Trenton Catholic had two tough games yesterday, a loss to St. Patrick’s (NJ) and a win over Plainfield (NJ) in the last game of the day. The Iron Mikes may well be tired, but they’ll have to fight through the fatigue if they want to beat Piscataway. The Chiefs were one New Jersey’s best public school teams last year, and return key players Wayne Newsom ’10 and Tristan Benjamin ’09, both big men. This should be a great game, and it’s already begun. I’m sorry, but once again I only have numbers.

12:57pm- Trenton Catholic is winning 6-4 through seven minutes of play.

12:59pm- With 10:30 to go in the half, Piscataway is ahead 10-6.

1:00pm- Khalid Lewis El ’11 hit the second of two shots from the stripe to cut the Chiefs’ lead to three, 10-7.

1:03pm- TCA has taken a 12-10 lead off a layup in transition by Chris Wright ’12.

1:09pm- Trenton Catholic is now ahead 16-12 with 2:30 left in the first half.

1:10pm- Frankie Smalls ’11, who is playing in his first event with TCA after a transfer from Neumann-Goretti (PA), has scored to put the Iron Mikes up by six, 18-12.

1:12pm- Lafayette Smith ’09, the Iron Mikes’ biggest player, is sitting behind the team’s bench in street clothes.

1:13pm- Dondre Whitmore nailed a three with about two seconds left in the half, giving Trenton Catholic a 21-15 lead through 20 minutes of play.

1:17pm- Dondre Whitmore and Khalid Lewis Eli both have five points for Trenton Catholic. Wayne Newsom was the top scorer in the first half with nine points.

1:18pm- Lewis El hit a deuce to open the scoring the second half. The Iron Mikes are up 23-17.

1:19pm- Wayne Newsom, who is playing with major intensity, scored a bucket and got fouled. He then hit a free throw, giving him his second old fashioned three-point play of the day, cutting the TCA lead to five, 23-18, with just over 17 minutes left in the game.

1:25pm- With 12:30 to go, the Iron Mikes are up 30-20.

1:28pm- The Chiefs have made it a six-point game, 30-24, at the 10 minute mark.

1:30pm- Tristan Benjamin scored for Piscataway, slicing TCA’s lead to four, 30-26. TCA quickly replied with a bucket of its own.

1:31pm- Whitmore nailed a trey from the corner to put Trenton Catholic up by nine, 35-26. Piscataway then called a timeout with 6:52 left in the contest.

1:33pm- The Iron Mikes’ lead is back to double-digits, 37-26.

1:34pm- The squads have traded baskets, making it 39-28 Trenton Catholic.

1:35pm- Daquan Basnight ’09 went down the baseline and jammed the ball just before the clock hit 5:00. Markese Tucker then stole the ball at about halfcourt, took the ball down and hit a tough layup, getting fouled in the process. He missed his free throw, but TCA may well have put the game out of reach anyhow, as it’s now 43-28.

1:39pm- Markese Tucker scored on a put-back dunk and got a roar of approval from the crowd. Trenton Catholic is up 45-28. The Iron Mikes are on a 15-2 run.

1:41pm- #13 hit one of two free throws for Piscataway, and then TCA ran out the clock, getting a 45-29 win.

The game’s leading scorer was Wayne Newsom, who had 16 points for Piscataway. Teammate Tristan Benjamin added eight points. Both Markese Tucker and Dondre Whitmore had 10 points for the Iron Mikes. Northstar Basketball’s MVP award recipients for their respective teams are Wayne Newsom and Markese Tucker.