A Look at the Top Senior Basketball Stars in South Jersey

As with all events, the 43rd annual Albert J. Carino Basketball Club of South Jersey all-star game was cancelled, but it is still fitting to mention the players who were selected for the game.

This game consists of many of the best seniors in South Jersey and this year’s field had four players who have made Division I commitments. Those four are Camden’s Lance Ware who will attend Kentucky, the Wildwood Catholic duo of Taj Thweat and Jahlil White who will attend West Virginia and Temple respectively and Holy Cross senior Giancarlo Arletti, who is headed to Delaware.

There is another Division I athlete in this game, Burlington City senior DJ Woodbury, who led the Blue Devils to the Central Jersey Group 1 title. Woodbury will attend Temple on a football scholarship (and is somebody we will be writing about in the coming weeks).

There is plenty of size on both rosters, led by 6-10 Giovani Cessel of Holy Cross, an exchange student from Italy.

So many of the players here led their teams to sectional titles. In addition to Woodbury at Burlington City, Thweat and White led Wildwood Catholic to the SJ Non-Pubic B title. Ware was a driving force in Camden’s South Jersey Group 2 championship. Steven Byard was a force for Atlantic City in its drive to the South Jersey Group 4 crown. Guard Kavon Lewis averaged 18.9 points in leading Penns Grove to the South Jersey Group 1 championship. Eric Benjamin averaged 15.3 points in leading Timber Creek to the South Jersey Group 3 championship.

Here are the players who have been selected and it shows what a strong senior class South Jersey had this past season:

David Cross Bishop Eustace 5’ 10”; Jordan Martin Bordentown 6’ 3”; DJ Woodbury Burlington City 6’ 2”; Lance Ware Camden 6’ 9”; Ryan Greene Cherry Hill East 5’ 11”; Giovani Cessel Holy Cross 6’ 10”; Ben Cerrato Haddonfield 6’ 6”; Giancarlo Arletti Holy Cross 6’ 7”; Eric Benjamin Timber Creek 5’ 9”; Hayden Greer Moorestown 6’ 5”; Lorenzo Repack Northern Burlington 5’ 8”; Andrew Harrell Paul VI 6’ 2”; Justin Bladen Timber Creek 6’ 3”; Tyrese Myrick Westampton Tech 6’ 2”; MJ Iraldi West Deptford 6’ 5”;

EAST

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Najee Coursey Cedar Creek 6’3”; Justin McNichols Clearview 6’ 7”; Josh Randall GCIT 6’ 6”; Chris Kalinowski Holy Spirit 6’ 3”; Gage Ausland Salem 6’ 0”; Davon Thornton Overbrook 6’ 2”; Kavon Lewis Penns Grove 5’ 9”; Zach Manorowitz Pennsville 6’ 0”; Rob Petersen Pitman 6’ 2”; Alanus Urbanus St. Joseph’s - Hammonton 6’ 8”; Tommy Murphy Delran 6’ 1”; Taj Thweat Wildwood Catholic 6’ 8”; Jahlil White Wildwood Catholic 6’ 7”; Stephen Byard Atlantic City 6’ 7”; Jordan Lipford Cherry Hill West 6’ 2”.

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Author: Marc Narducci; Photo courtesy of Marc Narducci