H'town Boys basketball
Way to go fellas! 64-41 win over P'burg! Will play in finals of H/W/S tournament Friday night at Centenary University!
Sport
Jetquick 
hammer For Friday night's game at Centenary, the doors open at 4 pm. There is a Girl's game first then the boys play at 7pm. Tickets will be for sale at the door.
Friday night at Centenary University is the HWS (Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex) Basketball Finals for the Girls and Boys
At 5 is the Girls Final Hunterdon Central vs Sparta
At 7 is the Boys Final Hunterdon Central vs Hackettstown
Four Freshman Start for Sparta which defeated Warren Hills in the Semi Finals
Lion Was just told it’s going to be crazy and sold out tomorrow night. You need a wristband to get in, opens at 4 to get them. Come out and support the guys and it’s pretty neat it’s in our backyard. Go Tigers!
Sold out? So if we showed up to watch the boys game at 7 do you think we wouldn’t get in?
LivingLifeLovingLife I just went and got our wristbands and then will head back to watch the boys game. It isn’t sold out yet but you run the risk if you show up right at 7pm of it being sold out.
Jim L 
JiveDig 
sportsfan We didn’t end up going. That sounds like it was an amazing game!
Even if Tigers lost, I’m sure they played hard.
Congrats for making it so far!
The Tigers played a really good fourth quarter, coming from behind to send it into OT. Some shots didn't fall in the late going, but the loss certainly was not due to any lack of hustle or effort,
Andy Loigu For the benefit of those who could not be there (and there was no radio?) Tyler Gorczyca and Shawn Morgan were named to the All-Tournament team … a well earned honor for both of those guys who gave it their all.
Great Tiger comeback, they trailed 37-32 with five minutes left in period four and got it down to 41-38 inside of three minutes … they sent it into overtime at 42-42. They did it with defense … final score shows a 55-48 loss, but give Central credit for being resilient in front of all those loud-n-crazy Tigers fans.
Greetings - I covered the game for the press:
https://www.nj.com/highschoolsports/2020/02/young-hunterdon-central-makes-improbable-run-to-hws-title.html
Nick Scalera Photo Great game last night!!! I hope the coach owned up to that loss. If he keeps his cool and does not receive a technical foul H-town wins by 1. The coach absolutely cost them that championship game. Both teams played extremely well.
IMO IMO, how is it by 1 when they lost by 7?
Both games were worth the $5 for two games. I don't usually watch girls games as I find that they aren't so exciting or fast paced. Not the case with Central and Sparta though. It was a great game at a fast pace. Tied at the end of the first quarter and then again at half, left me not going to have dinner in between the games.
My biggest disappointment for the game was at the start when the Hackettstown boys line up was being announced and Central was booing them. In all the years that I've been watching our high school team play I've never seen this happen before. Shame on Central! The banter between the two schools who bring large groups of fans is always entertaining. It's always nice to see the support that the students at Hackettstown give their football and basketball teams. Many of these students aren't even into athletics.
Thanks for a great season and I look forward to the state games. Best wishes for those games.
magpie I've given up on criticizing fan behavior … it is sophomoric and we'll just leave it at that … part of growing up.
I praise the Tigers' players for their sportsmanship and the way they overachieve each year … they win over 20 games without a D-1 player carrying the load … that is worthy of praise.
I know, parents think their kid is the next Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, so they won't take "overachieving" as a compliment … I've seen lots of high school basketball over the last five decades … I have an appreciation for overachievers.
P.S. Fan behavior at high school basketball games has been problematic for several decades … no wonder America has an incivility problem …the symptoms have been apparent at ballgames for a long time, generation to generation.
A couple of years ago the fans at Sparta were so bad, at a home football game against West Morris … the referees marked off a 15-yard penalty ON THE FANS … and it was deserved!
Referees should call technical fouls on fans … that might teach them to be a little bit more respectful.
Getting a technical for bad behavior as a coach is certainly not giving a good example to your players and fans. Bad behavior has spread in many directions.
3wbdwnj Well, back in 1967, we (Lakewood) had a coach who got called for plenty of techs. We still won the Group III state championship, and we could not have done it without him. He was a great coach and we love him to this day.
If you were at the game, you could better understand just how bad the refs were. Does it make it it right? No, but in the heat of the game, it happens. The coach is wonderful and should not be judged by this!
