WEST ORANGE, NJ — Senior guard Ethan Maynard scored 14 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter, including 11 in the final 2:33, to give the top-seeded Seton Hall Prep basketball team a come-from-behind 51-45 victory over fourth-seeded Montclair Immaculate in the semifinals of the 76th Essex County Tournament at Tarnoff Gymnasium at West Orange High School this past Saturday, Feb. 11.
The Pirates, who improved to 18-4, will have a chance to defend their Essex County title on Saturday, Feb. 18, in the final against second-seeded Arts High School at Essex County College in Newark at 1 p.m. They will be making their 30th final appearance and attempting to capture their 19th ECT title.
Down 43-39 with 2:58 left in the game, Maynard hit a three-pointer to cut the Immaculate lead to 43-42 with 2:33 left before hitting six consecutive free throws to give the Pirates a 48-43 lead with 45 seconds left. Maynard also had six rebounds while senior Shawn Lyght scored 15 points with five rebounds and senior Darrius Phillips scored 8 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.
After the game Maynard said, “I knew my team could bounce back, it is the Seton Hall way. We all hit the ground, got dirty with lots of hustle, and kept level-headed and just remained ready for the next moment.”
Lyght added, “I just wanted to try and bring energy and help keep our guys going. We have five senior starters and we know it is a game of runs and our guys really responded well down the stretch and now we are heading back to the county final.”
At the start of the third quarter, Immaculate went on a 10-0 run to lead 30-18 with 4:12 left but the Pirates closed out the quarter with an 11-0 run of their own, including a buzzer-beating jumper from senior guard Jackson Bleecker to close the gap to 30-29.
SHP 12th-year head coach Kevin Williams commented on his team’s performance. “When they went on that run to go up 12, we called a timeout and at that point things could have gone either way. We just said to get one bucket at a time and then one stop at a time and rebound.”
On Tuesday, Feb. 7, the Pirates traveled to the Ironbound section of Newark to take on East Side. Seton Hall dropped a hard-fought 49-46 overtime game to the Red Raiders. Trailing 42-40 with 2:04 left in the fourth quarter, the Pirates tied the score when Maynard hit Bleecker with a pass down low in the box, and he hit a layup with 7 seconds left in regulation. Bleecker finished with 11 points while Phillips scored 9 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three blocks, Maynard also finished with 9 points, seven rebounds and three assists; and senior guard Isaiah Shoyombo also scored 9 points with three rebounds, three assists and two steals.
The Pirates, seeded fourth, will host No. 13 seed Pope John XXIII of Sparta in the first round of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Non-Public North A state tournament on Wednesday, Feb. 22.
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