Bloomfield HS boys’ basketball team advances in Essex County Tournament

BLOOMFIELD – Najeem Wilson scored 21 points to lead the Bloomfield High School boys’ varsity basketball team to a convincing 56-33 home win over Newark Collegiate in the Essex County Tournament second preliminary round on Feb. 6.

Francis Lorenzo scored nine points and Mike Ramos had eight points for the 14th-seeded Bengals, who snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to a 7-12 record. Newark Collegiate was seeded No. 31.

The Bengals will host No. 19 seed North 13th Street Tech in the third preliminary round on Feb. 11 at 4 p.m. The winner will visit third-seeded University in Newark on Feb. 13 in the first round.

In previous action, the Bengals lost at West Side, 57-48, Feb. 2 in Newark. Brandon Abplanalp had 11 points; Ramos had 10 points; Myles Toppin contributed nine points; Wilson had seven points and Kyle Barrow scored six points.

Wilson scored 12 points and Toppin and Ramos each had nine in the 52-41 home loss to Montclair on Feb. 4.