St. Patrick’s Wins Championship While St. Joseph’s Defeats East Orange And Loses To Westtown (PA)
NEPTUNE, NJ–On Monday evening, GMC Hoops learned courtesy of the Star-Ledger and HoopGroup that St. Patrick’s won the Hoop Group HBC Metro Classic down at the Hoop Group Headquarters facility formerly known as Rebounds. St. Patrick’s, which is the defending T of C Champion, was in the same bracket as St. Joseph’s of Metuchen. The Falcons opened up against East Orange Campus, and won their first round game before losing to Westtown of Pennsylvania, which then lost to St. Patrick’s in the Quarterfinals.
The Celtics, a national powerhouse out of Elizabeth, won the title without even having to play for the Championship. After defeating Westtown in the Elite Eight by a 68-55 margin, and then Seton Hall Prep by a 66-41 margin in the semifinals, St. Patrick’s was awarded the Championship because in the other semifinal between Paterson Catholic and Neuman Goretti of Philadelphia, there was a fight that occurred with a little more than 10 minutes remaining in the game. As a result, Paterson Catholic, which lost twice to St. Pat’s including a defeat in the Non-Public B North Championship Game back in March, forfeited. St. Patrick’s itself was involved in a game that had a brawl when it defeated Newark Central in the earlier rounds, but didn’t cause the scuffle so the Celtics advanced.
St. Joseph’s was the only team from the Greater Middlesex Conference to take part in the team tournament that had 32 teams, which were guaranteed three games over the two day event. It was the first time in three years that GMC Hoops missed out on the event due to his work commitments.