Roselle Catholic Girls Team Claims County Title

Roselle Catholic Girls Team Claims County Title – The Roselle Catholic girls basketball team captured the Union County Championship last month. Pictured left to right are Chika Dunga, Anthonia Ajumobi, Meghan Faughnan, Melissa Tobie, Allison Skrec, Betina Petit, Kelly Hayes and seated, Jenny Malone. In a double overtime thriller, fourth seeded Roselle Catholic (22-3) defeated second seed Plainfield High School (16-7) 55-50, in the finals held at Roselle Catholic on Feb. 27. Earlier this season, Roselle Catholic also captured the Mountain Valley Conference title. (Photo courtesy of Roselle Catholic High School)

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Injuries Give Senior Guard A Chance To Shine

By Jim Whelan

Sacrifice, determination and hard work are the essentials for the success of every basketball player.

On the hardwood, every player must understand their role. All five players must work together as a unit to achieve their goal on the court. A player must be ready at all times because he may never know when his number will be called to move up from sub to starter.

The injury bug has bitten two of the St. Patrick Celtics’ standouts this season. Dexter Strickland was out with a nagging knee injury for the better part of January. More recently, sophomore Michael Gilchrist broke his leg. Strickland, who committed to North Carolina, is back; Gilchrist, the number three-ranked sophomore by Rivals, will not participate in the Union County Tournament and may the miss the rest of the season.

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Lady Owls Win Regional Title

CRANFORD – On Sunday, March 1, the Union County College Lady Owls Basketball Team secured the Region XIX championship title, with a win over Delaware Tech by a score of 64-56 at the County College of Morris.

Delaware Tech started the game very aggressively, pulling ahead by 10 points at the beginning of the first half. However, by halftime, The Owls rallied to come out front by a score of 29-27. Delaware attempted to keep the second half of the game close, however, they could not contain The Lady Owl’s scoring streak. For the night, Lady Owl, Nicole Lilenfeld, finished with 22 points, 6 assists, and 4 steal; Kianna Williamson with 13 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 blocks; and Crystal Harris who had 9 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 blocks.

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Police Officer-Turned-Coach Brings Success To Catholic School Program

By Jim Whelan

Four years ago on his first team bus ride, new coach Mike Jones asked his players if their opponent that day—the now defunct St. Al’s of Jersey City – was any good.

One of his players on the school bus responded with optimism, “No. They’re not that good.” After a short pause, she continued, “They only beat us by 22 last year.’’

That was Jones’ baptism to when he took the reins of the fledgling basketball program at Benedictine Academy in Elizabeth, a small, all-girls Catholic school located in Elizabeth bordering Hillside and Newark.

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New Providence Looks To Settle Some Scores

By Jim Whelan

Tiger Woods coined the phrase, “If I am not getting better, than I’m getting worse.”

New Providence head boys basketball coach Art Cattano can relate, having the same philosophical approach to his team and the game of basketball. He preaches to his team, “Any team can beat anybody on any given day if you are not prepared.”  Not an earth shattering concept, but how many teams follow it?

This week, the Pioneers look to even the score for two early season losses. In back to back games, New Providence came up empty against Technology 70-61, then lost to Oratory Prep 57-56, in a hard-fought battle on New Providence’s home court. With those losses, Cattano’s club had a 4-3 record staring them in the face, mot a comfortable place for a team to be in.

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In The Middle Of A Great Season

 

In The Middle Of A Great Season—The Middlesex County College men’s basketball team is in the middle of a great season, with an overall record of 14-6, and a Garden State Athletic Conference record of 13-2. The squad beat Union County College 84-68 on Jan. 27. Pictured above, Union County College player Rolffi Canela (14) attempts to block a shot by Laud Anderson (55). (Photo courtesy of Middlesex County College)

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Middlesex Athlete Named National Player of the Week

 

Middlesex Athlete Named National Player of the Week—Angelina Dill of Matawan was named the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for Nov. 17-23. The 5’10” forward posted a double-double in four games. She had 21 points and 10 rebounds against Delaware Tech-Stanton and 35 points and 15 rebounds in a win over Gloucester County College. Over the weekend, she added 13 points and 10 rebounds against Howard and 23 points and 10 rebounds in a win over County College of Morris. Dill, pictured here in a file photo from last season, was named to the All-Tournament team at the County College of Morris Tournament.

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Linden’s Bruce Will Play For A-10 School; St. Pat’s Bennett Heads To George Mason

By Jim Whelan

St. Joseph’s University coach Phil Martelli has reason to smile lately. Not only did he get a contract extension until the 2015-2016 season, he got his man when Linden’s David Bruce gave a verbal commitment to the A-10 basketball program. Bruce is yet another Jersey recruit headed to the “City of Brotherly Love” to play basketball.

