Friday’s Snow Pushes Back TOC Final Four to Saturday
TOMS RIVER, NJ–On Saturday afternoon, play will resume at the 2015 NJSIAA Tournament of Champions with two semifinal games at Pine Belt Arena. These two games were originally scheduled for Friday, but were pushed back until Saturday due to the snowstorm that developed during the course of the morning on Friday. The times have been moved up for one of the two games as well. The first contest will pit 5th seeded Paulsboro, the Group I State Champion, against top seeded Roselle Catholic, the Non-Public B State Champion at 3:00 PM. Following that game, the contest between 6th seeded Newark Tech, the Group II State Champion and 2nd seeded Pope John XXIII of Sparta, the Non-Public A Champion, will take place at 5:00 PM.
The first contest between the Red Raiders of Paulsboro, located in Gloucester County and Roselle Catholic, which is making is third straight Tournament of Champions appearance, should be an interesting one. Using a 1-3-1 zone trap, Paulsboro went on a 38-11 surge to end the first half to turn a 15-8 deficit into a commanding 46-26 halftime advantage over fourth seeded Bergenfield, the Group III State Champion. From there, the South Jersey school never let Bergenfield get any closer than 19 points in the second half, and led by as many as 27 en route to a 90-65 victory. Meanwhile, Roselle Catholic had a first round bye. Paulsboro has only lost twice this season (31-2 overall record). Those two losses have come against Timber Creek (63-58 loss on December 27th) and Haddonfield (53-51 loss on February 19th). Both of those schools are two of the top programs in South Jersey year in and year out. The Red Raiders have won 10 straight entering today’s contest.
Meanwhile, Roselle Catholic has still managed to garner a 26-4 record despite not playing its best basketball at times during the year. In the Union County Tournament last month, for instance, the Lions were taken to the limit by St. Mary’s of Elizabeth in the semifinals, and then lost to Linden in the Championship. Roselle Catholic played Linden three times this season, and lost to the Tigers twice. Now that the Tigers are out of the way after losing to Group IV champ, Paterson Eastside in the state semifinals, you would think that Roselle Catholic would have an easy road to the T of C crown. Not that simple. If Roselle Catholic plays the type of basketball it has played against the likes of Rutgers Prep and St. Anthony’s en route to the Non-Public B State Championship, then the Lions should be in possession of its second gold ball in three years. However, Pauslboro is not going to roll over. The Red Raiders have been very impressive in their last two rounds of state tourney play, feel very confident, and aren’t afraid to play anyone at this point.
Saleem Little and Theo Holloway lead the Raiders high octane, run and gun up-tempo style. Little scored 29 points in the TOC Quarterfinal win over Bergenfield while Holloway added 18. The Red Raiders will be without a key contributor in this semifinal matchup though. According to NJ.com, DeShaun Burgess will not be playing in Saturday’s contest against Roselle Catholic since he is preparing to participate in a school play, which has been taking place the last two days, and is scheduled to have another show at 7:30 PM on Saturday night. Meanwhile, Roselle Catholic is led by Kentucky bound guard, Isaiah Briscoe, who scored 17 points in the 56-52 win over St. Anthony’s in the Non-Public B State Final a week ago. Pierre Sarr chipped in with 13 while South Carolina bound big man, Chris Silva added 12 in the victory. Paulsboro will have to dictate tempo with its run and gun style. If Roselle Catholic is able to slow the Red Raiders down, the Lions abundance of length and depth will wear down the Group I champ. Expect Roselle Catholic to advance to Sun National Bank Center on Monday night.
In the other semifinal, Newark Tech and Pope John are looking to advance to the T of C Championship for the first time ever when they meet later on Saturday afternoon. The Terriers of Newark Tech have won 10 straight, and 12 of 14 since dropping to 4-11 a month and a half ago. This is Newark Tech’s third straight T of C appearance. The past two years, the Group II champion Terriers season has ended at the hands of Roselle Catholic. Last year, RC defeated Newark Tech in the quarterfinals, and two years ago, the Lions downed the Terriers in the semis. Pope John, the Non-Public A State Champion, is having its best season ever. Led by the likes of Mustapha Diagne, Jeromy Rodriguez, James Scott, and Matt Zignorski, the Lions enter this game with a 28-3 record. The only losses suffered this season by Pope John were to St. Edward of Ohio, St. Benedict’s, and Blair Academy (Pope John also defeated Blair on December 19th). These two teams actually played each other during the regular season on January 20th with Pope John winning in overtime, 57-56.
In that game, Newark Tech had four different players score in double figures including Mustafa Lawrence, who had 15 points. However, Pope John got double-double efforts from both Diagne and Rodriguez to pull out the win in the extra session. The game was close throughout with the Terriers taking a four point halftime lead only to have Pope John even things up at the end of the third. C.J. Webb, who scored 12 points in the loss to Pope John on January 20th, turned in a solid effort with 21 in the victory over Paterson Eastside in the T of C Quarterfinals on Wednesday night. Meanwhile, Jordan Zagadou, who had 11 in the loss to Pope John, chipped in with 14. Pope John’s size and athleticism will be tough to beat, but expect Newark Tech to push the Lions to the limit before losing. This will likely be the best of the two games today.