Paterson Catholic Shows Character In 81-71 Win!

No one denies the talent! There’s plenty on the roster, but the memo on Paterson Catholic is ” Get grimey and they will back down.” Tonight was a different story in their 81-71 defeat of Thomas Jefferson(N.Y.) Highschool and if the Cougars come with this type of passion every night, they have a great chance to repeat as county champs. Thomas Jefferson H.S., led by senior sensation Keith Spellman took it to P.C. in the first half as they took a 12 point lead into intermission and seemed to get to every loose ball and rebound. Spellman (24 pts.,5 rebs., 5 stls.,) and junior Marcus Romain (19 pts., 4 stls.) led the first half assault for Thomas Jefferson, but as inept as they looked in the 1st half , P.C. looked that good in the 2nd. The Cougars came out like gang busters in the 3rd quarter and after a tongue lashing from coach Damon Wright, played with a sense of purpose. Fuquan Edwin (24 pts., 7 rebs.), Myles Mack (13 pts., 7 assts.), Jayon James (12 pts., 5 rebs., 5assts.) and T.J. Clemmings (12 pts., 9 rebs., 4 blks.) all played fantastic halves, with Edwin scoring his 1,000th point in the 3rd. The difference however, was dictated by the play of  6′ 6″ freshman Kyle Anderson, who took over at the point and played beyond his years. He scored 7 points and 5 assists plus blocked 3 shots. More importantly, Anderson committed only one turnover in the second half and helped initiate the ball movement as the sharing of the rock became contagious and a few times ending with an Edwin or a James layup or a Clemmings monster dunk. P.C. took a 61-60 3rd quarter lead then outscored T.J. 20-11 in the 4th. Sophomore Joel Wright finished with 15 points and 8 rebounds for Thomas Jefferson H.S.