It was a sad day to be a Gray Bee. St. Benedict’s Prep failed to keep Roselle Catholic in check at the seventh annual Newark National Invitational hosted at  Newark’s Prudential Center. The Gray Bees had beaten Roselle 64-58 during last year’s tournament.

Roselle Catholic, ranked second in the state, blazed through the start of the game with Chris Silva quickly setting the pace by dropping 9 points before closing out  Benedict’s 19-7 for the 1st quarter.

Roselle Catholic senior tag team Isaiah Briscoe and Chris Silva opened up the 3rd quarter with an off-the-backboard alley-oop that fired up the roaring crowd.  The Gray Bee’s defense lagged through the the game, eventually opening up a 29 point deficit that ended the 3rd quarter 55-26.

Benedict’s moved forward in the 4th quarter by putting up 18 points, but that was not enough to stop Roselle Catholic’s monstrous run that ended the game 70-44. Chris Silva took the MVP home for Roselle Catholic with 20pts with Isaiah Briscoe following up with 13. UD1 Nathaniel Pierre Louis earned the MVP for Benedict’s with 20pts. UD1 Trevon Duval, UD2 Tyrell Gumbs Frater, and Senior Arnaldo Toro each put up 6pts.

Eli Cain and Ghassan Nehme did not participate because the game prohibited postgraduate involvement.