Wayne……..Senior Ky’re Jackson, Junior DeAndre Noble and Senior David Burgos combined for 49 points to lead Eastside to a 65-60 win over Passaic County Tech! All county guard Brandon James made his comeback for Tech after being out a month due to a torn ligament in his thumb! He started the game with a”triple” but got in foul trouble and had to sit the majority of the 1st half! Eastside took a 6 point lead 28-22 into the half as they held the ball for 1:51 seconds at the end of the 2nd quarter because Tech would not come out of a zone defense! The Ghosts ended the quarter as Noble hit a baseline jumper with 2 seconds on the clock! Tech kept making runs in the 2nd half but each time Eastside held them off! P.C.T. put in star guard Xavier Nieves who for some unknown reason didn’t play the 1st half but even that wasn’t going to keep the Ghosts from achieving their goal! Junior Shackquiel Scott help cut the lead to 56-53 on a put back dunk, but Eastside kept them at bay behind Burgos who controlled the game at the point and helped make the game easy for his teammates! Burgos(#10) filled the stat sheet up with 14 points,9 assists and 5 rebounds while Jackson(#21) finished with 18 points and 6 rebounds and Noble(#3) added 17 points and 6 boards! James led the scoring along with Sophomore Isaac Williams with 13 points and Scott scored 11 points and grabbed 8 rebounds for Tech! 

Ramapo College………..The Bergen County Jamboree Quarterfinals had a little bit of everything! A game winning shot, a big upset, a great individual 4th quarter and a strong team effort! So with that, Hackensack, Pascack Valley, Don Bosco Prep and Teaneck will all play next Sunday at Ramapo College in the semifinals:

                             Hackensack  59       Pascack Hills  55

In the best and most exciting game of the day, Hackensack put an end to Pascack Hills undefeated record as Sophomore Chris Myer’s layup from the left side with 2 seconds on the clock lifted the Comets to a 59-55 win over the Cowboys! Pascack Hills and Hackensack went back and fourth going nip and tuck as Hackensack took an 11 point lead in the 3rd quarter only to see Pascack Hills cut the lead to 43-41 at the end of the quarter! The Cowboys then took a 3 point lead late in the 4th and watched The Comets come back! Senior Bright Mensah(9 points and pictured bottom) who battled so hard he got big cut in face stole a cross court pass with 45 seconds on the clock which set the stage for Myers(top right)! He ran the clock down and crossed over to his left where he put up a runner over an out stretched hand for the go ahead and game winning basket! After Pascack Hills threw the ball away, Freshman Rashard Figures who also had a huge game finished the scoring with 2 free throws for the final score! Figures(middle right) was outstanding from the perimeter leading Hackensack in scoring with 22 points, including a big fade away”triple”from the top of the key! Myers finished with 11 points and 5 assists! Pascack Hills who now fall to 20-1 was led by Senior Chet Palumbo with 19 points and Senior Steve Zurich who added 10 points and 12 rebounds!

                             Pascack Valley  60     Paramus Catholic  50

With the score tied at the half at 20, most people would think that it would be defending Jamboree champion Paramus Catholic that would come out in the 2nd half ready to go! Instead it was Pascack Valley that brought the intensity as they got their offense together and pulled out a surprising 60-50 win over P.C. Senior Eric Buchsbaum(right) led P.V. with 25 points, 11 coming from the foul line and Senior Matt Miele(bottom right) who scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds! Paramus Catholic could never get a rhythm in the game as foul trouble did nothing to help their cause! P.V. took control of the game at the end of the 3rd 38-30 and went up by as much as 16 in the 4th! Sophomore Elijah Davis and Senior Manny Hernandez each gave a strong effort in the loss with 18 and 16 points a piece and Hernandez’s 7 steals!

                             Don Bosco Prep  58    Tenafly  48

Don Bosco Prep took an early 13-2 lead to end the 1st, then Tenafly got themselves together to make a game out of it! After going at it for three quarters Prep took a one point lead 27-26 into the 4th!Each team was looking for someone to step up and Prep got him in Junior guard Jemal Mosley! The 6’0 Mosley(on right) scored 19 of his 26 points in the 4th quarter enroute to Prep’s 58-48 win over Tenafly! D.B.P. scored more points in the 4th than they did the entire game! Mosley had his way off the dribble and when he didn’t get it done Junior Leonte Carroo(on left) helped out including two breakaway dunks as he finished the contest with 18 points himself! Tenafly was led by Junior Chris Orozco and Sophomore Steve Sobo with 15 points a piece!

