Union County Tournament Seeding: Girls' Team Earns 3rd Seed, Boys' 7th Seed

Tournaments always hold a tinge of excitement for both players and their fans -- with the one-and-done aspect of these events making every game exciting.

That said, Gov. Livingston fans will have a pair of contenders to cheer for, with both the boys' and girls' varsity teams in the midst of outstanding seasons.

The girls' team -- thanks to their 13-4 record -- earned the third-seed and a first-round bye as one of the top four teams. The Lady Highlanders will play their first tourney game on February 17th against an opponent to be determined.

Meanwhile, the boys' squad nailed down the 7th seed and will face 18th-seeded St. Mary's of Elizabeth Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at Rahway High School, part of a six-game hoops extravaganza in the preliminary round.

Despite the seedings, this will not be an easy matchup for the GL boys, having played a pair of close games against St. Mary's in the past three weeks. Just six days ago, Steve Petruzelli's squad used a 12-6 fourth quarter and a superior matchup zone defense to edge St. Mary's 53-51, while back on January 20, the Highlanders took a 67-61 decision thanks to Logan Kelley's 28 point effort. Teammate Kevin Ferguson posted a career-high 22 points, 14 rebounds and 10 blocks in that contest. 

The bigger issue will be down the road, where the top two seeds await. St. Patrick's, ranked # 1 in the state by the Star-Ledger and # 1 in the entire country by USA Today, enter with a mark of 19-0. Linden drew the second seed, Plainfield third and Union fourth.

Roselle Catholic, the two-time defending UCT champions on the girls'  side-- are back as the top-seed in a wide-open tournament. 

There will be four preliminary round games Saturday at Rahway High School, and no doubt, the Lady highlanders will be on-hand to take a closer look at their first-round opponent on Feb. 17th, to be held either at Roselle Catholic or Rahway.

As always, Patch will have full coverage as the tournament continues.