The Hudson County Basketball Tournament will begin this weekend, after the committee convened Tuesday morning to decide the seeding.
In the boys’ bracket, it was determined that two-time defending champion Hudson Catholic should be the No. 1 seed, followed by St. Peter’s Prep, then Bayonne and Marist.
It’s the fourth seed that irked Snyder head coach Shelton Gibbs. At 12-5, the Tigers are playing great basketball of late and Gibbs was certain that his team deserved the fourth seed over Marist, even though the two teams split their games during the regular season.
Gibbs cited a recent win for the Tigers over Memorial, a Group IV school. That win should have propelled Snyder into the fourth seed.
However, the Hudson County Tournament committee decided before the season that they were going to use the NJSIAA power point system in determining the seeds.
Therefore, Bayonne, a Group IV school, was going to have more power points than Snyder, a Group II school.
Gibbs was livid that the committee did not consider a Bayonne loss Saturday afternoon to Lincoln, a Group II school. Gibbs thought that the victory by a Group II school, one that Snyder had defeated twice this season, would give the committee enough to consider Snyder as one of the top four seeds.
That did not happen. Gibbs voiced his displeasure to Hudson County Interscholastic Athletic League president Rich Hansen of St. Peter’s Prep, who chaired the seeding procedures.
The complaint fell on deaf ears and Snyder remained the No. 5 seed. Gibbs was upset that he would now have to take his team on the road to face either Bayonne or Marist in a quarterfinal game.
The bottom line is this: The Hudson County Tournament committee set the rules about how they would determine seeding and if they stated that they were using the NJSIAA’s power point plan, then a Group II school like Snyder is going to be left holding the bag against a bigger school like Bayonne, which will secure its share of power points by simply being a Group IV school.
So it means that the smaller schools have a tougher road to travel in the tourney before the ball is even tossed up.
That’s just life. Gibbs also complained about having to play with the players that attend his school and the Parochial powers like Hudson Catholic, Prep and Marist can pick and choose which kids they want from all over.
That’s been happening for ages. There shouldn’t be a major gripe there.
Hey, no matter what, you have to play the game and then win the game. Seeding and ranking means nothing. Play the tournament game and if you win, then that’s a bigger story. The smaller schools are definitely the underdogs here, but to level the playing field, they have to be able to win the big game against the bigger school with the higher seed. Win the game, move on, get to a possible championship game and then make noise.
I love Gibbs since his playing days at St. Peter’s College and we have a good relationship. I tried to tell him that he was arguing on deaf ears, especially if it was determined beforehand that the NJSIAA power points were going to determine the seeds. With that rule in place, the smaller schools will be shortchanged, but that’s life. Win the games when they’re scheduled and then it becomes a bigger story, with a Cinderella smaller school going to face off against the big boys…
In basketball news, St. Peter’s Prep has been on a roll of late, earning a huge win over Roselle Catholic over the weekend, 71-62. Sophomore sensation Veer Singh continues to get a bigger role with the Marauders, scoring 20 points, while senior Austin White added 18 for the Marauders, now 17-2…
Adam Traore came off the bench to score 23 points in Hudson Catholic’s win over Marist. The Hawks have been looking for that standout scorer all season. Maybe the senior Traore, one of the most experienced of the young Hawks, can take the bull by the horns….
Dickinson had an astounding 12 players score in a huge win over Asbury Park. Emmanuel Okoye paced the Rams with 14 points. The Rams placed five players in double figures in the win, showing tremendous balance…
Jhonny Sanchez of Union City tossed in a game-high 23 points in a win over Kearny, enabling the Soaring Eagles to get back to .500 at 9-9…
In girls’ basketball, Lincoln’s junior forward Kiante Johnson also joined the 1,000-point club, when she scored 19 points in a win over St. Anthony. Johnson is clearly playing like the best all-around player in the county…
St. Dominic Academy is on a huge roll, winning six straight to improve to 13-5…
In wrestling, St. Peter’s Prep won the Hudson County Duals title for the sixth straight season and now heads to the very competitive NJSIAA Non-Public A North sectionals, where the Marauders were slated to face Don Bosco Prep…
The Bruins of North Bergen were the top seed in the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 1, Group IV bracket with a very good shot of coming away with a sectional title…
In closing, Marist athletic director Ron Hayward did a very classy thing Tuesday night, when he presented the family of the late James Felton his retired No. 23 jersey.
Felton, the former Marist standout, who went on to play at St. John’s and later Fairleigh Dickinson, died a few years ago due to complications from diabetes at the age of 26.
Not only did Hayward give Felton’s young son
Acknowledging Pignatello and his relationship with Felton was an extremely classy move and Hayward deserves all the credit in the world for making it happen…
Hudson Reporter Boys’ H.S. Basketball Top Five: 1. St. Anthony (13-4). 2. Hudson Catholic (18-2). 3. St. Peter’s Prep (18-2). 4. Bayonne (13-7). 5. Marist (12-6)…
Hudson Reporter Girls’ H.S. Basketball Top Five: 1. Lincoln (17-2). 2. Bayonne (17-2). 3. Secaucus (14-5). 4. North Bergen (16-4). 5. St. Dominic (13-5)…–Jim Hague
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.