Martelli first say Bruce in an open gym last September, even since then he has been on the Linden’s star radar. Oh by the way, Bruce scored 41 points in that game. Bruce’s 6’ 9” frame also helped too. He is the third Linden player in three years to earn a Division I basketball scholarship (Darrell Lampley-St. Peter’s 07, Desmond Wade-08). St. Joe’s gave Bruce his first of many Division I scholarships.

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Linden Senior Commits To Play For St. Joseph’s

LINDEN – A Linden High School basketball star has made a non-binding commitment to attend St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.

David Bruce, a 6-foot 9-inch 210-pound senior, averaged 15 points and 12 rebounds per game for the Tigers. During his high school career, Linden went 53-10 and won a Union County Tournament High School and a Group IV championship.

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Inexperienced UCC Owls Have Scott Optimistic

by Jim Whelan

Coach Joe Scott was very optimistic during the 2007-2008 season. With a veteran team and some new talent, Scott believed that the Union County College Owls could have been atop of the ECAC DIII Juco’s. Offense was not the problem, defense was. The result was a 16-15 season. Even though only four starters are returning from last year’s team, Scott is also optimistic about the upcoming season.

The Owls started practice on Oct. 1. “We come into this year’s team with lack of experience, but with high expectations” said the UCC coach. The biggest question for this team will be how soon the Owls’ incoming freshmen can fill the void left by last year’s graduates.

Standout guard Will Flenroy from Elizabeth and 6’5 center Justin Dotoli from Dayton Regional are two players that Coach Scott will be looking to for a successful season. “Will is a great kid and comes in with high expectations; he is not polished as a player. We need him to be a leader on the court,” Scott said. “Justin’s best basketball is definitely ahead of him.”

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UCC Lady Owls Repeat As Conference Champions

CRANFORD – For the second year in a row, the Union County College Lady Owls Basketball Team, ended their season as the champions of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Garden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) and Region XIX.

After many months of extremely competitive play, the Lady Owls took on the Lady Knights of the Community College of Rhode Island in the district championship game on March 11. The Lady Owls came into the game ranked #15 by the NJCAA Division II Coaches Poll and Rhode Island entered as #16 by the NCCAA Division II Coaches Poll.

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Two Union County Residents Are Turning Pro

By Jim Whelan

Earl Clark of Rahway and Derrick Caractor of Scotch Plains/ St. Patrick will forego their last two years college eligibility and enter into the NBA draft.

Clark average 11 points per game and 8 rebounds per game during his sophomore year at Louisville. A standout player at Rahway High School, Clark led the school to its first sectional championship in ten years by beating Weeqhuaic High School. He had 41 points in the contest. A four year starter for Rahway, Clark was selected 1st Team All State and 2006 McDonalds All American. Clark averaged 25.2 points his senior year and finished with 1,252 for his career.

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Defense Hurt UCC Success On Offense

By Jim Whelan

Union County College knew that they could outscore their opponents. This year team did do that, but on the other end of the court, the Owls still had offense on their mind and let their opponents outscore them.

“We did develop the defense mind and I haven’t instilled it in the players” said Coach Joe Scott. The culmination of the lack of defense came when Union County lost to Rockland County, NY 111-107. Scott scolded his team and told them “I can’t believe a watched a college team score 107 points and lose.” The Owls also beat Bronx Community College 117-100. “We felt they can outscore anybody” said Scott.

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A Strong Showing

A Strong Showing—The Clark Lady Crusaders fourth grade girls travel basketball team finished second out of 14 teams in the Garden State League.  The fourth grade girls team had a 22-8 record and are pictured receiving their second place trophies.  Pictured from left to right, front row: Molly Panetta, Kristen Nugent, Mia Campanella, Rose Caffrey, Dominique Smith, Nicole Nugent.  Back row: Georgia Stavrakis, Stephanie Visconti, Victoria Isidron, Amanda Banek.  Not pictured: coaches Bill Smith, Otto Isidron and Dave Panetta.

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2008 Union County All County Awards

by Jim Whelan

2007-2008-Player of the Year

Desmond Wade

It seems like he has been around forever, the only bad thing about Des’ departures is the Direct TV packages that Linden fans will have to get to watch him play at the University of Houston. Becoming the all-time assist leader, scoring 1,500 points, two back-to-back state championships, one county championship, four sectional finals, and one T of C championship appearance for the four-year letter winner. Desmond is one of the best under 6’0 players to come out of New Jersey in a long time with a record of 103-20 (837). The torch has been passed from Coach Colicchio to Coach Tom Penders. In the next four years I am sure you will see Desmond and the University of Houston in the NCAA tournament.

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