Paramus……….Paramus Catholic couldn’t have wanted it any other way! Their wing man scored, big man scored and rebounded, point guard dropped dimes and their defensive stopper locked down in their 59-40 victory over Bergen Catholic in the North 1 Non Public A state contest! Sophomore Elijah Davis(the wing,left) led P.C. with 21 points, while Senior Justin Harris(the bigman,right) dropped in 14 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, Sophomore Tommy Rivera(the point) scored 10 points, dished out 8 dimes and had 5 steals and Senior Manny Hernandez(the defensive stopper) did a great job on the defensive side of the ball as B.C. struggled from the field the entire game! the game was in doubt the 1st half as P.C. held a slight 27-22 lead! The 2nd half was all Paramus Catholic as they slowly took total control of the game behind Hernandez’s(#44) defense and Rivera’s(#4) passing! With the score 43-31 at the end of the 3rd, Bergen Catholic did not score for the first 4:00 minutes of the 4th quarter! The game was well decided by then! B.C. had no one in double figures as Senior Eric Flanagan led with 9 points and Senior Mark Richards finished with 8! Paramus Catholic will now face Seton Hall Prep in the next round!

NOTES: Hoop Journal would like to congratulate Senior’s Mark Richard(pictured), Eric Flanagan and Maurice Grant on their highschool scholastic careers with Bergen Catholic! The trio has contributed to a lot of winning during their basketball careers at B.C. and here’s hoping for continued success on the next level! All three have enough game to continue playing this game! Richard finished with a 13.1 points per game average,while Flanagan averaged 11.7 and Grant 10.4!

Wayne……..Senior Xavier Nieves scored 14 points and Sophomore Isaac Williams made two free throws with 12.2 seconds in the game to give Passaic County Tech a 49-46 win over Passaic in a North1 Group4 State playooff game! Sophomore Isaac Williams put Tech ahead 45-44 on a layup, but Passaic’s Senior Shakir Rhodes made a layup to put Passaic up 46-45! Nieves(right) then made a layup to put Tech back ahead 47-46! Tech Junior Assaad Hinton then played tough defense to force a turnover and Sophomore Isaac Williams connected on the two free throws to make it 49-46! Rhodes desperation three went off the glass and Tech held on and will play Kennedy Wednesday! Rhodes led Passaic with 14 points! Kennedy beat Morris Knolls 64-47 behind Dawon Lighty’s 24 points to advance to the next round!

Bloomfield………Junior DeAndre Noble’s rebound putback at the buzzer lifted Eastside to a 59-58 win in the first round of the North1 Group4 State basketball tournament! Noble(right) grabbed a missed shot by Najee Seabrooks and got the shot off right before the buzzer sounded! The game was close and exciting from start to finish as Bloomfield kept the lead most of the contest! Sophomore’s Isaiah Dockett(bottom right) and Jameel Patterson and Senior Lindon Lulgjaraj led the way for Bloomfield most of the game! Dockett was getting to the basket, Patterson came off the bench to give energy and Lulgjaraj was knocking down jumpers as the home crowd was hyped! But Eastside always stayed within striking distance, behind the play of Senior David Burgos, Senior Ky’re Jackson and Senior Carl Barrett! The game went down to the last moments as Dockett’s two free throws put Bloomfield ahead 56-55 with 41.9 seconds on the clock, but Barrett’s layup with 32.8 gave Eastside a one point lead! Eastside got the ball back, but after Noble missed two free throws, Bloomfield’s Jaleel Jiminez made a driving layup with 5.9 seconds on the clock! That set the stage for  Noble’s heroics as Nashian Brimley got the ball at half court, fed Seabrooks who took the jumper where Noble who was the in bounder was able to come all the way down the court and make the final play! Burgos led Eastside in scoring with 15 points,6 rebounds and 5 assists while Noble and Jackson each had 13 points and Barrett finished with 12! Dockett was the games high scorer with 16 points for Bloomfield who looks like an up and coming team next year, Lulgjaraj had 14 points and Patterson  finished with 12!