Queen of Peace Stuns St. Joe; West Milford Wins Wallkill Valley

OAKLAND – There will be no five-peat for St. Joseph.

Led by the furious attacking style of guards Zaire Harris and Javae Gilchrist, Queen of Peace stormed back from a nine-point second-half deficit to stun the Green Knights, 74-65, in the semifinals of the Indian Hills Holiday Festival.

The unbeaten Golden Griffins (5-0), No. 5 in the Herald News Top 10, advanced to play Bergen Catholic in Sunday’s championship game. Bergen Catholic outlasted Englewood, 78-73.

St. Joseph (3-2) had won the event four years running

“It’s probably the biggest win in basketball that this school has ever had,” said Queen of Peace first-year coach Christian Boyce, who missed the team’s first-round game with a fever of 101 degrees. “It’s a statement game, I think.”

The Griffins trailed 52-46 late in the third period but used a harassing fullcourt press and a 3-2 zone to trigger turnovers and outscored the Knights 28-13 the rest of the way. Harris, a junior from Paterson, and Gilchrist, a junior from Teaneck, raced up and down the court at a furious pace, scored 23 of their team’s points during the game-closing run on an array of layup, drives and short jumpers.

Harris finished with a game-high 20 points and three assists and Gilchrist scored 19 and added seven assists. The duo combined to score 31 of their 39 points in the second half, when the Griffins outscored the Knights, 47-31.

Bilal Dixon, the 6-9 Providence-bound center, finished with 16 points, 15 rebounds and eight blocks.

“You can say they were putting a lot of defensive pressure on us, but I still felt that we should’ve handled that more than we did,” said Knights senior guard Hakeem Williams, who led his team with 17 points, including three 3-pointers. “We played horrible.

“I just felt that we fell apart as a team. Everybody was taking shots that we normally wouldn’t take.”

The win is especially impressive considering what Queen of Peace has gone through in recent weeks. The school’s boys basketball and football coaches were both fired, and Boyce, a Queen of Peace alum and former assistant, took over the program just before the season. Several players considered transferring, but Dixon said he called a meeting and the players decided to stick together and remain at the school.

“There were some rumors (about players leaving), but I think everyone likes each other here,” said Boyce, a Belleville native. “I think they wanted to win here. The school’s never won a league or a county title and they’ve never done much in basketball and I think they realized that and they want it this year.”

They certainly wanted this game down the stretch.

The Griffins trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half and by seven at the break.

That’s when Harris and Gilchrist decided to step up because teammate Al’Don Muhammad was in foul trouble.

“When we got in the locker room, we said, ‘We’re not losing this,’” Harris said. “We’re tired of losing. Last year we had an alright season, but this year we want to take the states and everything. We went out there and played our hardest and went 100 percent.

“We want to take it all the way and go to the (champion)ship.”

KENNEDY, TECH BOTH WIN

Kennedy and Passaic Tech both posted victories Friday in the consolation bracket.

Kennedy (3-2) knocked off host Indian Hills, 61-43, behind 27 points from Shondell Stewart, who drained five 3-pointers. Davian Plunkett (left courtesy NJHoops.com) added 20 points and 10 rebounds for the winners.

Mike Marscovetra paced Indian hills with 14 points.

Tech (3-1) earned a 68-60 victory over Ramapo (2-4) behind a career-high 31 points from senior forward Larry Burroughs.

Eric Halejian scored a team-high 27 for Ramapo.

WEST MILFORD WINS WALLKILL VALLEY

West Milford captured the Wallkill Valley Holiday Tournament with a 70-49 win over Wallkill Valley.

Three Highlanders, all juniors, made the All-Tournament team.

Chad Hauser, Tournament MVP, had 18 points in the final and 17 in the first round.

Jason Sofman, younger brother of Rutgers freshman Justin Sofman, scored 13 in the final and the first game and tallied a total of 14 boards in the two games.

Mac Morando set up his teammates all weekend and had 11 points in the opener.

The Highlanders are now 4-1 and are off until Jan. 5 when they visit Wayne Valley.