The Official who called the Technical Foul handled the situation Terribly!! Coach was not Verbally Abusive at all towards the Official. Just Very loud and animated about an Offensive Foul that was not called on Hunterdon Central but instead a Defensive Foul that was called on his player. Coach was Standing Up in Support of his player and team just like any other good Coach would do.
That block or charge call is the one that high school officials most often get wrong … some seem to call it a charge every time there is contact … others seem to want to penalize a defensive player for "obstructing" the offensive player, when the defensive player actually played good 'd' and established the proper position … the defensive player has to have position first in order to get the charge call.
Sometimes you get the feeling a lot of these refs never played the game above the grammar school level.
Andy, that is true and I would add that it also happens on The College level as well. Unfortunately a lot of those calls happen at critical moments down the stretch of close games. We have the luxury of seeing the replays on TV but many of us know a bad call when we see it in live action. A tough call for the refs for sure and the one they get criticized for the most.
kb2755 Come root the Tigers on tonight at 7pm in their first State,game. It is in the high school gym.
Iamrite Boys beat a team from Newark tonight. They will play Saturday night at 7 pm at Hackettstown. Come out and root them on!
This was a great game to watch with standing room only. Looking forward to the next game.
Best wishes … a sectional title is a big deal.
Teams that go a long way in post-season usually have really good senior leadership and Hackettstown has that!
Wow! Hackettstown Boy's Basketball won a section titile tonight!! Way to go! Next game is Thursday at Bloomfield High School. This the for up semi final !
Congrats!! Something for the town to celebrate. First sectional title in school history. There will never be another first sectional champion, so this is special for these Tigers' players … they can take pride in it for the rest of their lives.
Back in "the old days" all the sectional champs went to Atlantic City Convention Hall for the state semis and finals, in all the groups. It was a great celebration of high school basketball and it is such a great memory for me to have been a part of that.
Congrats to the HHS boys and also the WHRHS girls on their sectional basketball championships.
ianimal The attitude to keep it going is simple … "losing is not an option."
Will to win is at the heart of it.
Due to the University's closure, the NJSIAA Boys Basketball Group Finals have been relocated from Rutgers to Phillipsburg High School...
https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/highschoolsports/2020/03/coronavirus-fallout-easton-lions-club-wrestling-classic-canceled-nj-basketball-finals-moved-to-pburg.html
Now, five hours later, they are reporting Pburg will NOT host the group finals. As of now, the finals are an orphan.
Toms River North, maybe? … they did the wrestling. Why do I get the feeling they will be played with no fans allowed to attend? It would feel like a baseball game at Camden Yards LOL
Have to say that I'm glad... who wants random potential coronavirus carriers from all over the State converging on GSWC?
Better safe than sorry. Just let these teams have a sectional title and be happy. The Group II state champ was going to be Camden anyway. This way 4 teams can have bragging rights and no one is at additional risk of getting sick.
DannyZuko Well, if Hackettstown beats either Camden or Squan, it would be something along the lines of the 1980 USA ice hockey team :-)
https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/coronavirus/2020/03/pburg-out-as-site-for-boys-basketball-finals-after-mayor-expresses-safety-concerns.html
This is from lehighvalleylive as of a minute ago.
Hackettstown dropped out of tournament over concern for safety of students and fans:
https://www.nj.com/highschoolsports/2020/03/boys-basketball-tournament-turmoil-as-another-host-and-1-team-drop-out.html
Stay Safe 
Mariann They did not "drop out" The tournament was cancelled overall. The eight teams win - all get rings.
As of 3:13pm, only Hackettstown had dropped out... the rest of the games were still scheduled to go on:
https://www.nj.com/highschoolsports/2020/03/boys-basketball-tournament-turmoil-as-another-host-and-1-team-drop-out.html
Parent of GMRSD AFAIK, tip-off for WHRHS girls is 30 minutes from now. There's been no indication of any change online.
3/12/2020 - NJSIAA Group 3 Girls Basketball Tournament: Warren Hills vs. Ramapo - YouTube Livestream:
https://youtu.be/ILh0qvaW-wg
Bergen County is by far the worst-hit part of NJ when it comes to infections, which is where the game was scheduled to be played. I suspect that had a lot to do with the decision...
These may have played a part as well...
https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/03/all-75-bergen-county-public-school-districts-closing-moving-to-online-learning-as-coronavirus-grows.html
https://www.nj.com/highschoolsports/2020/03/superintendent-to-appeal-njsiaa-refusal-to-delay-basketball-semifinal-for-coronavirus-test.html
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