                                  Teaneck  63         Old Tappan  42

Teaneck Junior Chris Jones and Sophomore Joel Hernandez combined for 33 points as Teaneck took a 14-9 1st quarter lead and never looked back in a 63-42 win over Old Tappan! Jones finished with 17 points while Hernandez(pictured) finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds! Old Tappan was led by Senior point guard Shane McLaughlin who scored 20 points and grabbed 5 rebounds! Junior Dan Brogan added 10 for Old Tappan!

NOTES:  Teaneck will meet Hackensack while Pascack Valley goes against Don Bosco Prep next Sunday at Ramapo College! 

Paterson……..While no team shot the lights out of the ball, Wayne Valley,Kennedy,Eastside and West Milford all gutted out wins in the Passaic County Tournament Quarterfinals! Eastside will face West Milford and Wayne Valley goes up against Kennedy at Kennedy Highschool next Saturday:

                              Eastside 40    Passaic Valley 34

Senior David Burgos made a big “triple”and another bucket late in the contest to help Eastside advance to the Semifinals in a 40-34 win over Passaic Valley! The game was slow paced in the 1st half as P.V. held a 15-11 halftime lead! Eastside picked it up in the 2nd half, going to a fullcourt press and creating some turnovers and outscoring Valley 16-7 in the 3rd quarter to take a 27-22 lead! The game was back and fourth in the 4th with Eastside finally taking control behind the late play of Burgos(top right)! He finished the game with 13 points and 5 assists! Senior Carl Barrett(bottom right) knocked down 3 huge”triples” in the game to finish with 9 points, while Senior Najee Seabrooks and Sophomore Quatier Jackson each made a big difference down low for the Ghosts! Senior Dave Clough led Passaic Valley with 11 points and 6 rebounds while Senior Nick DiCristina added 10! 

                            West Milford  48      Wayne Hills  37

Senior’s Connor Healy and Tyler Coyle hit big free throws late and West Milford’s defense in the 4th quarter helped get passed a game Wayne Hills team 48-37! West Milford led early, but Hills behind the play of Senior’s Matt Heskins and Mike Driesse came back to take a 32-31 lead at the end of the 3rd quarter! West Milford preceded to hold Wayne Hills to 6 fourth quarter points, while scoring 17 themselves! Healy made 2 layups to give them the lead for good and Wayne Hills had trouble putting the ball in the basket! Healy(top right) led the scoring for West Milford with 16 points and 5 rebounds while Tyler Coyle(bottom right) added 11 points, 7 rebounds and 4 steals! Heskins and Driesse each scored 15 points for Wayne Hills!

                                   Kennedy  47              DePaul  42

 When you talk about a Kennedy win,more than likely the story is about Senior’s Dawon Lighty and Jhamir White! But this day was about Senior Kaheem Davis and Junior Jamarr Ellerbee! While DePaul did a great job of neutralizing Lighty and White, Kennedy needed another option! they found two as the 1st half  Ellerbee kept them in the game and in the 2nd half Davis took them home! DePaul led most of the game behind the play of Junior Davon Jacobs, Junior Nafee Lighty and Sophomore Joshua Marquez! The 1st half DePaul led 19-17 but Ellerbee(top right) had 8 of Kennedy’s 17 to keep them close! With points hard to come by for both teams, the extra effort of each squad was going to be the difference! In the 4th quarter it was Davis(bottom right) who made a couple putbacks and knocked down a few free throws on offense and was intimidating on defense! White joined in late by making free throws  and finished with 10 points! Ellerbee led the scoring for Kennedy with 14 points,while Davis scored 13 points,grabbed 9 rebounds and blocked 5 shots! Jacobs finished with 14 points and 9 rebounds for DePaul while Marquez added 10 points,4 rebounds and 3 assists! Mas Aronson scored 9 points and Nafee had 7 points,6 rebounds and 4 blocked shots!

                   Wayne Valley 45      Passaic County Tech  34

Wayne Valley slowed down the tempo and put Passaic Tech to sleep and when P.C.T. woke up it was all over and Valley had a 45-34 upset victory! P.C.T could never get it going as Wayne Valley methodically ran their sets and played a half court game against a team that wanted to pick up the tempo! Senior Andrew Herasimtchuk(top right) played big for Wayne Valley scoring 18 points and pulling down 13 boards! Junior Jay Mustafa(bottom right) scored 11 points,dished out 6 assists and grabbed 5 rebounds as Valley took control in the 3rd quarter pushing the lead to eight 33-25 at the end of the stanza and withstanding any mini comeback Tech would try! Only Junior Shackquiel Scott  seemed to have energy for P.C.T. scoring 11 points with 8 rebounds and 3 blocked shots and throwing down two follow up dunks off misses that still could not ignite the Bulldogs!

NOTE: No team scored 50 points in their contest in the four games played! Now i’m not sure but can’t believe that has ever happened in modern day Passaic County Tournament games where there was four games in the day! Somebody had to give 50!