BHS boys' basketball team advances to ECT quarterfinals

By Joe Ragozzino
Sports editor
This time, it was a little bit easier for the Bloomfield High School boys’ varsity basketball team.
Jameel Patterson scored 25 points to go along with 10 steals and five assists and fellow junior guard Jaleel Jimenez had 16 points and three steals as the third-seeded Bengals began its Essex County Tournament run with a 73-61 home win over No. 14 seed Orange in the round of 16 last Saturday Feb. 4.
The win came four days after the Bengals beat Orange, 61-60, in a Super Essex Conference-Liberty Division game at BHS.
Junior guard Isaiah Dockett also had 15 points, five assists and four steals and senior center Amid Henderson added nine points and eight rebounds for the Bengals in the ECT win.
The Bengals, who received byes in the first and second rounds of the preliminary, won their fourth straight to improve to 13-3 and will host sixth-seeded Irvington in the quarterfinals this Saturday Feb. 11.
In the divisional win over Orange on Jan. 31, Henderson had 18 points and seven rebounds and Jimenez also had 18 points with five rebounds. Dockett had 10 points, four rebounds and five assists, Patterson had seven points, seven rebounds and seven assists, junior guard John Varner had six points and senior forward Keith Barrow had four rebounds and five assists with two points.
Essex County Tournament
Round of 16
No. 1 Seton Hall Prep defeated No. 16 East Orange Campus, 58-44
No. 9 Newark Vocational defeated No. 8 Shabazz, 67-66
No. 12 Bloomfield Tech defeated No. 5 East Side, 41-38
No. 4 Columbia defeated No. 20 Verona, 64-57
No. 2 Newark Tech defeated No. 18 Weequahic, 60-50
No. 7 University defeated No. 10 Montclair, 67-54
No. 6 Irvington defeated No. 11 Central, 72-45
No. 3 Bloomfield defeated No. 14 Orange, 73-61
Quarterfinals, Feb. 11
No. 9 Newark Vocational at No. 1 Seton Hall Prep, 1 p.m.
No. 12 Bloomfield Tech at No. 5 Columbia, noon
No. 7 University at No. 2 Newark Tech, 1 p.m.
No. 6 Irvington at No. 3 Bloomfield, 3 p.m.