No. 2 seed Irvington HS boys basketball team tops Orange to advance to ECT quarterfinals; Karriem Thomas scores 1,000th career point

IRVINGTON, NJ — Senior guard Karriem Thomas scored 15 points, including his 1,000th career point, to lead the second-seeded Irvington High School boys basketball team to a 77-60 win over 15th-seeded Orange in the Essex County Tournament round of 16 on Friday, Feb. 7.

Thomas also had six assists as the Blue Knights improved to 18-1 with their 10th win in a row.

Senior forward Moses Pierre had 19 points and five rebounds, senior guard Nazameir Brooks had 15 points, senior guard Kymani Dunbar had eight points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals, senior guard Dezyln Sebastien had four points, five assists and three rebounds, and junior guard JhaZaire Head had four points. Senior forward Kyle Benson had two points and five rebounds and junior Kyle McIntosh had two points.

The Blue Knights will host a quarterfinal game on Saturday, Feb. 15 against the winner of No. 7 seed and three-time defending champion Newark East Side and No. 10 Newark Tech. IHS fell to Newark Tech, 66-60, Jan. 14 at Newark Tech for its only loss of the season.

In their previous game, Pierre had 30 points and 14 rebounds and Thomas scored 13 points with seven assists in the 63-55 win over Bloomfield on Feb. 4 in Bloomfield in a Super Essex Conference game. Dunbar had 10 points, Brooks had eight points and Sebastien had five rebounds.