Immaculate Conception basketball squads move on easily in Essex County tournaments
The Immaculate Conception boys and girls basketball teams took care of business in the Essex County tournaments at home in Montclair on Saturday.
In the home doubleheader, the fourth-seeded Lions boys hoops team pulled away in the second half to 13th-seeded West Side, 89-65. Immaculate Conception boys upped their mark to 11-8.
And then in the second half of the double header, the top-seeded Immaculate Conception girls team ran out to a 25-3 lead in the first quarter and cruised to a 77-33 win over 16th-seeded Payne Tech. The Lions girls hoops squad raised its record to 14-2.
In the boys game, Immaculate Conception junior TJ Robinson registered 21 of his game-high 34 points in the first half while both Lions sophomore Akeem Langevine and junior Manny Smith chipped in 14 and 10 points respectively in the county victory.
The Immaculate Conception boys host fifth-seeded East Orange on Saturday, Feb. 4. The Jaguars knocked off 21st-seeded West Orange, 39-32. The Lions boys defeated East Orange, 67-61, on Jan. 24 at home. Robinson had a team-high 23 points while senior Tavian Pullock added 16 for Immaculate Conception.
On the girls side Immaculate Conception continued their dominance for most of Essex County. The Lions drove to a 25-3 lead after the first eight minutes and would never look back. Immaculate Conception senior Tyonna Bailey had a game-high 27 points, evenly parsed between the first half and second half. Eight other Lions scored for the girls team as sophomore Camille Wiley chipped in 10 points.
With the victory Immaculate Conception girls move into the county quarterfinals and will host ninth-seeded Glen Ridge, who defeated eighth-seeded Caldwell, 50-43, on Saturday.
With the win over Caldwell, the Ridgers were 16-0, but most of their schedule is part of the Super Essex Conference Colonial that is not the high-level division in the county as opposed to the American where Immaculate Conception and county tournament second-seeded University reside.