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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St. Pat’s Defeats Elizabeth In County Tournament

By Jim Whelan

After a five year absence from the Union County Finals, the Elizabeth Minutemen made it back this year. The Minutemen beat #4 state-ranked Plainfield convincingly 88-78 during last Wednesday’s night semi-final match-up at the Elizabeth Dunn Center.

St. Pat’s defeated Linden 49-36 in a hard-fought defensive struggle last Thursday night. The two teams met in the final the two previous years and split the series. Linden coach Phil Colicchio did a masterful job in turning the season around after losing 6-foot 9 center David Bruce to an academic issue.

The two schools met in an all-Elizabeth final in the 73rd Frank Cicarell Union County Tournament on Saturday.

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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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Cicarell Tournament Preview

By Jim Whelan

This week starts the Frank Cicarell Union County Boy’s Basketball Tournament.

Here are this year’s top seeds:

1. St. Patrick’s is looking to defend their title. Since 1993, St. Pat’s has been a mainstay in the county finals. This year should not be any different

2. Plainfield—With a new coach and led by Pitt-bound Isaiah Epps and Tyrone Johnson, the Cardinals have a good chance to advance and play a rematch of the 2006 finals against the top-seeded Celtics

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Scotch Plains Hopes To Defend State Title

By Jim Whelan

When people asked Scotch Plains head basketball coach Dan Doherty last year about how good his squad would be in the upcoming 2007-2008 season, with confidence the coach said “Yeah, we are going to be good.”

Scotch Plains was.  

With a senior-dominated team lead by the school’s all-time leading scorer Bryan Dougher, the Group III school captured their first state championship title since the Kennedy administration.  

Like the Foreigner song verse, “That was yesterday.”

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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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St. Pat’s Strickland Status Uncertain, Here Come Kyrie

By Jim Whelan

When a nationally-ranked high school team loses their top player to injury, the competition usually breathes a sigh of relief.     

Dexter Strickland did not start his senior year on the right foot at St. Patrick’s High School.  Strickland sat out the Celtics’ first game of the season during their trip to the City of Palms Basketball Tournament for a school infraction. He served his penance and is trying to finish his senior year by winning a state championship and a Tournament of Champions victory for the Elizabeth school

Already hampered by a knee injury, the Rahway resident re-injured it against Edison Academy on Jan. 14.  “It doesn’t feel right,” said St. Patrick’s Coach Kevin Boyle about his senior standout’s knee.  “He had an MRI on it (Jan. 15).  We are going to wait and see.”  

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St. Mary’s Beats Rahway 80-73 To Reach Top Of MVC-Mountain Division

By Jim Whelan

In past two years, both Rahway and St. Mary’s of Elizabeth have raised Mountain Valley regular season champion banners.  In 2007, the St. Mary’s Hilltoppers were crowned champions with a 19-5 record.  Last year Rahway went through the conference like a buzzsaw reeling off 19 straight wins before their first loss in the county tournament semi-finals.  Two of those 19 wins were against St. Mary’s, but that was in the past.  

Second Team All County player Ronnie Sawyer is gone from a Rahway team that could easily go eight or nine deep against their opponent.  That depth allowed Rahway’s lone starting junior, Jose Pena-Benjamin, to cause havoc on opposing defenses by scoring at will.

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Bell Is Setting The UCC Lady Owls’ Sights High

By Jim Whelan

Legendary coach Bob Hurley of St. Anthony’s in Jersey City is often asked why he does not move up to the college ranks.  He always replies, “I am a high school coach.”  Union County College women’s basketball coach Cheryl Bell can relate because she is a big proponent of a junior college education.  JUCO worked for her and is working for the young women at the Cranford campus.

You probably never heard of Bell, but the head coach for the Union County College Owls women’s basketball team is quickly building a dynasty at the Cranford Campus.  How? By winning.  With an 11-0 record this year, the Lady Owls are looking to three-peat as the Garden State Athletic Conference and Region XVIIII champs.

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Rivals Roselle & Hillside Square Off Twice In January

By Jim Whelan

Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight coined the phrase, “Players are made in the off-season.”  Mountain Valley coaches ran open gyms had and had their players hit the weights and participate in summer camps. The final year of the Mountain Valley Conference is up for grabs. Two coaches are looking to their younger players to step up.

Roselle head boys basketball coach Michael Smith returned the storied Roselle Rams Basketball program to top Union County basketball perch.  After missing the state playoffs the previous four years, the Rams won the Group II section II state championship in 2008 and finished with a 21-6 record. This year, after losing four of five starters, Smith will look to some inexperienced players to help Roselle climb up the Mountain Valley conference once again.

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Roselle Catholic Hopes To Make Another Golden Moment

By Jim Whelan

As part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Roselle Catholic High School, the school ran an online voting contest for the 50 Golden Moments in the school’s sports history. It was no surprise that the 1963 North Jersey State “A” Basketball Championship was voted the number “Golden Moment” in the school’s history. 

The 1963 team also scored upsets against #1 team in the state, St. Mary’s of Elizabeth in the Union County semi-finals and Seton Hall in the state North semi-finals.  Roselle Catholic has had their share of basketball triumphs, but that was the last state championship for the school’s hoops program. 

Second year boys coach Dave Boff knows the school’s rich tradition and is looking to make his make on the school sport’s history. Last year, Boff took over for a Union County coaching legend when Pat Hagan stepped down after 28 years.  Boff had a successful three-year coaching run for the Governor Livingston’s girl’s team before coming to Roselle Catholic. 

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High School Basketball Predictions

By Jim Whelan

The 2008-2009 basketball season will tip off on Friday, Dec. 19.  Locally, the Union County heavyweights will square off against some of the state’s premiere teams in the Hoop Group Tip Off Classic. 

This will be the last year for both the Watchung Conference and the Mountain Valley Conference.  The NJSIAA, the governing body for New Jersey state’s schools, will create one Union County basketball conference. 

Here is my pre-season pick for the county’s top ten:  

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Oratory Prep Looks To Get Out Of The Basement

By James Whelan

The 2007 season started out with a wealth of possibilities and optimism for Oratory Prep.  Winning their Christmas tournament and taking a 4-5 record into the heart of the Mountain Valley season, Oratory looked like they might finally climb out of the league’s basement.  Then the injury bug hit, and the team only won one of their next 14 games. 

This season, Oratory has a new coach and a young team that received some good experience last season – they could be in the fight for a winning season and a trip to the playoffs.

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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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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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