By William Hathaway
The New Jersey High School basketball season is now in full swing. So far, there are no fans allowed at high school games due to COVID-19, but Governor Phil Murphy announced this past week that he will allow seniors’ parents into the games, although no area schools have announced it yet.
Despite the pandemic, some local teams are doing well this season. The Orange Tornadoes boys’ basketball team started the season off with a tough 60-50 loss to Newark Tech, but with wins on the road against West Orange, Shabazz and most recently, at home against West Side. The East Orange boys’ basketball Jaguars have started with a 4-1 record, with key wins over Newark Tech, Montclair, Irvington and West Orange, but took a tough loss to Central High School.
Columbia’s boys’ team is 5-2, and scored a 66-61 win over University to continue their five game winning streak. However, that came to an end at the hands of East Side High. Seton Hall Prep has started off with a 4-1 record with one of those wins coming over Payne Tech. Irvington also notched a win over Payne and Seton Hall Prep, but lost hard to the Phoenix of University High School 87-60.
In college basketball, the Seton Hall men’s basketball team won a big game home against Marquette 57-51. The Pirates overcome turnovers, and were led by Jared Rhoden’s 20 points and Sandro Mamukelashvili’s 11 points and 10 rebounds. SHU has come off of back to back wins on the road against UConn and Providence after three straight losses. The Pirates are in the running for a spot in this year’s NCAA Tournament, with a 12-8 overall and a 9-5 record in the Big East Conference.
The Seton Hall women’s basketball team has had some key victories this season, with one at Providence and other wins on the road against Butler, Marquette, St. John’s, and Georgetown.
