UPDATE: CHS boys' basketball team advances to ECT semifinals

The fourth-seeded Columbia High School boys' varsity basketball team will meet top-seeded and defending champion Seton Hall Prep in the Essex County Tournament semifinals doubleheader at West Orange High School on Saturday Feb. 18.

The Cougars defeated No. 12 seed Bloomfield Tech, 63-42, in the quarterfinals on Saturday Feb. 11 at CHS to notch their eight win in the past nine games and ninth in the last 11 games to improve to 16-4.

Senior guard Justin Martin led the Cougars with 20 points. Leading 15-10, the Cougars went on a 12-0 run to start the second quarter to extend it to 27-10.

Senior Maxim Michel, junior Evans Osuji and sophomore David Runcie each finished with nine points for the Cougars.

Bloomfield Tech fell to 14-9.

The Cougars are 2-0 against Bloomfield Tech this season. CHS defeated Bloomfield Tech, 54-40, on Jan. 19.

The Cougars, under second-year head coach Eddie Turner, were coming off a 59-37 loss to St. Anthony of Jersey City, the No. 1 team in the state, on Feb. 9. The loss snapped the Cougars' seven-game winnnig streak.

In their second game of the season, the Cougars lost to Seton Hall Prep, 61-44, in the Tip Off Classic at West Orange High School on Dec. 17. CHS went on to win its next six games before losing to Newark Tech, 54-49, on Jan. 7. The Cougars bounced back with a 49-48 win over Orange on Jan. 10 but lost the next game to Bloomfield, 61-47, in the Martin Luther King Junior Classic on Jan. 16 at Orange High.

The other ECT semifinal pits No. 3 seed Bloomfield against No. 7 seed University.

Essex County Tournament quarterfinals

No. 1 Seton Hall Prep defeated No. 9 Newark Vocational, 56-55

No. 4 Columbia defeated No. 12 Bloomfield Tech, 63-42

No. 7 University defeated No. 2 Newark Tech, 60-59, overtime

No. 3 Bloomfield defeated No. 6 Irvington, 57-55. 

ECT semifinals at West Orange High School, Feb. 18

No. 4 Columbia vs. No. 1 Seton Hall Prep

No. 7 University vs. No. 3 Bloomfield