Eagles Make Most of First Ever Appearance With Wins Over Passaic Tech and Newark Tech En Route to Title
PATERSON, NJ–Last week, GMC Hoops learned via GardenStateHoops.com that the Cardinal McCarrick Eagles won the Championship of the Saturday Fall-Ball League in Paterson. The Eagles, playing for the first time in the league, took on the likes of Newark Tech, Passaic Tech, Hackensack, Ramapo, North 13th Street Tech, DePaul, Passaic Valley, and Paramus Catholic. The Eagles went 7-1 in the league including wins over Passaic Tech (50-45) in the semifinals and Newark Tech in the Championship (51-42). The Terriers of Newark Tech are the two time defending Group II State Champions and reached the T of C semifinals in 2013.
McCarrick was led by senior Hodari Bazemore and teammate Nyke McCombs in both the semis and championship. In the semifinals against Passaic County Tech, Bazemore tied for game high with 16 points while McCombs chipped in with 12 along with junior Gilberto Cue. Xavier Hilbert led Passaic Tech with 16 points. Then, in the Championship, Bazemore notched a team high 13 points while McCombs added 12. Jordan Zagadou led Newark Tech in defeat with a game high 22 points. The Terriers reached the title game with a 45-16 victory over a depleted North 13th Street Tech squad that played without two of its top players. Over the summer, the Eagles played at the Hoop Group Summer Showcase in Neptune.
The Eagles have made moves during the course of this off-season. The moving and shaking started with the hiring of their third coach in as many years when former St. Anthony’s assistant coach, Ben Gamble took over the reins in May. Gamble will be the fourth different coach at the school in as many years going back to Joe Lewis’ final season. Also on the Eagles staff for the upcoming 2014-15 season will be former Piscataway and St. Joseph’s assistant coach Jayson Reid, who had recently been an assistant at Snyder. Gamble replaced Jason Griffin, who stepped down earlier in the spring. Griffin had replaced Eric Woroniecki, a former Old Bridge standout, who coached the Eagles during the 2012-13 campaign. Woroniecki, is now an assistant over at Roselle Catholic while Griffin works at East Coast Conditioning in Edison. Over the past two seasons, the Eagles have struggled with a combined record of 13-36 including a 6-17 mark in 2013-14. During those same two years, Cardy Mac went only 5-23 in the GMC White.
In addition to Gamble becoming head coach at McCarrick, the Eagles also are making another switch. After playing in the bigger school GMC White since the 2008-09 campaign, the Eagles have moved down to the GMC Blue. Prior to the past two seasons, Cardinal McCarrick had become one of the premier boys basketball programs in the Greater Middlesex Conference. Under the guidance of head coach, Joe Lewis, who coached at the school from the 1995 to 2012, the Eagles reached the GMCT Elite Eight on 11 occasions including 7 final four appearances and 3 GMCT Championship berths. McCarrick won the GMCT title in 2003 and 2008 as well as Non-Public A South Championships in 2003, 2005, and 2011. The Eagles open their season at home against Spotswood on December 19th at 7:00 PM.