We’ve passed by the mid-point of December but they are still a fair number of teams yet to debut. That’ll happen Thursday night as we pay trips to Ridgewood, Franklin Lakes and Camden for a trio of big games. Johnny Jackson makes an emphatic return to the court, Bergen Catholic flexes their muscles and Bishop Eustace stuns perennial South Jersey powerhouse Camden. Stay tuned all night as the highlights come in!

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Ridgewood 64 St. Joe’s (Mont.) 48 | Boys

Johnny Jackson is still in the midst of a battle with Stage 4B Hodgkins Lymphoma but that wasn’t going to keep him away from the court. In the Maroons’ season-opener, Jackson exploded for a game-high 30 points to pace Ridgewood (1-0) in an emotional win. Jake Roth and Tyler Nesland chipped in 10 points apiece to support Jackson in the victory. Anthony Pacciarelli led St. Joe’s (0-1) with a team-high 21 points in the loss.

JSZ’s Jay Cook has the highlights and reaction from Bergen County:

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Bishop Eustace 50 Camden 49 | Boys

The Crusaders built an eight-point cushion with under three minutes to go and withstood a furious comeback attempt to snap Camden’s 21-game winning streak. Dillon Adomanis poured in a team-high 17 points, while Tommy Semiraglio chipped in with 14 points for Bishop Eustace (2-0). Emmanuel Joe-Samuel finished with a game-high 24 points for Camden (2-1). Bishop Eustace becomes the first New Jersey team to defeat Camden since March of 2022 and the first South Jersey team to accomplish that feat since March of 2019.

JSZ’s James Mooney has the highlights and reaction from Camden:

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Bergen Catholic 64 Ramapo 45 | Boys

Declan Wucherpfennig was sensational in the first game of his senior season with 30 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots to pace NJ’s #1 preseason ranked team to a big road victory to open the season.  Ramapo had a 19-18 lead at the half before Bergen Catholic took control in the second half with Wucherpfennig scoring 24 of his 30 in the second half.

JSZ’s Rich Chrampanis has the highlights from Franklin Lakes:

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