Boys basketball Skyland Conference, western Union County Conference notebook
As the regular-season divisional races reach the stretch drive, teams are starting to jockey for position in the upcoming county tournaments.
The Plainfield High School boys basketball team is definitely one to watch after the Cardinals won their fifth straight Saturday with a victory over Rahway. Freshman guard Micah Gordon is averaging 18.7 per game with a season high 34 against Orange. He’s the son of Cardinals’ coach and former Plainfield superstar Mike Gordon.
Plainfield is looking to grab a nice seed in the upcoming Union County Tournament, which will be seeded January 30. Elizabeth and Union Catholic are looking like No. 1 and 2, respectively. Union Catholic has never won the tournament. The Vikings made county finals in 1982 and ‘86.
The Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament begins this week, with seeds expected Monday, while the Somerset County Tournament will be seeded Feb. 5, with Rutgers Prep and Hillsborough appearing to be top seeds. Of course, that could change since the two play each other twice before the seeding meeting.
More: Boys basketball rankings: Skyland Conference and area Union County Conference Top 10
3 STARS
Aaron Zalescik, South Hunterdon: He scored 29 points in the Eagles’ 56-46 upset of North Hunterdon. He’s had double-doubles in 10 of South’s 11 games.
Cam Brown, Franklin: He has been the scoring leader for the Warriors and had a big game Saturday with 18 points, four rebounds and four steals in the 78-72 win over Gill St. Bernard’s.
A.J. Altobelli, Union Catholic: The point guard went over 100 assists with the 13 he notched in Saturday’s win at Scotch Plains-Fanwood. He also scored 15 points with five rebounds, seven assists and two steals last Sunday in a 61-50 win over Linden.
GAMES OF THE WEEK
Watchung Hills at Ridge, 7 p.m., Monday: The scheduled first meeting was stormed out Jan. 9. It remains a big Skyland Conference Raritan Division contest. A three-team division race is led by Watchung Hills (11-2, 5-0) with Ridge (9-3, 4-1) and Phillipsburg (10-1, 3-1) close behind.
Rutgers Prep at Hillsborough, 7 p.m. Tuesday: Another key rescheduled divisional game because of the Jan. 9 storms. No. 1-ranked Rutgers Prep (10-4, 5-0) and the No. 2 Raiders (10-2, 4-0) will play again Feb. 1 in Somerset. Gill St. Bernards’ loss Saturday to Franklin has made the Skyland Delaware a clear two-way race.
Gill St. Bernard's at Immaculata, 7 p.m. Thursday: A Skyland Delaware game with some intrigue. Gill (7-7, 2-4) began the week on an ultra-rare six-game losing streak, and play a road inter-division game Monday at Phillipsburg (10-1). Immaculata (6-6, 0-4) plays Tuesday at Franklin before this one. Gill beat Immaculata 55-40 at home December 21
Piscataway at Plainfield, 1 p.m., Saturday: The Cardinals (9-5) opened the week on a five-game win streak that began after a 64-63 overtime loss to Phillipsburg (10-1) on Jan. 3. The Cardinals have Union County Conference Watchung Division home games with Union Catholic on Tuesday and Elizabeth on Thursday, before facing the Chiefs (8-8).
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Boys basketball Skyland Conference, western Union County notebook
