Kennedy H.S., Paterson,New Jersey…….The Playaz Basketball Club sponsored Fallball League is by far one of the best leagues in the State, with some of the best talent and teams involved! Concluding it’s 5th year, the league more than met expectations as the Wednesday Fallball “Chip” went to the Gray Bees and the Monday Fallball”Chip” went to the Essex County Raiders! The Gray Bees beat the Hudson Hawks 79-71 as University of Miami commit Melvin Johnson scored 27 points and was the game M.V.P.! The contest was back and fourth as Hudson’s Junior’s Reggie Cameron and Mike Young help keep it close! But Junior Tyler Ennis and Freshman Isaiah Briscoe complimented Johnson by making big plays late! Briscoe finished with 17 points and Ennis added 16! Cameron scored 25 for the Hawks, while Young finished with 21 points! These two teams made it to the finals by winning semifinal games earlier in the evening! The Gray Bees beat the Somerset County’s Best 76-69 as Johnson and Ennis each scored 18 points, while Briscoe finished with 16! Somerset were led by Junior Jaren Sina with 30 points,including 6″triples” Senior Alex Mottola with 17 points and Senior Dominic Hoffman’s 13! the Hawks reached the final game by holding off the Bergen Highwaymen 77-66! Bergen cut an 18 point halftime deficit down to 2 but the Hawks made a late run to win comfortably! Young led the scoring with a dominating 27 points! Junior Kavon Stewart finished with 16 points, Cameron scored 15 points and Junior Raekwon Kelly chipped in 10!

               The Essex County Raiders final game came against crosstown rival Essex Terriors and the game was played as if it was in the backyard with an abundance of emotion throughout! The Raiders won 64-50 going away as Senior Jamal Reed led the scoring with 16 points and Senior Aaron Boddie, who was the game M.V.P. scored 12 points and showed an incredible amount of athleticism! Junior Jarrett Hall was the only Terriors player that played well scoring 17 points in the game! The Raiders reached the finals by coming back from a 15 point deficit to beat the Bergen Comets as Boddie scored 26 points and Reed added 17! Bergen was led by Junior’s Chris Myers and Eugene Marshall with 17 a piece while Sophomore Rashard Figures chipped in 16! The Terriors cruised past the Silk City Knights 64-43! Hall and Senior Yekeh Abel each scored 16 points in the game while the Knights were led with 13 points by Hassan Townes! 

Kennedy H.S., Paterson,N.J……. The Playaz Fallball Monday and Wednesday Leagues Semifnal teams have been decided and while most of the games were as expected, their was one major upset with an asterick! In the Wednesday portion of the playoffs the upset game was between the Bergen Highwaymen and the Reebok’s Back! Reebok came in the favorite but were without the servicesof their three D1 players Kyle Anderson, Jimmy Hall and Jerome Frink! And that was all the opportunity that the Highwaymen needed! Junior Shakir Lindsey’s “triple”put Bergen up for good and his steal iced the game in a 48-43 win! Lindsey finished with 12 points as did Junior Joel Hernandez(pictured right)! Senior Chris Jones added 11 for the Highwaymen! Reebok were led by Senior Rashard Andrews with 11 points and Junior Josh Brown with 10! The Highwaymen will meet the Hudson Hawks who won a barn burner against St. Raymond’s 54-48! Junior’s Mike Young and Reggie Cameron scored 15 points each to lead the Hawks! The game went down to the wire as Young(top left) made a beautiful post move to put them ahead, Junior Kavon Stewart made a layup late and Cameron(right) finished the scoring with a couple of free throws! Senior Daniel Dingle who played a spirited game scored 14 points to lead Rays! Senior Nkereuwem Okoro added 12 points! In the other Wednesday Playoff games the Gray Bees outstanding Freshman Isaiah Briscoe(bottom left) scored 20 points to lead them to a 43-23 win over the Paterson Spirits! Senior DeAndre Noble led the Spirits with 13 points! The Gray Bees will meet the Somerset County’s Best as they cruised to 41-20 win over the Paramus Paladins as Senior Alex Mottola scored 17 points, including 4″ triples”! Sophomore Jalen Hernandez scored 6 points for Paramus! The semis will be played for these teams at 6:30 pm Wednesday!

             The Monday League Playoffs were decided with four games tonight with all games being decided early! Higher seeds won all the contests as the Essex Terriors behind Junior Duane Merrill’s 12 points and Junior Jarrett Hall’s(left) 11 points handled the Hawthorne Defenders 48-28! Senior Paul Little and Sophomore Alex Thomas each scored 8 points for the Defenders! The Terriors will meet the Silk City Knights in one semifinal as they defeated the Sparta Minutemen 65-26! Senior Gary Simpson scored 15 points and Senior Sammy Singletary added 14 points to lead the Knights! Senior Jaquan Bryant led the Minutemen with 6 points! The other semifinal game will pit the Bergen Comets against the Essex County Raiders! The Comets beat the Union City Players 58-35 as they had a balanced attack with four players in double figures as Sophomore Rashard Figures(right) and Junior Jamiek Moore each had 12 points and Senior Mershan Monroe and Junior Eugene Marshall had 11 points apiece! Senior Savon Williams scored 14 points for the Players! The Essex County Raiders blew out the Englewood Force 40-17 as Senior Aaron Boddie led the scoring with 14 points! The semifinals will be played at 5:30pm Wednesday! Championship will be the same night for both leagues at 8:00pm!  

Kennedy H.S., Paterson, N.J……. The Playaz Club Sponsored Fallball League will come to it’s conclusion this week as the playoffs begin Monday and the semifinals and “Chip” will be played Wednesday! First round games start at 5:00pm as the Monday night teams play with the #1 seed Essex Terriors playing the #8 seeded Hawthorne Defenders,#2 Bergen Comets vs. #7 Union City Players! 6:00pm #3 Essex County Raiders vs. #6 Englewood Force and #4 Silk City Knights vs. #5 Sparta Minutemen! The Wednesday night teams start at 7:00 featuring #1 Seed Reebok’s Back vs. #8 seed Bergen Highwaymen, #2 Gray Bees vs.#7 seed Paterson Spirits and the last games of the night will be #3 Somerset’s Best vs.#6 Paramus Paladins and #4 Hudson Hawks vs. #5 St. Raymond’s!