ORANGE, NJ – This time, the tables turned.
Supreme Cook scored on a tip-in at the buzzer to lift the East Orange Campus High School boys’ varsity basketball team to a pulsating 46-45 win over Orange High School in the ninth annual OHS M.L.K. Classic on Monday, Jan. 15.
Cook’s heroics capped a sensational game as he finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds in this Super Essex Conference-Liberty Division game. Dimitri Austin also had 11 points for the Jaguars, who improved to 6-6 overall and 3-3 in the division.
For Orange, D’Angelo Blackmand scored 19 points and Henry Jean-Baptiste had 18 points. The loss was the Tornadoes’ third in a row and moved their overall record to 3-7 and division record to 1-5.
The game was similar to the teams’ division meeting on Jan. 5 when Blackmand scored on a layup with 20 seconds left to give the Tornadoes a 45-44 win at EOCHS.
In previous action, Cook scored 18 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked three shots to lead the Jaguars to a 68-44 home win over Newark Tech on Jan. 9 in a division game. Austin had 12 points and Dylan Grant added 11 points. Maliki Gayton had seven points; Mario Gunn pulled down eight rebounds and added two points; Dwight Pressley scored six points; Deshawn Roberson had two points and grabbed five rebounds; and Al-Hahj Kandel had two points and four rebounds.
The Jaguars lost to Newark Central, 69-60, Jan. 11 in a division game at home. Austin scored 24 points and Cook had 21 points. Gayton had nine points; Grant had four and Gunn added two points.
EOCHS fell to Don Bosco Prep, 72-43, in the Public vs.Private Showcase at Bergen Community College in Paramus on Saturday, Jan. 13.
Orange lost at Bloomfield, 49-30, Jan. 11, in a division game.