Wayne……It took Wayne Valley an entire game to tie the score at 70 and it took Sophomore Josh Marquez 40 seconds to make it short lived as his short jumper in the lane was the game winner in a DePaul 72-70 victory! DePaul had control most of the game in the 1st half behind the play of Junior Davon Jacobs,who finished with 21 points and 5 steals, Freshman Kiy Hester(11pts) and Marquez(18pts,7rebs,6asts), but Wayne Valley kept fighting back behind the play of Sophomore Andrew Keane who had a career high 23 points and 10 rebounds, Senior Tom Larranga(13pts) and Junior Jay Mustafa who finished with 11 points and 11 assists! Down 10 at the half, Valley kept inching closer only to be matched by DePaul’s Mas Aronson who scored all 12 of his points in the 2nd half! But Valley made one final push and finally tied it when Senior Andrew Herasimtchuk drained a “triple” from the corner to put it at 70! That set the stage for Marquez’s heroics! With about 40 seconds on the clock, DePaul pulled it out and without calling a timeout ran the clock down when Marquez(pictured) made a spinning move in the lane and hit a short jumper to send them home! This game was another example of why the Passaic County Tournament is wide open!

Paterson………It doesn’t matter what it looks like because the bottom line is who ends up with the “W”! And in this ugly,tough contest Eastside finished on top over Kennedy 54-42! the game was like a heavyweight fight with each team feeling the other out to the tune of  a 15-13 halftime lead for Eastside! The game got more in tune in the second half  as each team tried to in still their will! In the 4th quarter it was Eastside who turned up the defensive pressure and created turnovers against Kennedy pushing it’s lead to as much as 12! Kennedy fought back, but could not get over the hump! Junior DeAndre Noble(pictured) led the Ghosts with 15 points(all in 2nd half) and an impressive 14 rebounds while Senior David Burgos chipped in 9 points with 8 rebounds and 6 assists! Senior’s Jhamir White and Dawon Lighty each scored 15 points for Kennedy!

Wayne………..Passaic took full advantage of the absence of Senior Xavier Nieves! Already without the services of Senior point guard Brandon James(torn ligament in thumb) Nieves was out due to illness! That was all the Indians needed as they took an early lead and held on the rest of the way! Passaic had four players in double figures led by 6’3 Senior Andre Dixon(top right)! He finished with 19 points, 6 rebounds and 4 steals and got plenty of help from Senior Shakir Rhodes(bottom right) who scored 15 points with 4 assists, Junior Darien Giles(12pts) and Junior Denzel Boulware(12pts,8rebs,3blks)! Sophomore guard Isaac Williams was the go to guy for P.C.T. and he tried to make it happen scoring 23 points! 6’5 Junior Shackquiel Scott added 14 points and 8 rebounds and Senior Washon Franklin contributed 10 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists for the Bulldogs! The Indians improved their record to 6-8 while Tech fell to 13-4!