Cranford (45) at Newark East Side (68), NJSIAA Tournament, First Round, North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 - Boys Basketball

Newark East Side keeps rolling along.

Sophomore Akbar Hoffman scored 16 points, including 10 in the first half, and sophomore Ismael Sanogo added 16 points, including 14 in the second half, to lead sixth-seeded Newark East Side to a 68-45 victory over 11th-seeded Cranford on Monday in the first round of the NJSIAA/ShopRite North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 tournament in Newark.

East Side (18-5) has won seven straight and 13 of its last 14 games and advanced to the second round to play Chatham on Wednesday.

East Side started the game strong, going on a 12-4 run to start the first quarter, but Cranford fought back with an 8-0 run to tie the game at 12-12 on a Stefan Fedorchak layup with 1:36 left. East Side ended the first with a 19-14 lead and extended its lead to 24-14 with 6:05 left on a Jamar Gilbert layup to cap a 12-2 run en route to a 32-21 halftime lead.

Cranford pulled to within 11 points at 39-28 on a Reggie Green layup with 3:30 left in the third quarter but got no closer.

"It was a good game, Cranford came in here and played hard. This is the state tournament, no one wants to lose," East Side co-head coach Anthony Tavares said. "We have a bunch of athletes that defended and we did what we had to do. We have a little bit of depth this year and we have developed it. We got into some early foul trouble with Aaron (Bodie) and we needed our other guys to step up and they did."

Senior guard Jamal Reid added 16 points and senior forward Aaron Bodie added 13, including nine in the second half, for East Side.

"We needed to go through what we went through early on in the season," Tavares said. "We had some kids in and out, some suspensions, and I think we went 2-3 to start the season and now we are 18-5. The kids finally understand that we are going to do it the coaches' way, which is the right way."

Fedorchak, a junior, scored 16 points and Green, also a junior, added 12 to pace Cranford, which ended its season at 12-13.

"They were a little bit bigger and more athletic, but we needed to shoot the ball well from the perimeter in order to have a chance here and, unfortunately, we didn't do that," Cranford head coach Ryan Huber said. "Both of those guys (Fedorchak and Green) really stepped up for us. We are going to count on those guys a lot next year."