Celtics Basketball Posts Another Exciting Weekend

While the St. Joseph Celtics Varsity 8th Grade Boys lost their home opener on Sunday to St. James of Springfield 51 to 46, both teams pressed and ran which led to an exciting, high-scoring game. St. Joseph was paced by Dalen Thompson with 17 points, Garland Barham with 10 pints, and Julien Henry with 8 points. Barham also pulled down 10 rebounds. The Celtics Varsity 8th Grade Boys are now 1-1.

The Celtics Junior Varsity 5th & 6th Grade Girls defeated St. Teresa's Sunday 34 to 7. The Celtics had a balanced offensive attack with seven girls scoring, lead by Connie Labat 10 points and Lilly Young with 6 points. Four other players scored 4 points each. The very good defensive effort was lead by Olivia Smith and Kristen Stoica pulling down 5 rebounds each, and Lilly Young and Emily Brown each accomplishing 3 steals.

Thomas Fetner and Tyler Perry led the Celtics Junior Varsity 6th Grade Boys to a 30 to 17 victory over Our Lady of Peace from New Providence in the season opener of the Union County CYO season. Fetner and Perry each scored 10 points, many of which came from passes by point guards CJ Carey and Zach Chmiel. The Celtics pounded the glass, pulling down 29 rebounds. Fetner and Sean Grafing had six boards each. Carey also nabbed four rebounds and had three steals. The Celtics face St. Helen's of Westfield at 5 pm this Saturday, at home in Maplewood.

The Celtics Junior Varsity 5th Grade Boys opened the season with a thriller against All Saints Catholic Academy from Bayonne. The game was played at a frantic pace with the lead changing multiple times. Jake Wozniak and Luke Burke led the offensive charge with solid defense from Liam Garland, Darius Plummer, and Casey Thompson. Bayonne sank a free throw with five seconds remaining to force overtime. In overtime, All Saints enjoyed a 1-point lead until Pat Ryan stole the ball and scored at the buzzer to clinch the 19-18 victory for the Celtics.