Hawthorne, N.J……..In the biggest win since a 2006 victory over Wayne Valley in the Passaic County Tournament, Hawthorne Christian handled their big night with a tough 53-46 win over Dwight-Englewood! While Hawthorne Christian is 11-1, there were still questions on the legitimacy of the squad! Dwight-Englewood is a legitimate challenge and Hawthorne Christian took their best shot and still hung on! Senior Paul Little(pictured) was the man for the Defenders! He scored 18 points and overcame cramps to his legs late in the contest! Sophomore Alex Thomas added 12 points and Senior Nick Aust chipped in 11! Hawthorne Christian took a 26-16 lead at the half, but the Bulldogs came out in the 3rd and outscored their opponent 19 to 11 to cut the lead to 37-35! The 4th wasn’t decided until Sophomore Chris Aust hit clutch free throws late in the game to ice it! Dwight-Englewood was led by Senior Wesley Dickinson who scored 16 points despite being under the weather and Junior Keion Osbourne with 11 points! Hawthorne Christian improved to 12-1, while Dwight-Englewood fell to 10-3!

Ridgewood, N.J……… Ridgewood solidified their bid in the Bergen County Jamboree in convincing style, beating unbeaten Old Tappan 64-50! Senior Evan Bartlik(pictured) was a man on a mission as his offensive energy ignited his Ridgewood teammates! His play and that of Senior Alex Cohen and Senior Stephan Senguin was more than Old Tappan could withstand! Bartlik scored 24 points and opened the way for Cohen, who scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds! Senguin played a strong point guard game with 11 points, 7 assists and 4 steals! Ridgewood, who improved to 9-5 also got good efforts from Senior Anthony Balboa(8pts,9rebs) and Senior Jon Edgehill(5stls)! Old Tappan which fell to 11-1 was led by Senior Dan Brogan who scored 19 points and 7 rebounds, Junior Troy McLaughlin with 11 points and Mason Vialonga with 10 points!

Paterson,N.J……..Senior DeAndre Noble-Haywood hit two free throws in overtime to help Eastside sneak out of their place with a 46-44 victory over Passaic County Tech! Tech was ready to play as each team had trouble finding a consistent flow offensively! The three point shooting of Senior Aazaad Hinton kept Tech in the game and Junior Isaac Williams sent the game into overtime with a floater to make it 39-39! Noble-Haywood finished with a hard fought 15 points with 6 rebounds and Senior Ky’re Jackson added 13 points and 10 rebounds and battled with Tech Senior Jarrod Sykes all night on the boards! Hinton finished with 15 points, while Williams added 9 points! Sykes finished with 12 boards!(Story By: D. Wilbur)

Jersey City, N.J………Hudson Catholic got a measure of revenge against Marist, beating them 63-40! Marist handed the Hawks two of their toughest losses of the year last year, twice beating them in overtime including the Semifinals of the Hudson County Tournament! Defense was the key for Hudson throughout the game as they made it difficult for Marist to run their offense! Only Senior transfer Manny Hernandez had a semblance of an offensive game scoring 15 points with 8 rebounds and 4 blocked shots! the Hawks shut everyone else down! Junior Reggie Cameron(pictured) led Hudson Catholic with 18 points and 9 rebounds while Senior Grant Ellis added 13 points and 6 boards and Junior Mike Young had 8 points and 8 rebounds! The Hawks took a 27-12 into the 2nd half and never looked back!

