The Buc Deck got a special treat as Red Bank Regional stunned defending New Jersey Tournament of Champions winner St. Joe’s-Metuchen 59-54 in overtime to win the Albert E. Martin Buc Classic – SSZ has highlights!
LITTLE SILVER – Sadiq Palmer scored seven of his 16 points in overtime as the Red Bank Regional Bucs topped defending New Jersey Tournament of Champions winner St. Joseph-Metuchen 59-54 in the championship game of the Albert E. Martin Buc Classic. The RBR victory ended a 29 game winning streak for the Falcons. RBR served notice that they would compete taking an 11-10 lead at the end of one quarter. Eddie Hendrex provided 13 points off the bench for the Bucs. Breein Tyler, the Falcons Division I prospect, was held to ten points. Branislav Vujadinovic led all scorers with 26 points for St. Joseph’s.
Red Bank Regional was the #3 seed in its own tournament, but was able to beat Freehold Boro, second seed Shore Regional in the semifinals and the top seed St. Joe’s-Metuchen. The win had extra special meaning for the Red Bank Regional community. The Buc Classic Tournament was renamed after Albert E. Martin, an RBR basketball player who collapsed and died during a pre-season scrimmage in December, 2012.
“Because this tournament is for Albert and everything he taught us and did for us, this one’s going to be for him,” senior Jimmy Ferrogine told SSZ after the Bucs semifinal win. “I was a sophomore and Albert was the senior on the team, he was our team leader. We’ve been playing for him ever since that happened.”