St. Patrick Holds Off Furious Passaic Rally
ELIZABETH, N.J. -- St. Patrick H.S. built an 18 point second half lead, then withstood a furious late comeback by Passaic H.S. to claim a 63-52 victory on Thursday night at the Prime Time Shootout.
After a close first quarter, St. Pat's methodically pulled away from Passaic in the second and third quarters thanks to excellent play from 6-9 senior Paul Williams and 6-4 senior Mawel Soler.
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A three pointer by junior shooting guard Jason Patterson gave the Celtics a 45-27 lead with 3:14 left in the third quarter.
Kaleef Willis spearheaded the Indian comeback, scoring many of his 18 points during a 16-2 Passaic run that sliced the St. Pat's lead to 47-43 with 4:42 to play.
Soler and Williams helped the Celtics put the game away for good, combining to score eight of the next 13 points for St. Pat's to help it fan the lead to 60-50 with :32 left in the contest.
Williams earned MVP honors with a 24 point, eight rebound performance. Soler added 15 points and Patterson added 14 for the Celtics.
In addition to Willis' 18 points, senior point guard Clayton Barker chipped in 12 points for Passaic.
St. Pat's improved to 17-3 on the season, while Passaic dropped to 11-5.