday! Gelok is an outstanding athlete who has been a positive for the Cardinals program the last few years! He is also an outstanding football player! Hoop Journal would like to congratulate Larry on his tremendous  accomplishment! (pictured with Gelok, Coaches Ryan McCleary and Mike McCarthy)