Thursday,
February 26, 2015
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Hudson Catholic's Nassir Barrino controlled the game with his on the ball pressure in a 68-43 win over Union City in the Hudson County Tournament semifinals. |
JERSEY CITY – As a three-time defending Hudson County Tournament champion and the top seed this year, Hudson Catholic has no shortage of confidence. But there was reason for the Hawks to pause heading into last night's Hudson County semifinal. In their lone regular season meeting with their opponent, Union City gave the Hawks everything they could handle for three-and-a-half quarters by slowing down the pace of the game. A replay of that adventure, however, was not in the cards on Wednesday night as the Hawks set the tone early and never looked back.
Four different players scored as Hudson Catholic raced out to a quick lead. Nassir Barrino had a game-high 14 points and Sammy Friday netted 11 of his 13 in the first half to lift the No. 1 seed into a fourth straight Hudson County final with a 68-43 victory over fourth-seeded Union City at the Yanitelli Center on the campus of Saint Peter's University in Jersey City.
“It means a lot to us to come out tonight and take another step towards being county champs,” said Barrino. “We made it tough for them to catch the ball and we did a better job of getting in the passing lanes than we did the first time we played them. Our number one goal was to speed them up and make them play at our pace, which we did.”
When these team met back in mid-January, Union City took advantage of the Hawks penchant for taking quick shots and controlled the pace of the game throughout. It was completely the opposite this time with Hudson Catholic forcing the pace and, in turn, several early turnovers. Barrino and Marion Williams had transition layups off of turnovers in the first 90 seconds. After the first quarter, the Hawks were firmly in control with a 15-point lead, 21-6.
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Anthony Gomez scored 9 points to top Union City, which fell to 17-7. |
The dominance continued in the second quarter. The Soaring Eagles had no answers for Friday on the inside. The 6-foot-7 senior center dominated the paint, including a thunderous two-handed flush, to make it 26-8. Freshman guard Jahvon Quinerly was equally as impressive, scoring eight of his 10 points in the second quarter with Hudson Catholic doubling up the Soaring Eagles by halftime, 42-21.
The lead never got below 20 in the second half as Barrino directed the offense and made it difficult for the Soaring Eagles to gain any traction by smothering their primary ball-handler defensively.
“Last time we played them they really slowed us down and we couldn't let that happen again,” said Barrino. “This is our fourth year going to the championship game. For the seniors, this is our last shot and we want to leave as champions.”
Barrino had a solid overall performance with 14 points, six rebounds, and six assists for Hudson Catholic (21-3). Friday had a double-double of 13 points and ten rebounds. Luther Muhammad and Quinerly added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Anthony Gomez led the way for Union City (17-7) with nine points.
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Luther Muhammad scored 11 points for Hudson Catholic, which will play Maristy in the county final on Friday. |
The Soaring Eagles are the No. 7 seed in the North 1, Group 4 state sectional tournament and will get a home game on Monday night against 10th-seeded Montclair.
Hudson Catholic now has a chance to defend its title when it faces second-seeded Marist on Friday night. The game will be played at Saint Peter's University with an 8:00 P.M. tip-off. The Hawks handled the Royal Knights easily in the first meeting. But now with Asante Gist, a Roselle Catholic transfer now eligible and playing well for Marist, Hawks' head coach Nick Marinello knows it will be a different atmosphere the second time around.
“I really like the way we played in the first half tonight, but we need that effort and intensity for a full 32 minutes on Friday night,” said Marinello. “You work hard all off-season, all through practice, and all through the season to get to where we are right now. Tomorrow is another day and we have to work harder in practice than we did in tonight's game. Marist is a talented team that's different than they were when we faced them earlier in the season. The lapses we had in the second half tonight at ones we can't afford on Friday if we expect to win.”
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