SPORTS WRAP
BY WILLIAM HATHAWAY, JR.
PHOTOS BY WILLIAM HATHAWAY, JR. & FELICIA LAGUERRE OWENS
It’s March, do you know what that means? March Madness is in play for local area basketball junkies who follow their local area teams in college and high school.
The New Jersey high school basketball version of MM has hit the Essex County area. In boys’ basketball, Payne Tech, who had their 14 game winning streak snapped after losing in the Essex County Tournament finals to Seton Hall Prep, took on Orange High School, who was coming off a big win over South Plainfield in the first round of the state tournament. Despite a good season and a 16-9 record, Orange lost to Payne 103-74.
Leading Payne Tech was Robert Foster with 28 points and 11 rebounds, while De-An Armstrong added 19 points for the 21-7 Lions. As of Monday, another area team that has qualified for state tournament action in Section 2 Group 1 would be Arts High, who defeated Ridgefield Park 83-31. Kareem Anthony had 15 points, Shelton Colwell added 14 points and Samaj Long had 13 points to lead the Jaguars to victory.
In girls’ state tournament action, the 15-10 University High basketball team defeated Beloved Charter 68-14. Paradise Fisher led the Lady Phoenix with 12 points and 6 rebounds and Brianna Holt had 15 points and 10 rebounds. Meanwhile, West Orange (22-7), who is coming off winning the Essex County Tournament championship, easily beat Memorial at home 87-13. Sophomore Rhyan Watt continued her great play for WOHS with 15 points and 3 rebounds while Anaya Karriem had 20 points and 5 rebounds.
A surprise team that reached postseason play was the Orange girls team. Head coach Kenia Luna led the Lady Tornadoes to some key wins this season, like beating Irvington at home in the Essex County Invitational Tournament 51-27. Another big victory was against Newark Tech 57-49. Leading Orange in the Newark Tech game was sophomore Shamia Fryer with 27 points and Phoenix Fraser with 16 points and 4 rebounds.
The Lady Tornadoes celebrated Senior Night during the last home game of the season, in which all the senior members of the basketball team were honored at halftime with teammates, their family and friends, Orange Superintendent of Schools Gerald Fitzhugh and Anthony Frantantoni, the Assistant Principal of Athletics and Academics.
The seniors that were honored on Senior Night were Luvenia Morton, Makaya Horton, Aryssa Black, Chantel Brewster, Kalea Epitime and Vanessa Clement. That evening, the team took on Somerville and took a tough loss 65-31. Leading Orange was Morton with 17 points and 4 rebounds. Sophomore Shamia Fryer had 6 points and 3 rebounds. OHS then competed in the first round of the state tournament, with a tough loss to Chatham.
In college basketball, the Seton Hall university women’s team won their last home game of the season, beating DePaul 76-67. SHU got a great effort from Savannah Catalon with 23 points and 9 rebounds. They too celebrated a Senior Night were all the seniors honored before the game. This included Amari Wright, Faith Masonius, Kayden Lawson and Ya Ya Lops.
On the men’s side, of the ball it was another tough loss on the road for Seton Hall against Big East regular season champion St. John’s at Madison Square Garden 71-61. Leading The Hall was Isaiah Coleman with 15 points and 6 rebounds, while senior Dylan Addae Wusu with 18 points.
