Cameron shoots away nerves

Reggie Cameron, Hudson Catholic

Sophomore forward Reggie Cameron (right) led all scorers with 19 points.

Click Here for photos from Bayonne at Hudson Catholic.

By Jason Bernstein
Editorial Director

JERSEY CITY – Like most of his Hudson Catholic teammates, Reggie Cameron was feeling the nervousness of opening night. For the Hawks’ heralded sophomore, the remedy came with a single shot.

Cameron buried his first shot – a 3-pointer from the wing – a little more than two minutes into the opening quarter en route to a game-high 19 points as Hudson Catholic downed Bayonne 70-50 last night.

“It got me pumped the rest of the game,” said Cameron, admitting he had butterflies before the game, his first with Hudson Catholic. “It helped me a lot.”

Cameron’s basket would spark a 14-4 run for the Hawks. Cameron, a transfer from the closed Paterson Catholic, added another 3-pointer and had eight points during the six-plus minute stretch which gave Hudson Catholic a lead it would never relinquish.

“If he’s hitting his shot that makes it better for us,” teammate Kavon Stewart said. “That makes the defense go out and create (lanes) to drive.”

“It’s hard to contain him,” Bees head coach Mickell Taylor said. “The guy causes matchup problems, 6’7” and can shoot the 3-pointer. He definitely puts teams at a disadvantage. He’s tough.”

Cameron would add nine more points in the fourth quarter to help preserve the win on a night where both teams seemed to struggle to establish an on-court rhythm.

“There was no flow to the game,” Hudson Catholic head coach Nick Mariniello said. “It was very chopped up.”

Both offenses struggled to find a groove at the start. Foul trouble became an issue for the teams late as a staggering 53 fouls were called in the game.

Trailing by 10 at the half, Bayonne (0-1) opened the third quarter with a 5-0 run behind four points from sophomore point guard Gary Gaston. It was as close as the Bees would get as the Hawks finished with a 15-2 run. Eleven of those Hudson Catholic points came on free throws in the final 3:03 of the game.

“We picked it up in the second half, it’s just that 10-point difference in the first half (which hurt us),” Taylor said. “We were never able to get over that hump.”

Rodney Wilson led Bayonne15 points and nine rebounds in defeat. Gaston added 12 points (10 in the second half) and Malcolm Robinson scored eight points off the bench.

Stewart converted on 9-of-10 foul shots in the fourth quarter and finished with 13 points. Sophomore Rakwan Kelly added 18 points and nine rebounds for the Hawks before fouling out midway through the fourth quarter. Danny Liming chipped in with 10 rebounds.

Even with the 20-point victory, Hudson Catholic was hardly satisfied with their performance. Whether it was the nerves or inexperience, the Hawks feel they are capable of much more than they showed on opening night.

“We made some good basketball plays, we made some bad basketball plays,” Mariniello said. “We’re young and you can see our youth (with the way we played).”

“I don’t think we played our best,” said Cameron. “I don’t think we played Hudson Catholic basketball.”

Gary Gaston, Bayonne

Point guard Gary Gaston had 10 points in the second half for Bayonne in defeat.

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bayonne Bees (0-1)	5	15	17	13	50
Hudson Catholic Hawks (1-0)	14	16	15	25	70

Bayonne

Hudson Catholic

	2s	3s	1s	Pts
Steve Betancourth	0	1	2	5
Rodney Wilson	4	0	7	15
Jordan Taylor	1	0	0	2
Steve Roberts	0	0	4	4
Gary Gaston	2	0	8	12
Malcolm Robinson	0	2	2	8
Jay Williams	0	0	0	0
Jonathan Jackson	1	0	0	2
Dayron Caldwell	1	0	0	2
Biaggio Cancro	0	0	0	0
Justin Guthrie	0	0	0	0
Total	9	3	23	50

	2s	3s	1s	Pts
Rakwan Kelly	6	0	6	18
Reggie Cameron	4	2	5	19
Travis Flagg	0	1	0	3
Marc Wilson	3	0	2	8
Danny Liming	3	0	0	6
Kavon Stewart	1	0	11	13
Michael Alford	1	0	0	2
Kyle McLeggan	0	0	1	1
Total	18	3	25	70

Bayonne: Wilson 9 rebounds; Roberts 4 rebounds; Williams 4 rebounds. Hudson Catholic: Liming 10 rebounds; Kelly 9 rebounds; Cameron 6 rebounds; Flagg 4 assists; Stewart 4 rebounds.