St. Benedict 69, Taft 43

Both teams are doing their pre-game circle chants and we should be underway soon! Both teams come out tight, some ugly shots on both sides. St. Benedict gets on the board first with a bucket from Corey Stokes, answered with one for Taft by Carter. The Gray Bees big wide bodies are giving Taft some trouble early. Stokes with a couple of nice short jumpers and Benedict is up by eight. Zach Rosen's three puts Benedict up 13, 17-4. A four point first quarter is rough for Taft.

2nd quarter opens with a 11-0 run for Taft punctuated with Garrett Green, Larry Drew and Justin Hawkins back to back to back three-pointers. NBA three for Corey Stokes ends that Gray Bees scoring drought. Another three from Rosen and TWO back to back from Tamir Jackson, extending the Benedict lead to 15. Just tons of threes being shot - lots of misses too. Taft is struggling right now. Rosen steals a bad pass and lays it up. a 15-0 run for St. Benedict makes it 32-12 with 2:29 before halftime. Another three from Stokes and a huge slam by Samardo Samuels makes it a 20-0 run, 37-15. Rosen layup and Samuel layup, 24-0 run. Last possession Rosen takes the inbounds, runs down the clock and drains a leaner, 43-15 at the half. Stokes has 14, Rosen 12 and Samuels 10 at the half. Justin Hawkins leads Taft with five.

The game is a bit more even so far in the second half but at 50-24, Taft has dug themselves a huge hole. The dunk-fest has started for the Gray Bees with about four to go as the lead extends to 27.

Taft 4 11 14 14 -43
St. Benedict 17 26 14 12 - 69

Taft - T. Carter 10, J. Hawkins 10, L. Drew 9, B. Smith 6, G. Green 3, D. Brumfield 2, S. Fowler 2, B. Kamwa 1. Leading rebounders - T. Carter 8, J. Hawkins 5. Assist leaders - Drew 1.

St. Benedict - C. Stokes 16, S. Samuel 15, Z. Rosen 14, T. Jackson 13, G. Echenique 7, D. McMillan 4. Leading rebounders - C. Stokes 7, S. Samuel 7. Assist leaders - Z. Rosen 5.

St. Benedict 70, St. Raymond's 67 (OT)

It's a saintly battle in the final game of the night as Newark's St. Benedict Gray Bees against Ravens of St. Raymond's from the Bronx. This is one of those games with big bodies, hauling up and down the court. It's been fun to watch.

The Gray Bees opened hot but the Ravens outscored them in the 2nd quarter by five to take a one point lead to halftime. St. Raymond's Gerald Coles has hit two three-pointers, one from NBA range. St. Raymond' s Corey Stokes has hit three three-pointers and has four rebounds. Coles has 10 at the half for the Ravens, Stokes leads the Gray Bees with 13.

Stokes and Samardo Samuels have got the Gray Bees in control of the game and entire Benedict defense has picked it up a notch. Samuels has a scary block and just stood there over the player he blocked. He wasn't taunting really but he just looked so menacing. The Ravens scored just four points in the third. End of three, score is 45-34.

The Ravens will not let up and rally to cut the margin to three with 1:29 left. Daryl Bryant's layup makes it a one point game, 54-53. With 43 seconds left, a goal tend by Samuels on a Coles' drive gives the Ravens a tying bucket. And that's the way it ends for regulation, 55-55.

The Gray Bees strike first with a couple of buckets but a tKevin Parrom comes up big in overtime with two huge three-point shots, the last over the long outstretched arms of a defender. Raven's Lenny McNeil misses two free throws with 15 seconds left. With 13 seconds left, Samuels is fouled and makes one of two, 70-67 St. Benedicts. St. Raymond's was led by Coles with 27, Parrom with 15 and Bryant 14. St. Benedict got 24 from Samuels and 20 from Stokes.

St. Raymonds 12 18 4 21 12 - 67
St. Benedict 16 13 16 10 15 - 70

St. Raymonds - G. Coles 27, K. Parrom 15, D Bryant 14, O. Lawrence 6, L. McNeil 3, D. Benbow 2. Leading rebounder - D. Benbow 5. Assist leader - four with one.

St. Benedict - S. Samuels 24, C. Stokes 20, G. Echenique 8, D. McMillan 8, T. Jackson 5, Z. Rosen 5. Leading rebounder - C. Stokes 7, G. Echenique 6. Assist leader - three with one.

St. Benedict 74, Broughton 48

St. Benedict opens up on a 17-4 run but Broughton weathers the storm and hangs around. With 2:22 left in the first half, Brock Young is fouled and makes the free throw to complete a three-point play and all of a sudden the score 34-26, just an eight point lead.

That didn't last long as the halftime score was 42-28. The Gray Bees just had too much firepower tonight despite a gritty effort by Broughton.

Brock Young led the Caps with 16. St. Benedict was led by Corey Stokes with 21 points and Samardo Samuels with 20.

Broughton 15 13 12 8 - 48
St Benedict 24 18 23 9 - 74

Broughton - B. Young 16, W. Aldridge 10, S. Mason 8, T. Howard 7, L. Davis 3, D. Ellis 2, D. Randolph 2. Leading rebounder - S. Mason 8. Leading assist - B. Young 5.

St Benedict - C. Stokes 21, S. Samuels 20, T. Jackson 9, G. Echenique 8, D. McMillan 6, J. Wilson 5, Z. Rosen 4, A. Alexis 1. Leading rebounder - C. Stokes 6. Leading assist - D. McMillan 2.