Monday, December 24, 2007

Christmas Classic: Round One

The opening round of the Boys Division ALMOST resulted in the two biggest upsets in the history of the tournament as the top two seeds barely escaped being upset victims. #1 ranked St. Rose trailed 16th seed Brick by 13 points at the half when head coach Dennis Devaney finally arrived at the Ritacco Center after being held up in traffic for hours on the Garden State Parkway. Despite the deficit and the disappointment over a one-point loss to CBA the day before the Purple Roses rallied for a 62-59 win with Joe Quinn leading the way with 18 points. Next up for St. Rose is a quarterfinal date with Toms River East on Thursday. The Raiders edged Ocean 49-47.

Second-seeded Central has its strongest team in years but it took a controversial call in the final seconds for the Golden Eagles to finally find their way past #15 Brick Memorial 52-50. With the game tied and Central in control of the ball coach Mike Clemente decided to hold for a final shot but with fouls to give the Mustangs were called for a questionable intentional foul with just over five seconds left . Ibn Moye (28pts) they calmly hit both free throws for the winning points as the dejected Mustangs game effort fell just short. Central will now play defending champion Raritan in the quarterfinal round Thursday as the Rockets got past Southern
52-43 in their opening round.

The other quarterfinal round match-ups will find #3 Toms River North battling 6th seeded Toms River South…the Mariners beat the Indians on opening night less than two weeks ago. 4th ranked Point Boro, who was upset by Wall in the opening round last year, gained some revenge by beating the Crimson Knights this time around and they now play #12 Manchester, who disposed of fifth-seeded Lacey behind Marvin Brodie’s
27 points, including a pair of slam dunks.

The tournament resumes on Wednesday with the girls quarterfinals after an opening round which saw just one upset as #12 Manchester ousted fifth-seeded Toms River East 52-50. The Lady Hawks meet Shore Regional in the round of 8. Top-seeded and two-time defending champion Rumson battles Wall, #2 Colts Neck faces #7 Point Boro and third-seed Lacey meets Southern.

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