In County Tournament Quarterfinal, St. Patrick's Boys' Basketball Routs Scotch Plains

The Records: The Scotch Plains-Fanwood boys’ basketball team entered its Union County Tournament quarterfinal game on Saturday against St. Patrick’s Prep of Elizabeth 17-7, hot off a three-game win-streak. St. Patrick’s came to the game 21-0.

The Final Score: St. Patrick’s, 100-62. The top-seeded and three-time defending champion Celtics downed the eighth-seeded Raiders in the quarterfinals of the 75th annual Frank J. Cicarell Union County Tournament on Saturday afternoon at Rahway High School’s Earl H. Walter Gymnasium. The Celtics, ranked No. 1 in the country by USA Today and No.  1 in New Jersey by The Star-Ledger, reached the century mark for the first time this year.

The Difference: After trailing 16-15 heading into the second quarter, St. Patrick turned it on in the second eight minutes, outscoring Scotch Plains 32-16 to take a 47-32 halftime lead. St. Patrick’s Chris Martin scored four of his seven 3-pointers in the first half and finished with a game-high 25. Celtic senior Michael Gilchrist, 6-feet-8-inches and bound for the University of Kentucky, scored 15. He gained his second foul with 7:02 left in the first quarter and was put on the bench until the start of the second quarter.

“In reality, their inside play didn’t kill us, it was their outside shooting and we contested every shot,” Scotch Plains head coach Dan Doherty said.

St. Patrick’s Derrick Gordon scored 20 points, including three 3s, with the Celtics producing a total of 12 long-range shots.

“There’s no question that they’re the No. 1 team in the country,” Doherty said. 

Plenty of Scotch Plains Positives: Okay, so everyone in the gym knew St. Patrick was going to win. However, when Gilchrist went to bench with two fouls just one minute into the game, the Raiders received a break on which they capitalized.

“I was happy and wondering why he was coming out,” Doherty said. Scotch Plains ultimately took four leads in the game, the first two with Gilchrist on the bench in the first quarter and the next two with him playing in the second quarter.

Here are the leads:

• Lead No. 1: Charles Oliver nets his first basket, a 3-pointer, to give the Raiders a 5-3 edge with 6:40 left in the first quarter.
• Lead No. 2: Matt Jegede hit a shot to put the Raiders back up at 13-11 with 1:42 remaining in the opening period. Jegede also tied the game for the second time at 11-11 by hitting a jumper in the lane. 
• Lead No. 3: A layup by Oliver, after the game was tied for the third time at 16-16 earlier in the second quarter, gave Scotch Plains an 18-17 advantage.
• Lead No. 4: Tim Bonacum hit the first of his three 3s from the left side – off a pass from Oliver – to make the score 21-20 in favor of Scotch Plains later in the second quarter. St. Patrick then immediately went on an 8-0 run and took over the game from there.

A Dunk To Remember: With 2:45 left in the second quarter, Scotch Plains’ Jegede dunked over Gordon for two points, eliciting the loudest ovation of the afternoon. “When I first looked down court I didn’t see anybody,” Jegede said. “Then I looked back and Gordon was coming. I thought I was going to have a clear dunk and didn’t expect him to jump.” Jegede’s basket pulled the Raiders to within 36-26, while he was also fouled by Gordon on the play. “Matt has been stepping up lately and this was the kind of game that can set him up well,” Doherty said. “Next year he will be our major go-to guy. He also hit some jumpers and was in double figures in rebounds.”

The Quotes: “We had a good first half and attacked and played good defense,” said Jegede, who finished with 11 points. Oliver led the Raiders with 19, while Dougher also netted 11 and Bonacum nine. “We played hard,” Jegede continued. “It was a good game for us.”

SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD UPCOMING SCHEDULE:
Thursday, Feb. 24 at Elizabeth, 4 p.m. – UCC-crossover
Tuesday, March 1 Iselin Kennedy, 7 p.m. – N2, G3 first round 

75th ANNUAL FRANK J. CICARELL BOYS’ BASKETBALL
UNION COUNTY TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL AT RAHWAY

8-SCOTCH PLAINS (17-8)               16          16        18       12 -  62
1-ST. PATRICK (22-0)                      15          32        25      28 - 100 

SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD RAIDERS
1-Charles Oliver 3-3-4-19
25-Matt Jegede 5-0-1-11
24-Thomas Bonacum 0-0-0-0
15-Patrick Dougher 4-1-0-11
5-Dominic Gonzalez 0-0-2-2
20-Tim Bonacum 0-3-0-9
12-Darnell Brown 0-0-1-1
3-Ian Johnston 1-0-0-2
23-Brandon Langston 0-0-0-0
11-Andrew Miller 0-0-0-0
10-Anthony Byers 1-0-1-3
42-Kevin Raska 1-0-0-2
33-Tyree Singletary 1-0-0-2
14-Xavier-Noel Brooks 0-0-0-0
Starters: Oliver, Jegede, Thomas Bonacum, Dougher, Gonzalez.
Totals: 16-7-9-62.

ST. PATRICK CELTICS
31-Michael Gilchrist 7-0-1-15
23-Chris Martin 1-7-2-25
32-Derrick Gordon 4-3-3-20
13-Austin Colbert 0-0-1-1
2-Jerrell Lane 0-0-0-0
41-Dakari Johnson 3-0-3-9
15-DeShawn Suber 1-2-2-10
21-Jason Boswell 0-0-3-3
4-Hakim Saintio 0-0-2-2
25-Tyrone O’Garro 1-0-0-2
20-Dana Raysor 2-0-0-4
22-Daquan Grant 1-0-1-3
24-Taylor Plummer 1-0-0-2
00-Trevis Wyche 1-0-2-4
Starters: Gilchrist, Martin, Gordon, Colbert, Lane,
Totals: 22-12-20-100.