#13 Union Catholic Wins County

Harwood Arena at Kean University was the site for the championship game of the 87th Union County Tournament, one of the most coveted prizes in New Jersey Basketball. #13 Union Catholic put on a clinic against #11 Roselle Catholic and took the hardware back to Scotch Plains with a 66-56 victory, with GSBR coverage courtesy of Wheelie Good Pierogi.

The game got off to a thunderous start thanks to a dunk by 6'11" Vikings junior Yaw Ansong, which set the tone for the game from the getgo. UC used that as fuel to play a high octane first quarter at both ends of the floor and led 17-13 after the opening eight minutes.

With 6'4" senior Elijah Peters on the bench with two fouls, 6'6" senior Terrance Wood, the ultimate "glue guy" for UC the last two years off the bench, took over in the second. Wood had 6 points and 3 boards in the second to give the Vikings a massive spark off the bench to survive the best RC push of the game to lead 28-25 at the half.

In the third, junior point guard AJ Altobelli put together one of his finest quarters of high school basketball, driving the bus for an 18-9 UC quarter that saw 6'8" junior FK Muntari score 7 points and Ansong throw down two more dunk. UC played suffocating defense, forcing Roselle's offense to sputter to the tune of just three made shots. UC led 46-34 going to the fourth.

In spite of a spirited fourth quarter, RC could get no closer than 9 the rest of the way, as UC won 66-56.

The UC Frontcourt was dominant on the day with Muntari(15), Ansong(14) and Wood(11) all in double digits. Sharpshooting junior guard Luke Schorr delievered down the stretch, going 5 of 6 on the free throw line to help seal the victory. Jalen Grant led RC with 18 in defeat.