CALDWELL- Aiden Nienstadt isn’t one to take any extra credit for his ability to fill the basket with regularity since he most enjoys watching his Caldwell teammates share the ball with precision.
The ever-present 6-foot-3 senior forward scored a game-high 19 points and was supplemented by solid efforts from guards Ryan Keenan and Joe Diorio who combined for 20 points as the Chiefs (5-1) earned their eighth straight West Essex Area Holiday Hoops Festival championship with Monday night’s 57-42 victory over the West Essex Knights (2-3) in Mount St. Dominic’s Codey gymnasium.
Cedar Grove pulled off a bit of a surprise in a hard-fought third-place game, edging Verona, 40-38, in a contest that came down to the final possession.
For Caldwell, which has some new personnel in the rotation this season, it’s been more of the same in terms of always looking to share the ball and utilize the talents of all the players involved.
“We’ve played together a lot in the summer and fall and we know each other’s strengths very well,” said Nienstadt, who had 23 points in his team’s 62-26 WEAHHF first-round triumph vs. Cedar Grove on Sunday and received the tournament MVP award for his 42 points over the two games. “We also try to use our strengths to our advantage and do what we do best.
“We knew that West Essex was a little bit smaller so feeding the ball inside is something we tried to do and my teammates did a good job finding me.
“Our guards have good skills and we have faith in them and they did a real nice job tonight!”
Keenan, a veteran senior, scored 9 of his 11 points in the second quarter when Diorio, a quick junior, scored 7 of his 9 points, as Caldwell build a 32-24 halftime lead vs. the Knights.
Nienstadt helped lead the way in the pivotal third quarter, scoring nine of his 19 points, while senior reserve guard Connor Kennedy sank a pair of long 3-pointers to highlight a 17-8 edge for the Chiefs to extended their lead to 49-33 and were on their way to a 10th straight victory vs. West Essex.
The Knights have not defeated Caldwell since a 62-41 WEAHHF first-round triumph back in 2016 which will be working on being nearly a decade ago once the calendar turns to 2026.
Junior Luke Kesack led West Essex vs. the Chiefs in the 2025 WEAHHF final with 12 points while senior Jordan Lato added 9.
Diorio, who transferred in last season from Gill St. Bernard’s, and fellow junior Dan Vybihal and seniors Keenan and Brad Pankiewicz saw action as part of Caldwell’s rotation last winter during a fine 22-4 season which included a 9-1 mark as the Chiefs captured the Super Essex Conference-Colonial Division title while led by the overall play of the since-graduated senior guards Joe Giannetta and Brodie Cook.
Diorio, Keenan, Vybihal, seniors Frankie Anemone and Kennedy and juniors Michael Arvanites and Nico Sozio provide a variety of talents in a deep guard corps this season for the Chiefs.
The frontcourt, with Nienstadt leading the way so far has also included his season-opening career-high 25-point performance vs. Memorial in a 66-39 victory.
Then with the 23- and 19-point efforts in the WEAHHF, it’s quite apparent that the 6-3 senior could be ready for some big things in his first season as a full-time starter.
“Aiden gets around the rim, gets off the floor and rebounds well,” said head coach Mike Fess. “He’s been doing a good job for us and he certainly deserved the tournament MVP award.”
The Chiefs veteran head mentor and his superb staff do a solid job integrating various talents to make the whole mesh effectively. Against West Essex in the WEAHHF final the scoring was led by Nienstadt with support from players such as Keenan, DiOrio and Arvanites, who chipped in with 7 points, but it can be different people on any given night providing at least a portion of the point production.
“What we like to do is to get everybody involved, which also makes us tougher to scout when we have different guys scoring every game,” said Fess, who guided the Chiefs to a North 2, Group 2 state sectional title in the 2022-2023 season. “We kind of preach that philosophy and our players buy into it.
“It’s a team brand of basketball and we like it that way.”
Caldwell has some time off before delving into the full force of the SEC-Liberty Division season as the Chiefs moved up a division in the conference after winning the Colonial Division championship last winter. First up is West Side, 7 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 6, and then Central, Thursday, Jan. 8, both at home, before what will be a challenging SEC crossover at a solid Livingston team, 1 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 10.
“We have a couple of things to work on in our press break,” said Fess. “We’ll see a lot of pressure with the conference teams we’ll be facing.
“We have to be able to handle pressure, so we’ll continue to get some good work in during these days with just practice before our next game.”
West Essex Area Holiday Hoops Festival Final:
CALDWELL (5-1) 12 20 17 8 -57
WEST ESSEX (2-3) 8 16 9 9 -42
West Essex: Gaetano Iavarone 3-0-0-6, Jack Cleary 1-1-1-6, Jordan Lato 3-1-0-9, Luke Kesack 2-1-5-12, Tommy Bertonaschi 1-0-0-2, Rocco Pontrella 1-0-0-2, -0-0-2, Josh Gallimore 1-0-0-2. Totals: 12-3-6-42
Caldwell: Ryan Keenan 4-1-0-11, Joe Diorio 3-1-0-9, Brad Pankiewicz 0-0-1-1, Aiden Nienstadt 8-0-3-19, Dan Vybihal 0-0-0-0, Michael Arvanites 1-1-2-7, Frankie Anemone 1-0-0-2, Nico Sozio 1-0-0-2, Connor Kennedy 0-2-0-6, Luis Papavangieli 0-0-0-0. Totals: 18-5-6-57
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