Minutemen Halted in First Round

LIVINGSTON - Newark Academy looked to be in good shape in its opening game of the state playoffs against St. Mary's of Elizabeth on Tuesday.

The Minutemen were ahead 45-32 with a little more than three minutes remaining in the third quarter.  The Newark Academy fans and team were fired-up after Jordan Jett, a junior shooting guard, drained his third 3-pointer of the quarter to give the Minutemen that 13-point lead.  It seemed that Newark Academy was going to advance to the second round of the Non-Public North B state playoffs.

But after that point, things turned sour.

In their zest to get down the floor, the Minutemen started turning over the ball and St. Mary's Ederson Exume and Chris Bazilio started taking over inside to chip away at the Newark Academy lead.

With less than three minutes left in the game, St. Mary's tied it at 51.

The Minutemen could not respond and dropped the game 67-55, ending Newark Academy's season with a 16-10 record.

"We just could not hold on to the ball," said Minuteman coach Jim Stoeckel.

The loss also ruined a big game for both Jett and point guard Zaire Williams, who each had 23 and 16 points respectively.

While Jett hit five 3-pointers, it was the return of Williams from a hip injury that was instrumental in giving the Minutemen the big lead. Williams had missed several weeks of play because of the injury. His returned allowed Jett to move to the shooting guard position instead of at point guard.

"He has a great future," said Stoeckel about Williams, who is only a sophomore.

The first half the game went back-and-forth with Newark Academy able to combat St. Mary's height advantage with some good shooting and breaking the Hilltoppers' press.

Williams completed a 3-point play to give the Minutemen a five-point lead, 27-22, with less than two minutes in the half. Junior guard Chris Cutri netted a layup just before the buzzer and Newark Academy went into halftime with a 29-25 lead.

Now that the season is over, one of the biggest losses for Stoeckel and the Minutemen is senior forward/center Matt Gravesande, who had some big games this season for Newark Academy and was able to fill-in offensively while Williams was out with his injury. Gravesande was limited in scoring only 2 points against St. Mary's, but had been playing with an injured hand for most of the season. Kumar Ghafor and forward Brian McHugh are also graduating.