Scotch Plains and Union Catholic Fall Short in Union County Tournament

Getting to the next round of the 74^th annual Frank J. Cicarell boys' basketball Union County Tournament would have been huge for local squads Scotch Plains-Fanwood and Union Catholic.

However, it wasn't in the cards.

The second-seeded Plainfield Cardinals defeated 15^th-seeded Scotch Plains for a third time this year, downing the Raiders 67-28 in the second of the last two first round games played Wednesday night at Rahway High School's Earl H. Walter Gymnasium.

Junior shooting guard Charles Oliver paced Scotch Plains with a 10-point effort, while senior forward Doran Nelson was next with seven, including his team's only 3-point basket, which came in the first half.

The Raiders, who fell to 6-15, also lost to Plainfield twice in Union County Conference-Watchung Division competition.

Scotch Plains advanced to the first round after eliminating 18^th-seeded New Providence 65-60 Sunday at Rahway. Oliver led all scorers with 27 points, canning four 3-pointers. Junior guard Patrick Dougher poured in 19.

Union Catholic, the 10^th seed, led seventh-seeded Roselle Catholic by one point at halftime before falling 49-37. The Vikings had a season-high five-game winning streak snapped and fell to 13-9.

Union Catholic will regroup by finishing its regular season schedule to get ready for the states.

An inside basket by Roselle Catholic sophomore center Jameel Warney gave the home team Lions the lead for good at 27-25 with six minutes to go in the third quarter.

Roselle Catholic outscored Union Catholic 16-12 in the third to take a 39-35 advantage going into the fourth quarter.

The Lions then slowed things down with their offense, passing the ball around and running their sets.

Before you knew it, four minutes had elapsed in the fourth and there were only two points scored by Roselle Catholic.

Union Catholic's shots were not falling as the Vikings fell out of sync offensively once Roselle Catholic began to slow the game down. That strategy worked quite effectively for the Lions earlier this year in a big 35-20 UCC-Valley Division Conference triumph at Dayton of Springfield.

Union Catholic did not score in the fourth quarter until junior guard Brian Flores made a layup with 2:39 to go. Unfortunately for the Vikings, that was the only scoring they produced in a fourth quarter Roselle Catholic came out on top by a 10-2 margin.

Flores led Union Catholic with 18 points, including three 3s. Warney paced all scorers with 20 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked eight shots.

Roselle Catholic improved to 14-5 and won for the 13^th time in 14 games.

In the nightcap, Plainfield improved to 19-2 and won for the fifth time in a row.

NOTES: Union Catholic received the 12th seed in Non-Public, North A and will play at fifth-seeded Delbarton March 3 in a first round game. The winner will move on to the quarterfinals on March 5 against the winner of 13-Pingry at 4-Paramus Catholic.

Still to go in the regular season is a UCC-Mountain Division road game that has to be made up against Hillside and two non-conference clashes.

Union Catholic is scheduled to host St. Mary's of Jersey City Saturday at a time to be determined according to its schedule and on Feb. 23 is to host Somerset County squad Somerville at 7 p.m.

Scotch Plains still has to make up conference home games against Linden and Rahway and next Wednesday, Feb. 24, is to wrap its season at home against Somerset County foe Bridgewater-Raritan.

UNION COUNTY TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND ACTION

AT RAHWAY HIGH SCHOOL'S EARL H. WALTER GYM

10-UNION CATHOLIC (12-9)                       14     9     12      2 - 37       

7-ROSELLE CATHOLIC (14-5)                    14     8     17    10 - 49

UNION CATHOLIC (37): Zach Dlabik 2-0-0-4, Brian Flores 4-3-1-18, Dave Herren 1-1-2-7, Jamaad Nash 1-0-2-4, Mike Marciano 1-0-0-2, Brandon Vargo 1-0-0-2, Anthony Calenda 0-0-0-0, Marco Panlilio 0-0-0-0, Ebentz Hyppolite 0-0-0-0, Chaz Carter 0-0-0-0. Totals: 10-4-5-37.

ROSELLE CATHOLIC (49): Dominic Gonzales 1-0-2-4, Jameel Warney 9-0-2-20, Brian Petruzzelli 1-0-0-2, Steve Morgan 2-0-2-6, Wesley Cherry 2-0-5-9, Kendal Henderson 3-0-2-8, Rich Ferreira 0-0-0-0, Kwaku Morgan 0-0-0-0. Totals: 18-0-13-49.

15-SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD (6-15)      7        6       7       8 - 28

2-PLAINFIELD (19-2)                                    13      21     20     13 - 67

SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD (28): Charles Oliver 3-0-4-10, Tim Bonacum 0-0-0-0, Matt Jegede 2-0-2-6, Doran Nelson 1-1-2-7, Denzel Clark 1-0-1-3, Matt Manns 1-0-0-2. Totals: 8-1-9-28.

PLAINFIELD (67): Terrill Johnson 0-0-1-1, Nathan Grant-DeWitt 3-3-0-15, Sekou Harris 1-0-3-5, Allen Brown 0-1-0-3, Dijon Allen-Jordan 1-0-0-2, Tyrone Johnson 8-0-2-18, Justin Sears 4-0-0-8, Dominique Blackmon 1-0-1-3, Michael Price 1-0-0-2. John Noel 3-0-0-6. Totals: 20-4-7-63 – four points are not accounted for. 

   74^TH ANNUAL FRANK J. CICARELL

   BOYS' BASKETBALL UNION COUNTY TOURNAMENT 

   PRELIMINARY ROUND:

   Sunday, Feb. 14

   At Rahway

   Dayton 57, Oratory Prep 41

   St. Mary's 64, Roselle Park 43

   Hillside 66, Roselle 60

   Scotch Plains-Fanwood 65, New Providence 60

   Johnson 67, Summit 54

   FIRST ROUND:

   Tuesday, Feb. 16

   At Johnson

   Elizabeth 54, Gov. Livingston 48

   St. Patrick defeated Hillside

   At Roselle Catholic

   Westfield 54, Dayton 46

   Union 61, St. Mary's 54

   Wednesday, Feb. 17

   At Roselle Catholic

   Rahway 51, Cranford 49

   Linden 89, Johnson 29

   At Rahway

   Roselle Catholic 49, Union Catholic 37

   Plainfield 67, Scotch Plains-Fanwood 28

   QUARTERFINALS:

   (the higher seeded teams wear home uniforms)

   Super Saturday at Roselle Catholic, Feb. 20.

   There will be two separate admissions.

   First admission:

   11-Rahway vs. 3-Linden, noon

   7-Roselle Catholic vs. 2-Plainfield, 1:30 p.m.

   Second admission:

   5-Westfield vs. 4-Union, 6 p.m.

   8-Elizabeth vs. 1-St. Patrick, 7:30 p.m.

   SEMIFINALS:

   (the higher seeded teams wear home uniforms)

   Wednesday, Feb. 24

   At the Dunn Sport Center in Elizabeth

   Bottom side of the bracket (3 and 2 seeds side), 6 p.m.

   Top side of the bracket (4 and 1 seeds side), 7:30 p.m.

   FINALS:

   (the higher seeded teams wear home uniforms)

   Saturday, Feb. 27

   At Kean University's Harwood Arena in Union

   Junior varsity: 1 p.m.

   Varsity: 3 p.m.