BHS boys' hoops gear up for ECT

By Joe Ragozzino
Sports editor
The Bloomfield High School boys’ varsity basketball team hopes to make a strong run in the Essex County Tournament.
The third-seeded Bengals will begin play this Saturday Feb. 4 in the round of 16 at BHS and will face the second round preliminary winner between No. 14 seed Orange and No. 19 seed West Orange, which will be held on Feb. 2 at Orange High at 5:30 p.m. The Bengals received byes in the first and second rounds of the preliminary.
The Bengals bounced back from a tough loss to Newark Tech with two straight wins.
Junior guard Jameel Patterson had 26 points and 11 rebounds, senior forward Keith Barrow had 13 points, eight rebounds and three assists and junior guard Jaleel Jimenez had 10 points, five assists and five steals in the 53-47 home win over Bridgewater-Raritan last Saturday. With the win, the Bengals improved to 11-3.
The Bengals dropped a heartbreaking 53-52 decision to a good Newark Tech on Jan. 24 at BHS.
Newark Tech’s Kemoko Turay made a putback with 12 seconds left for a one-point lead. The Bengals had a chance to win it, but  Jimenez missed a shot in the paint at the buzzer. Jimenez led all scorers with 18 points and junior guard Isaiah Dockett had 16 points for the Bengals, who rallied from a 42-30 deficit at the end of the third quarter, but came up short.
Patterson scored eight points and senior center Ahmid Henderson had six points. The loss snapped the Bengals’ five-game winning streak. Newark Tech improved to 11-3 with the win.
Patterson scored 34 points with eight rebounds and Jimenez had 12 points, four rebounds, six assists and four steals as BHS recovered with a 79-43 win over West Side two days later in Newark. The Bengals led 25-6 at the end of the first quarter and 48-13 at halftime. Dockett had 10 points, three rebounds, six assists and two steals and junior forward Luke Jackson had eight points in the win.