Junior George Kinzler shoots over a Cedar Grove player in the Ridgers' home win in the Essex County Tournament preliminary second round on Feb. 4. Juniors David Weissenberger (#21) and Tyler Liddy (#0) look on and get in position for the rebound. Photo by Steve Ellmore.
GLEN RIDGE, NJ (updated Sunday Feb. 19, 5:42 p.m.) – The No. 1-seeded Glen Ridge High School boys’ varsity basketball team hopes to make a strong run in the postseason.
The Ridgers, who had a stellar 18-5 record through Feb. 18, will host No. 16 seed North Star Academy in the first round of the North Jersey Section 2, Group 1 state tournament on Feb. 28 at 8 p.m. The winner will face the winner between No. 9 seed Arts and No. 8 seed Newark Collegiate in the quarterfinals on March 2 at the higher-seeded school. The semifinals are March 4 and the final is March 6.
Junior Tyler Liddy had 16 points, five steals and four assists to lead the Ridgers to a 46-31 win at Newark Academy in a Super Essex Conference-Freedom Division game in Livingston. Sophomore Liam Gunnarsson scored 14 points and senior Charlie DeLuca had six points for the Ridgers
On GRHS Senior Night, Liddy had 25 points and six rebounds and Gunnarsson and senior Max Thompson each had seven points in the 51-31 home win over Caldwell on Feb. 16 in a divisional game. Junior Avery Hackett had six points; junior David Weissenberger and DeLuca each had two points; junior George Kinzler added one point and five rebounds; senior Ryan Liddy pulled down five rebounds and senior Stephen Hoebee-Elardo added a free throw for GRHS. It was the final division game of the season as the Ridgers finished with a 12-2 mark in the division. Weequahic finished first with a 13-1 divisional mark. Both GRHS losses in the division were against Weequahic.
Liddy had 19 points and four rebounds in the 45-24 win at Roselle Park on Saturday, Feb. 18, in a non-conference game. Weissenberger had nine points; senior Max Thompson had seven points and Hackett notched six points for the Ridgers.
GRHS head coach Liam Carr stressed to his team the importance of taking things one game at a time and not look too far ahead.
“As we gravitate towards the state tournament, our primary concern is finishing the regular season strong,” said Carr in an email to The Glen Ridge Paper on Friday, Feb. 17. “Our motto all season has been to focus one practice, one opponent, one game at a time. So our primary focus today is Roselle Park.
“Our six seniors recognized last night were Stephen Hoebee-Elardo, Charlie DeLuca, Ryan Liddy, Max Thompson. The remaining two are our manages Margaret Smith and Alexandra Manolis.”
GRHS notable stats through Feb. 18:
Tyler Liddy, 23 games, 15.1 points per game, 3.9 assists per game, 4.2 rebounds per game, 2.9 steals per game.
Ryan Liddy, 23 games, 2.1 points per game, 2.7 rebounds per game.
Liam Gunnarsson, 22 games, 9.0 points, 2.1 rebounds.
Charlie DeLuca, 23 games, 7.5 points, 4.3 rebounds.
George Kinzler, 22 games, 3.3 points, 3.5 rebounds.
Avery Hackett, 21 games, 2.8 points.
David Weissenberger, 23 games, 5.2 points, 3.2 rebounds.
Max Thompson, 23 games, 6.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.6 steals.
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