Seton Hall Prep basketball, wrestling and hockey weekly recap

WEST ORANGE – The following is a weekly recap of the basketball, wrestling and ice hockey teams at Seton Hall Prep.

Basketball

The SHP basketball team went 1-1 this past week to move to a current record of 2-2 on the season. On Tuesday, Dec. 20, the SHP Pirates hosted East Orange Campus High School. SHP won  77-39. SHP was led by freshman guard Jabri Abdur-Rahim who had 19 points, four rebounds, and four blocks; senior guard  Austin Williams had 16 points, seven assists, and three steals; junior forward Alex Imegwu had 14 points and six rebounds; and senior forward Treyvon Bennett had nine points, four rebounds, and three steals.

On Thursday, Dec 22, they traveled to Newark to take on University High School. SHP lost 71-62. Seton Hall Prep was leading 48-46 after three quarters but University outscored SHP 25-14 in the fourth quarter. Imegwu had 17 points and eight rebounds; Williams had 13 points, four rebounds and six assists; Bennett had 11 points and six rebounds; and sophomore guard Ashton Miller had seven rebounds and six assists.

Wrestling

Coming off an outstanding performance at the Morris Knolls Tournament in which it finished in second place overall, the Seton Hall Prep wrestling team opened up its dual meet portion of the schedule with two victories this past week. On Wednesday, Dec. 21, the Pirates rallied to defeat Nutley High School 37-33 in a very exciting Super Essex Conference-American Division match held at Nutley HS.

With two bouts to go and trailing 33-25, Seton Hall Prep received two pins to win the match. At 120 pounds., junior Maguire Pecci pinned Johnny Hickey in 4:41 but Nutley was still leading the match 33-31. At 126 pounds., freshman Michael Massa pinned James Hargrave in 5:52 to clinch the victory for SHP. Following the match, Massa was asked how it felt to have his bout decide the match.  “It felt great,” he said . “I am glad that I won and helped the team win the match. It is always good to start the dual meet season on a positive note and I did that tonight.” On Friday Dec. 23, the Pirates defeated Parsippany 51-19 at SHP’s Tracey Gymnasium.

SHP top wrestlers: junior Danny Young 160 pounds, 5-1 record; senior Aidan Monteverdi, 170, 4-0; senior TJ Calas, 152, 4-1; junior Charlie Cunningham, 132, 4-1; junior Maguire Pecci, 120, 4-1; senior Jake Smith, 138, 4-2.

Hockey

This past week the Seton Hall Prep ice hockey team went  0-1-1 to move its current record to 3-5-1.

On Wednesday, Dec. 21, the SHP Pirates tied Randolph 1-1 in a game held at the Aspen Ice Arena in Randolph. Randolph scored early in the second period to take a 1-0 lead. Seton Hall Prep dominated Randolph the rest of the second period and in the third period, out-shooting Randolph 30-8 over those two periods and 31-15 for the game. Thomas Colucci scored with 2:12 left in the third period on assists by Stephen Buck and John O’Hern for Seton Hall Prep. Jack McConeghy had 14 saves.

The next night SHP traveled to the Ice Vault in Wayne to participate in the Pepsi Classic. Their first round opponent was St. Joseph (Metuchen). SHP lost 4-2. Trailing 1-0, SHP scored with 2:16 left in the period when Colucci scored off of assists by PJ Murphy and Buck. After St. Joe’s scored two consecutive goals to take a 3-1 lead, Murphy scored to make it 3-1 with 11:00 left in the third period on an assist by Colucci. SHP out-shot St. Joe’s 30-26 with Jack McConeghy had 22 saves.