IZOD CENTER…….It was finally done, and the journey has ended! It finished with  St. Anthony(right) capturing the Tournament Of Champions with a 61-49 win over a game and talented Plainfield team and more importantly, winning the Mythical #1 Team in the Country status! The Friars were led once again by Senior Myles Mack and Junior Kyle Anderson! Mack, the Rutgers recruit finished his highschool career in style scoring 17 points with 4 assists and 4 steals and Anderson scored 17 points, dished out 8 dimes and grabbed 6 rebounds! Plainfield was in the game the entire way as St.Anthony led most of the the game, but never got a comfortable lead until 6:11 of the 4th quarter 47-36 on a “triple”by Mack off a feed from Anderson! Plainfield fought back on a jumper from Junior Jahmal Lane and a”triple”from Junior Sekou Harris that cut the lead to 47-41 with 4:14 left in the contest! St. Anthony went up by 10 with 2:57 left, but again Plainfield fought back to 6 on a Harris field goal 53-47! The Friars last run proved to be the dagger as Anderson(right) made 2 free throws and Junior Jerome Frink scored two buckets and Mack(left) finished the scoring with a layup at the buzzer! The “W” gave St. Anthony it’s 11th T.O.C. championship in 23 years and 4th mythical championship in their illustrious history! Frink added 11 points and 5 rebounds and Senior Lucious Jones chipped in with 8 points and 6 boards! Senior Jordan Quick scored 6 points including a huge”triple”in the 3rd quarter after Plainfield had cut the lead to 3! Harris (left)led Plainfield with 19 points, while Junior Jahmal Lane added 12 points and 9 rebounds and Junior Justin Sears had 10 points and 8 rebounds! St. Anthony finished the season 33-0, while Plainfield finished 24-9!

Monmouth University……….After a long tough season, it boils down to this! Plainfield, the Group 3 State Champs against St. Anthony, the Non-Public B State Champs and #1 Team in the country for the Tournament of Champions at the Izod Center monday! Plainfield got there by giving it to Non-Public A champion St. Augustine 50-40! Junior Dijon Allen-Jordan(right)led Plainfield with 13 points and 9 rebounds, Junior Sekou Harris(left), though not shooting as well as usual added 11 points and 7 assists and Junior Jahmal Lane came off the bench to score 12 points and add 7 boards! The game wasn’t as close as the score as Plainfield was in command the entire contest and held Marist bound point guard Isaiah Morton to 10 points on 3 of 20 from the floor! They led at the half 18-10 in a slow 1st half, but took complete control in the 3rd, leading 34-17 at the end of the quarter! St. Augustine finished the season 28-3, while Plainfield who are playing at a high level are at 21-8! St. Anthony beat Newark Central,the Group 2 State champions 55-39 in a game which was close most of the way,but still seemed well in hand! After being in foul trouble early, Junior Kyle Anderson(right) scored 15 points and helped St. Anthony take over the game 43-29 to end the 3rd! Senior Lucious Harris also scored 15 points and grabbed 7 rebounds and Rutgers recruit Myles Mack(left) added 13 points, with 3 assists and 3 steals! Senior Patrick Cole led Newark Central with 13 points and 6 rebounds! St. Anthony is one game away from becoming the mythical #1 team in the country! Only the hard nose play of Plainfield is in the way!

Toms River…….. For three quarters, it looked like Eastside was going to see St. Anthony in the Semifinals of the T.O.C. The Ghosts were having their way against a tough Newark Central team and after leading by as much as 10 with over 6 minutes left seemed to be in control! But then Newark Central did to Eastside what the Ghosts had done to teams in their previous four games on their way to the Group 4 State championship! Newark Central which pulled off a stunning 73-67 win,created turnovers and Eastside went cold from the field as well as the foul line and the Blue Devils came all the way back and after trailing the entire game, finally tied it at 59 with 24.3 seconds left in the 4th quarter on a “triple” from Junior guard Brandon Waiters! That forced the game into overtime! After Senior David Burgos found Junior DeAndre Noble underneath for a layup to give Eastside a 61-59 lead, Newark Central, behind the play of Senior guard Patrick Coles(pictured) went on a 13-0 run to make the score 72-61! Cole’s “triple” and runner on Newark Central’s next two possession’s started the run, finally getting their first lead of the contest in O.T. Eastside could not find anymore magic to overcome it! Coles finished the game with 15 points(12 coming in the fourth and O.T.), while Newark Central’s big men Ramon Johnson and Kameen McPleasant led the scoring for the Blue Devils with 16 and 19 points respectively! McPleasant also grabbed 10 rebounds! Eastside was led by Burgos who was spectacular in the game, with 22 points, 6 assists and 2 steals and Noble with 21 points,9 rebounds and 7 steals! The Ghosts capped off their great season as the first Passaic County team in 82 years to participate in the T.O.C.

NOTES: Hoop Journal would like to acknowledge the season’s of Eastside Senior’s Najee Seabrooks, Nashian Brimley,Carl Barrett, Ky’re Jackson and Burgos! Seabrook’s came in late in the year and quickly established himself as an enforcer and a terror on the defensive end! He helped stabilized the middle for Eastside! Brimley was a defensive stopper for the Ghost who did all the dirty work! He has quick hands and seemed to be all around the ball! Barrett(left) was the team’s perimeter player who was streaky, but when he was hot could really stroke it! Ky’re was a shock in the fact that he did not even play basketball last year and got better and better as the year went on this season! Jackson(top right) was part of the triple threat scorers with Burgos and Noble! He was the post guy and improved that part of his game every day! David Burgos(bottom right) was like a Comet that fell from the sky for Eastside! His whirlwind season was stuff of dreams as he became the leader and catalyst of this team that shocked everyone to a Group 4 State Championship and a T.O.C. appearance and he will be seen on the D1 level next year! This his been great covering the Ghosts this season! Hoops Journal would like to give all the Props to these senior’s and their phenomenal year!

                          Plainfield 68       Asbury Park  35

Plainfield has a strong Junior class and they showed Asbury Park what it looks like! They blew out Asbury Park 68-35 as Junior’s Sekou Harris, Dijon Allen Jordan and Justin Sears all played very well! Harris finished with 13 points and 3 assists, Jordan added 11 points and Sears finished with 8 points and 15 rebounds! they play St.Augustine at Monmouth College on Friday! Maurice Dickerson led Asbury with 14 points!