|
Two key No. 11's Montclair's La'Mear Singletary and Caldwell's Marco Sozio, were among the players that came up big as both the 10th-seeded Mounties and ninth-seeded Chiefs posted first round upsets in the Essex County Tournament Saturday, which made it happy afternoon in the end for the respective coaches, Cecil Stinson of Montclair and Mike Fess of Caldwell. (Photos by Jeff Stiefbold-visit www.jstiefbold.smugmug.com)
Montclair coach Cecil Stinson was hoping that Bloomfield could pull off yet another upset for their division in the Super Essex Conference. “We almost had all three of today’s upsets in the Essex County Tournament come from our division,” said the Mounties’ third-year head coach. “My team came through with an amazing victory for our program, Caldwell won on the road at Newark Tech, and Bloomfield almost beat Immaculate. “The Colonial Division definitely came up very big today and I know that we’re just thrilled to be moving on the county tournament.” Montclair (10-8, 4-2), the 10th seed, went down to Newark Collegiate and built on a strong first half with solid defense down the stretch to hold off the 7th-seeded Panthers, 68-65, in one of the thrilling finishes of the day in the first round of the 78th ECT. In another down-to-the-wire finish in the Brick City, ninth-seeded Caldwell improved to 15-1 on the season as senior Marco Sozio converted a clutch, conventional 3-point play with 3.3 seconds left and the Chiefs survived a last-second 3-point attempt that missed its mark to hang on for a dramatic 50-49 victory over the eighth-seeded Terriers (13-4, 5-1 in the SEC-Liberty Division). Bloomfield, the 12th seed in the field, finished strong with a 20-11 edge in the fourth quarter but just fell short in its upset bid vs. fifth-seeded Immaculate Conception, dropping a narrow 60-57 decision to the Lions. The Mounties, who have won four of their last five games, have begun to gel the past three weeks after having to adjust to the fact that their leading scorer from the last three years, senior guard Jahi Whitney, has been sidelined the last month with a fractured toe. Two key members of last winter’s ECT Jayvee championship team, juniors Mason Determann and La’Mear Singletary, have stepped up their games, and each contributed to Saturday’s big win at Newark Collegiate. Determann, a 6-foot-2 sharpshooter, sank four 3-pointers and finished with 16 points to go along with 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals, while Singletary had 9 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists. That pair along with veteran seniors Martin Quiroz (12 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists), Jarius Davis (9 points, 7 rebounds) and Myles Nicholson (11 points off the bench) all had solid games for Montclair. The Mounties led 37-32 at halftime and 53-44 after three quarters before Newark Collegiate (13-3, 6-0 in the SEC-Liberty) battled back and had a chance to tie but missed a 3-pointer which Quiroz rebounded with two seconds left and then time expired. “This is definitely our biggest win since I’ve been here,” said Stinson, a former Montclair 1,000-point scorer under coach Major Jennings. “Our kids came in with a ton of energy and simply played a great game. “We missed a couple of late free throws that could have sealed it in the last minute, but we hung on and I can’t say enough about the effort of our team today.” The Mounties, who have won four ECT titles with the last one coming in 1985, and have been the runner-up five times, will be appearing in their 42nd quarterfinal and first since 2019 when they lost at Easte Side. They have advanced to 21 semifinals in their ECT historys. Montclair will travel to meet second-seeded Arts next Saturday back in Newark, while Caldwell will travel to take on top-seeded Seton Hall Prep in ECT Elite 8 action. The Chiefs will be making their fourth ECT quarterfinal appearance and third in the past four years. In 2022 Caldwell advanced to its first-ever ECT semifinal when it fell to SHP, 54-36, in the Final 4 at Essex County College. The current Chiefs have simply kept winning games while going undefeated so far in the SEC-Colonial Division (7-0), and Saturday’s first-round win at Newark Tech was another contest where they made key plays down the stretch to earn another victory. “We just keep grinding away out there,” said Caldwell coach Mike Fess. “Newark Tech had runs and we had ours. “Fortunately, we had some real nice defensive stops toward the end and made a couple of clutch shots.” No shot was bigger than the conventional 3-point play made by Sozio, the 6-2 senior forward, who took an inbounds pass on the right wing, drove in the lane and was fouled as he made the tying bucket with 3.3 seconds left. He then went to the line and sank what proved to be the game-winning point. Newark Tech heaved a long pass downcourt which was intercepted by a Chiefs' player but on the end line, which gave the Terriers the ball back and one more breath of life with 1.4 seconds left. Rodney Tullis (team-high 16 points), their best perimeter threat, who had already made four 3-pointers in the contest, put up a final ‘3’ attempt that missed its mark and Caldwell had its huge victory. Senior guard Brodie Cook had another strong performance with a game-high 20 points. His backcourt mate Joe Giannetta and Sozio each added 10 points in their solid efforts in helping achieve a significant victory for another chemistry-laden Chiefs team in a run of very good Caldwell teams under Fess. “Our players came up with some real big plays down the stretch and it was a great win for us,” said the veteran head mentor. “Newark Tech has a real experienced team, and even though they didn’t have Marcus Bragg they still have a ton of talent that they send out there on the court. “We’re going to go to Seton Hall, compete and just keep grinding. “We have nothing to lose at this point, and we’re be playing with gravy at this point.” NOTES- Marcus Bragg and his twin brother Malcolm (13 points vs. Caldwell) join rugged 6-4, 220-pound forward Jalen Baker as three experienced players from Newark Tech’s Group 1 state runner-up squads the past two seasons; however, Marcus has not played since a Jan. 14th 69-68 SEC-Liberty Division loss to Newark Collegiate after absorbing a dislocated elbow….Stinson said that his veteran guard Whitney might return this week after being cleared by his doctor and could be available for next Thursday’s conference clash with Caldwell in the Montclair gym. ECT First Round Results, Saturday, Feb. 1: Lower Bracket: Quarterfinal matchups, Saturday, Feb. 8: Semifinals: Saturday, Feb. 15, at West Orange (TBA) Essex Invitational Tournament quarterfinals, Saturday, Feb. 8: Semifinals: Saturday, Feb. 15, at higher seed, TBA Follow Steve Tober on 'X' @Chattermeister
Montclair's Mason Determann (3) along with Caldwell's Brodie Cook (14) were high scorers for their teams in two big ECT upset victories. Copyright 2005 Sideline Chatter - comments - contact the webmaster
|
|
