WEST ORANGE, NJ — The Seton Hall Prep basketball team continued its consistent play, winning two games last week to extend its winning streak to nine games and improve to 11-5.
In addition, the Pirates received the No. 3 seed in the 74th Essex County Tournament and will host a round of 16 game on Feb. 8 against either No. 19 seed Millburn or No. 14 Montclair at 2 p.m.
The Pirates traveled to Newark to take on West Side on Jan. 28 and defeated the Rough Riders, 71-56. Gavin Flowers had 11 points while Giye Jenkins also scored 11 points with four rebounds and six assists and Mike Curran had 11 points with 11 rebounds, eight assists and four steals. Mason Morial had nine points with four assists.
The Pirates traveled down the Garden State Parkway to Atlantic City High School to participate in the 26th Battle By The Bay Basketball Invitational on Feb. 1. They faced one of the top teams in South Jersey in Wildwood Catholic and won, 64-44.
Seton Hall was led by Gary Hinds, who scored 16 points with five rebounds. Zander Zebrowski had 13 points, six rebounds and five assists; Morial also scored 13 points with four assists; Jenkins scored 11 points with seven rebounds and four steals; and Curran scored eight points with six rebounds.
Following the game, ninth-year head coach Kevin Williams commented, “We just kept looking for the open man. Guys were really unselfish as they have been for the past month. This is the time of the year that you want to be playing your best basketball and you also want to challenge yourself.” Hinds, a senior guard, said, “We were looking to come out strong and fast and we did that outscoring them by almost 10 points (21-12).” Jenkins said, “We suffocated them at the offensive end and that allowed us to get in transition and make plays. We just had to get them out of their set defense while moving the ball around by attacking their gaps.”