The Lions' Den at Roselle Catholic is a prime setting for plenty of boys and girls hoops excitement all winter long and this summer has once again served as a prime building block for the basketball teams, including coach Dave Boff's boys squad, which recently captured the Elizabeth Summer League playoff championship at the Dunn Center. (Photo by Todd Mundt)

Coach Dave Boff and the Roselle Catholic Lions continue to build a formidable hoops program to watch heading into next November when teams prepare to continue the progress achieved during a busy summer off-season workload, including summer leagues. (Photo by JR Parachini)

Warney’s Dominance Sparks RC
On Way To First Elizabeth Title
By JR Parachini
For sidelinechatter.com

Sparked by a dominant performance on the defensive end by Jameel Warney, Roselle Catholic captured its first Elizabeth Summer Basketball League championship Monday night by defeating defending champion Elizabeth 62-44 in the title game played at the Elizabeth Dunn Sport Center.

This was Roselle Catholic's third summer in the league, with RC falling to Elizabeth in last year's championship game.

"We got out early and made three straight 3-point shots to start the game 13-0," RC head coach Dave Boff said. "We really couldn't miss in the first half."

Warney, a Plainfield resident who will be one of the top junior big men in the state this winter, was credited with six assists in the first half. He will be a three-year starter for Boff, who will enter his fourth season at the helm of the Lions.

"We had balanced scoring, with five guys in double figures," Boff said.

RC's starting five included Warney at center, Wesley Cherry and Kwaku Morgan at forward, Steve Bush at guard and Cody Dalzel at shooting guard. Cherry will be junior, Morgan a senior and Bush and Dalzel sophomores.

The remainder of RC's roster included Eddie Harris, Ryan Quinn, Miles Clark, Mike Crowley and Justin Gartmond. Harris and Quinn will be sophomores, while Clark, Crowley and Gartmond will be juniors.

Competition began a month ago, with 10 teams playing Mondays and Wednesdays and 10 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Columbia finished in first place in the regular season on the Monday-Wednesday side with a 9-0 record. RC and Elizabeth tied for second at 7-2, while Westfield was fourth at 6-3.

St. Peter's of Staten Island was first at 9-0 on the Tuesday-Thursday side.

Four teams from each side qualified for the playoffs, which were seeded according to record. Making it on the Monday-Wednesday side were Columbia, Roselle Catholic and Westfield and on the Tuesday-Thursday side St. Peter's, St. Joseph's, Metuchen, Scotch Plains and Cranford.

RC defeated St. Joseph's, Metuchen in its first playoff game July 28 and then downed St. Peter's in its second on July 29.

"We've had a great summer and this is the culmination of really hard summer work for all of our guys," Boff said. "We also worked out in the gym a lot from Monday through Thursday."

Roselle Catholic went 15-8 last winter and captured the Union County Conference's Valley Division championship. The Lions will move up to the Mountain Division for the 2010-2011 campaign.

Warney and Cherry are the only returning starters, with senior starters Brian Petruzzelli, Kendall Henderson and Steve Morgan lost to graduation. Dominic Gonzalez, who will be a junior, transferred to Scotch Plains, which will move down from the Watchung Division to the Mountain Division for the upcoming season.

Roselle Catholic finished ranked fifth in Union County by The Star-Ledger last winter, behind the big four of St. Patrick, Plainfield, Union and Linden. Plainfield dropped down to North 2, Group 3 status for the upcoming school season.

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