With rarely at the forefront of conversations before or during this season, the idea of this year’s Kearny boys basketball team becoming a division champion has been in a constant in the back of their minds for months.
For Kearny, preseason goals turned into late-season reality on Feb. 3 when the Kardinals defeated University Charter, 68-27, to clinch a share of the HCIAL National Division title.
It is Kearny’s first division title in boys basketball since 2016.
“I think it meant a lot,” head coach Marc McCaffrey said. “It was one of our goals in the beginning of the season and the team worked really hard to get there. It certainly was satisfying to reach that goal.”
After hitting a rough patch in mid-January, Kearny enters this week’s Hudson County Tournament with wins in four of its last five games. But more than just the wins, the Kardinals have shown the kind of balance McCaffrey has been hoping for.
Luis Rodriguez has emerged as a legitimate go-to scoring option alongside Will Souza as the senior made seven 3-pointers for a career-high 32 points against Ferris. Rodriguez then followed it up less than a week later by scoring 24 points against Lincoln and 28 in Friday’s Senior Night win over rival Harrison.
“Over the last four or five games, he’s really taking off,” said McCaffrey of Rodriguez, who is averaging 23 points over his last four games. “It definitely makes us a better team.”
What’s also made them a better team, according to McCaffrey, has been increased offensive contributions from Chris Ruiz and Kevin McKenna in recent games, giving Kearny four options capable of scoring in double figures on a given night.
“One of the main goals for the team was to play as a team and share the basketball,” McCaffrey said. “And over the last week to two weeks, that’s exactly what they’ve been doing and the results are showing it.”
The one loss during this recent hot streak, a 64-59 setback to Lincoln on Feb. 6, means the Kardinals will share the division crown with the Jersey City school. But Kearny bounced back less than 24 hours with a 66-40 win over Harrison, which saw Rodriguez score 28 points, McKenna add 13 and Ruiz total nine.
Seeding for the Hudson County Tournament was set for Monday and with an 11-9 overall record, Kearny is likely to receive a seed in the 9-11 range, which will give the Kardinals a first round home game.
With less than a week before the cutoff for the state tournament, Kearny currently sits in 14th place in the North 1, Group 4 power point standings. While the Kardinals are currently set to be in the field of 16, a Hudson County Tournament win would be the final boost needed to punch their ticket into the state tournament for the first time in eight years.
“They were speaking about it a little bit even after the Harrison game that we had counties coming up and they’re excited about it,” McCaffrey said. “I think they feel like they can compete with a lot of teams in the county and hope to have the opportunity to show people that.
“Our other goal this year was to make the state tournament and we know we’re right there. One more win in the counties might solidify that for us.”
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Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)