Glen Ridge fifth grade boys basketball team enjoys great season

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Pictured is the Glen Ridge fifth grade boys basketball team. Front row from left: Stuart Gold, Matt Morris, Brad Foster, Jayden Harrington, Mason Giamo, and Aiden Bayne. Middle row: David Manzo, Oliver Kleinberg, Chris Vigna, Jaden Teyan, Charlie Killen, Jake Machemer, and Daniel Pelayo. Top row: coaches Neil Kleinberg, Clark Machemer, and Stu Gold.

GLEN RIDGE, NJ – The Glen Ridge fifth grade boys basketball team enjoyed a great season.

After winning the Fourth Grade B flight of the North Jersey Junior Basketball League last year, the team moved up to the A division this year. The team finished the league regular season with a record of 14-2 and second place.

In the playoffs, they beat Allendale, 48-31; Ridgewood, 44-27; and No. 1 seed Wayne PAL, 39-29. In addition to its regular season, the team started the year off by winning the fifth grade division of the Wayne PAL Thanksgiving Shootout.

Overall, the team’s record for the year was 24-3.

A signature of the team was strong man-to-man defense led by Brad Foster and anchored by Jaden Teyan and offensively characterized by unselfish passing of point guard David Manzo, slashing drives of guard Jayden Harrington, along with a strong inside game led by Chris Vigna and Charlie Killen. Jake Machemer and Oliver Kleinberg both provided good spot-up shooting and crisp team fundamentals.

Throughout the year the boys all improved as displayed by greater margins of victory when playing a team for a second, third time or fourth time.