On Thursday, February 23, 2023, the ACIT Boys basketball team moved on forward in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Playoffs to play the Egg Harbor Township (EHT) Eagles. The ACIT Redhawks played their hearts out, but unfortunately came up short with a loss to EHT with a final score of 64-47.
Throughout the game, the defense seemed off compared to the other games that they have played. They were unable to contain the dominating offense of the EHT Eagles. However, the Redhawks did not let that get in the way of their game. The Redhawks tightened the score through the second quarter. The score by halftime was 27-24 with EHT in the lead, but the Redhawks had to continue to stop the powerful players of EHT. Despite this, in the second half of the game the defense stopped playing effectively and started to double team players at times they shouldn’t have, causing multiple wide open three-point shots to enter the basket from the corners and increase the lead. By the end of the 3rd quarter, the score was still in EHT’s favor with a score of 48-37. In the final quarter, EHT continued overpowering the Redhawks by scoring 16 more points to finally secure the lead while ACIT came up short, only scoring 10 points. To finish the game EHT held the ball, stalling the clock to secure the win against the Redhawks, thus finishing their season.

We must not ignore the good parts of the game. Nasir Tucker led the team scoring 15 points, which definitely helped the team possibly produce a comeback. Along with Nasir, Zahir Davis scored 10 points with the same possibility in mind. Jayden Lopez, while not scoring as much as other games with 3 points, had many assists (6), which was the most for the game. This also helped other players on the team continue to score points. Overall, these players still had a great impact on the game, as they always have, for ACIT.

While this may be the end of a historic season with the Redhawks, we must think past our losses and continue to improve as time passes. With notable ACIT seniors, Jayden Lopez, Nasir Tucker, Jameil Quintana, Desi Stroud, and Zahir Davis, ACIT Boys Basketball made history by obtaining the first record with 20 wins and only 7 losses. These senior players should look past this loss and understand that each and every one of them have talent and potential to be something greater than what they are now. Hopefully in the future these players will get noticed by colleges and earn scholarships. These young men deserve recognition for the major impacts and improvements they’ve made for ACIT Basketball. Thank you for an amazing season Redhawks and good luck in the future!

-Jaden Ferrer