After graduating its top four scorers from last year’s Passaic County Tournament championship squad, there were some question marks surrounding Paterson Kennedy heading into this year.
It has answered plenty of those questions already with victories in its first five games - knocking off Ridgewood, Passaic, Old Tappan, Paramus Catholic and Montclair in the process.
While the quick start may have come as a surprise for some people, Kennedy coach Tommie Patterson had a feeling his senior-heavy squad would pick up right where the Class of 2019 left off.
“This team never panics,” Patterson said. “They are calm, cool and collected. Some of these seniors may be in their first varsity season, but they’ve been in the program for four years. They are comfortable because of the people that they’ve been around.”
Kennedy’s roster features eight seniors - led by Jalen Hargrove, Deishon Harrison and Mark Heber. Hargrove and Harrison logged big minutes during Kennedy's run to the Passaic County Tournament title. Hargrove had eight points and seven boards in the final - a 48-45 win over Clifton- while Harrison had five points and three assists.
The trio helps to pace a deep offense alongside sophomore Yasen Crawford - who is enjoying a breakout year - junior Kyle Readus, senior Jahmahli Carnegie and sophomore JayQuan Briggs.
“Jalen and Deishon are four-year starters and Mark transferred in from Seton Hall Prep last year,” Patterson said. “We have three seniors leaders. The team enjoys playing with each other. They love to share the ball so you can’t really pinpoint one player to stop. That makes it more fun for me because I can get four or five guys in double-figures.”
Kennedy has had at least three players hit double-figures in four of its five games and has tested itself against potential state tournament foes in Ridgewood, Passaic and Montclair. Heber and Harrison tallied 14 points in a season-opening 62-46 win over Ridgewood, Crawford exploded for 29 points in a 96-51 win over Passaic on Dec. 21 and Heber’s 16 points pushed Kennedy past Montclair 58-55 on Wednesday.
“The only thing we are talking about is taking things one game at a time,” Patterson said. “We have Eastside on Saturday hopefully some of our guys can shake off their colds or injuries and be ready to go Saturday.”
Richard Greco covers boys basketball for NJ.com and may be reached at rgreco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Richard_V_Greco. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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January 02, 2020 at 08:52AM
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Senior-led Paterson Kennedy off to fast start - nj.com
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