 FIRST ROUND:  #1 Seed   Eastside(12-1) Gets a 1st Round Bye

#2  DePaul(11-2)  vs   #15  Pompton Lakes(4-7)

#3  Wayne Valley(9-3) vs  #14  Eastern Christian(4-7)

#4 Passaic County Tech(10-3)  vs  #13 Clifton(4-6)

#5  Kennedy(7-7)  vs  #12 Lakeland(7-6)

#6  Hawthorne Christian(10-1)  vs   #11 Passaic(2-9)

#7  West Milford(6-7)  vs  #10 Wayne Hills(5-6)

#8  Passaic Valley(6-7) vs  #9 Manchester(7-4)

Paterson, N.J………Senior DeAndre Noble-Haywood led Eastside with 19 points, but this game belonged to Senior Ky’re Jackson! From the outset, Jackson(pictured) was a problem for St. Joseph in Eastside’s 57-35 win! He dominated the glass early and helped get the Ghosts off  as his work led to easy buckets for his teammates! Eastside’s defense created a number of turnovers and gave them a 29-15 lead at the half! St. Joe’s never presented a problem the rest of the game! Jackson finished with 14 points,14 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocked shots! Junior Quattier Jackson added 8 points for Eastside and Junior Jetor Brown added 7 points as the Ghosts went 12 deep in the game and got contributions from everyone! Junior Ricky Jeune led St. Joseph with 8 points!

Paramus, N.J……..Paramus Catholic is getting used to it’s transfer kids that are now eligible and from the looks of things, they have definitely upgraded as was proven in their 68-56 win over DePaul! Senior Mike Alford and Junior’s Kyle Menard and Anthony Rafes all sat the 30 days and now add more scoring and depth for P.C. Menard, out of Rockland County, New York particularly is a big time talent! He and Sophomore Jalen Henriquez led P.C. on the offensive end and Senior Vaughn Dudley provided the spark on the defensive end! Henriquez(left) led the scoring with 16 points and Menard(right) scored 15 points with 3 dimes and 3 blocked shots! Dudley had 4 steals to go with his 8 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists! Paramus Catholic took the lead early and led 32-22 at the end of the first half! DePaul cut the lead to 6 early in 3rd but could not get any closer the rest of the game! Alford scored 5 points with 3 assists and Rafes added 6 points and 4 boards for P.C. DePaul was led by Junior Joshua Marquez with 20 points, Senior Davon Jacobs with 13 points and 13 rebounds and Sophomore Juwuan Carter who went 10 for 11 from the foul line for all his points and grabbed 6 rebounds! Paramus Catholic also got good games from Freshman Marquel Sheffield and Senior Darius Christmas off the bench!

 In a Series of Profiles, Hoop Journal would like to acknowledge Kennedy H.S. all everything Senior guard Sammy Singletary! At the time of this post Sammy is the North Jersey leading scorer at 24.8 points a game, and Kennedy needs every bucket from him! The thing with Sammy is he can also defend! He’s from the same line of defender that the Knight’s have had in their past! Whatever his team needs this year he is more than willing to do and it’s that kind of attitude that let’s you know Singletary will be playing somewhere on the College level next season!

 FUN FACTS:             Hgt:  6’1                                   Wgt: 164

NICKNAME:  “Muta”                                                      D.O.B.: Feb. 27, 1994

PARENTS:      Sammy  And  Cheryl Singletary

SIBLINGS:  Diamond Singletary   And    Isaiah Singletary

WHO INSPIRES YOU(NON BASKETBALL):  My  Brother  D’Quan

FAVORITE BASKETBALL TEAM:  Miami Heat

FAVORITE BASKETBALL PLAYER:   Dwayne Wade

FAVORITE ALL-TIME SNEAKER:  Most Jordan’s

FAVORITE ARTIST:   Young Jeezy

HOTTEST SONG ON IPOD:  Supa Freak by: Young Jeezy

HIGHSCHOOL GOALS:  To repeat as County Champs and be the next 1,000 point scorer at Kennedy! And to graduate!

FUTURE GOALS:  To attend College next year and play ball!

SOMETHING PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO KNOW ABOUT YOU:  Nothing

FAVORITE COLLEGE TEAM:  Duke

COLLEGE INTEREST(SCHOOLS):  Felician, Bloomfield, Rutgers-Newark, William Paterson and Ramapo College