With the three Seniors (Xavier Silva, Kenny DeDios and ERod) playing their final home game in front of a rowdy, sell-out crowd, the Bruins extended their measly 4-point half-time lead into rout strata with a 78-52 drubbing of cross-town rival Memorial High School.After a disengaged opening half by the Seniors, North Bergen exploded from the second-half gates and buried Memorial early - coasting to a 26-point victory with nary a regular on the court.
ERod paid no mind to the fans' constant taunting and dropped a cool 17 points in the contest. That brings his playoff total in three games to 51 points, a 17.0 average, his best post-season of his career to date.
The win advances the #7-seeded Bruins (16-6) to Round Two of the NJSIAA State Playoffs where they will travel to Hackensack High School on Wednesday night to take on the #2 seed. Junior Keon Williams and Justis Oliver will need to be contained by the fast-breaking Bruins if they hope to advance to Round Three on March 2nd. This group has been able to win on the road before in the playoffs with last year's upset at Paterson Kennedy (65-56) and the 2004-05 State Playoff win at Randolph (65-51). They also captured the County title on the road last year at St. Peter's College, beating Bayonne 50-48.
