East Orange Campus HS boys hoops team looks to return to sectional final

EAST ORANGE, NJ — The East Orange High School boys basketball team is looking to get back to the state sectional championship game.

The Jaguars, under head coach Gabe Baltimore, received the No. 2 seed in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s North Jersey, Section 1, Group 4 state tournament. The top seed is Ridgewood. Last year, EOCHS lost at Ridgewood in the Section 1, Group 4 final. 

The Jaguars will host No. 15 seed Bergen County Tech in the first round on Thursday, Feb. 27. If the Jaguars win, they will face the winner between No. 7 seed Montclair and No. 10 seed Union City in the quarterfinals on Monday, March 3. The semifinals are Wednesday, March 5, and the final is Saturday, March 8, all at the higher-seeded sites.

The Jaguars extended their winning streak to five straight games after beating College Achieve Asbury Park and Columbia. EOCHS improved to 15-11 on the season.

Sophomore guard James Roberts had 26 points and seven rebounds; senior guard Ryan English had 18 points and two assists; senior guard/forward Carlyle Adams had 11 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots; and sophomore guard Elijah Caldwell had seven points and eight assists in the 76-69 home win over College Achieve Asbury Park on Tuesday, Feb. 18. Junior guard Bashir Lucas had six points and junior guard Tayshon Brown had five points and three rebounds. 

Adams had 18 points, nine rebounds, four blocked shots and three assists; and Caldwell had nine points, five assists and three rebounds in the 50-46 win over Columbia on Thursday, Feb. 20. English also had nine points with three assists and Amir Rosendary had four points and three rebounds. Senior forward Jaheem Dixon, Roberts, Lucas, Brown and senior forward Zechariah Lockett each had two points.