SPF Hoops Teams Enter County Tournaments from the Eight-Spot

The boys’ and girls’ varsity basketball teams each received the eighth-seed Wednesday for their upcoming county tournaments. 

The Boys
The 75th Annual Frank J. Cicarell boys’ basketball Union County Tournament will commence Thursday and continue with preliminary round games Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Scotch Plains is scheduled to battle 17th-seeded Hillside Sunday at noon at Rahway in the first of six games scheduled to be played at Earl H. Walter Gymnasium that day. Scotch Plains swept the Comets in Union County Conference-Mountain Division competition, winning 78-61 at home on Jan. 20 and 80-48 on the road last Friday. 

The top four seeds went to UCC-Watchung Division teams St. Patrick’s Prep, Linden, Plainfield and Union. 

St. Patrick is 19-0 and has already captured the Watchung Division title for the first time at 10-0, with two league games to go. The Celtics have won 25 games in a row going back to last year. 

“I think our county tournament is the toughest in the state,” said Scotch Plains standout senior shooting guard Charles Oliver, who is averaging 26 points and just scored the 1,000th point of his career. “Not only do you have St. Patrick, the No. 1 team in the country, but you have good teams like Linden, Plainfield and Union.” 

Scotch Plains, with an overall record of 14-7 and a final 10-4 mark in the UCC’s Mountain Division, will host Dayton Thursday night at 7 in a conference-crossover contest.

If the Raiders win their UCT preliminary and first round contests, they will play St. Patrick’s in the quarterfinals.

“It’s tough across the board and not many county tournaments have that,” said Oliver, who played at St. Benedict’s his freshman year and at Seton Hall Prep his sophomore season before transferring to Scotch Plains last year.

Scotch Plains has had trouble holding leads in recent games, including Tuesday’s 67-64 overtime Mountain Division home setback to in-town rival Union Catholic. The defeat cost the Raiders the division crown, with GL to play at Roselle Catholic for the championship – most likely after both are eliminated from UCT play. 

 “We just have to learn how to finish games again and not let the other team get back in the game,” Oliver said.

Scotch Plains led Union Catholic by as many as 10 points in the second quarter and nine at the half. The visiting Vikings then began the third quarter on a 13-0 run to take the lead again and eventually found a way to beat the Raiders in overtime. 

“We’ll go back to the drawing board and figure it out,” Oliver said. 

Union Catholic, with an overall record of 7-9 and a Mountain Division mark of 7-6, earned the 13th seed and will play 12th-seeded Elizabeth Sunday at 3 p.m. at Rahway. 

The Girls
The 36th Annual Frank J. Cicarell girls’ basketball UCT also commences Thursday and will continue with preliminary round games Saturday at Roselle Catholic and Rahway.

Scotch Plains will play 17th-seeded and archrival Westfield Saturday at 3 p.m. at Rahway. The teams split in UCC-Watchung Division play, with Scotch Plains winning 41-28 at home on Dec. 23 and Westfield winning 41-39 at home on Jan. 29. 

Scotch Plains lost at Roselle Catholic 61-35 Tuesday night to slip to 11-8 overall and 8-5 in the Watchung Division.

Union Catholic, which won at Johnson 47-37 Tuesday afternoon to snap a three-game losing streak and improve to 8-7 overall and 5-7 in the Mountain Division, was awarded the 13th seed and will play 12th-seeded Dayton Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Roselle Catholic.

Dayton, which leads the Valley Division at 11-1, is the second-hottest team in Union County behind Roselle Catholic. The Bulldogs are 14-3 overall and have won 12 straight. 

Two-time defending champion Roselle Catholic earned the top seed for the second straight season and will attempt to become the first team to win three consecutive UCTs since Elizabeth did so in 1995, 1996 and 1997. 

The Lions are 18-1, have won 14 straight, and have already captured the UCC’s Watchung Division title with a 12-0 record and two league games remaining. RC won the Mountain Division crown last year.

New Providence is the second seed, Governor Livingston the third and Cranford the fourth.

For both UCTs, just like what was done for the soccer UCTs this past fall, the top four seeds receive byes right into the quarterfinals.

The championship games will be at Kean University, with times still to be determined. The boys’ final will be Feb. 26 and the girls’ Feb. 27.