The River Dell Golden Hawks Varsity Boys Basketball Team(14-9, 7-3 Big North Patriot) squared off against the Passaic Valley Hornets(11-10, 3-7 Big North Independence) in the 2023-24 regular-season finale at River Dell High School in Oradell, New Jersey.

River Dell was only 24 hours removed from a nailbiter victory, 61-60, against Cresskill. Sean Golden tallied a game-high 22 points while Aditya Pandya supplied 20 points, and Liam Hickey chipped in with 13 points.

The Golden Hawks quickly jumped out of the gates, racing to a 13-4 lead. Passaic Valley responded with a 6-0 run to trim the deficit. However, the potent tandem of Sean Golden(8 points) and Patrick Sweeny(8 points)) tallied all of River Dell's points in the first quarter, with Sweeny burying two trifectas that made it a 16-12 advantage.

In the second quarter, the Golden Hawks picked up where they left off in the first quarter with a 10-0 blitz to widen their margin to double digits at 26-12. Patrick Sweeny is on fire from behind the arc, draining two additional triples. River Dell was able to take a 33-20 lead at halftime.

"Everyone in our rotation has the ability to knock down threes and jump shots," Patrick Sweeny explained. "You can see the full potential when we start knocking down shot after shot and we go on a big run." "We wanted to build a lead against a team like that because we didn't want to try and get into a battle with them."

Patrick Sweeny's contributions to the team, "It's been a grind, especially in the offseason and working with the shooting trainer every week and a full week in the summer league." "It feels good to put all that work in, and then you get to the season and start knocking down shots and feel that hard work is paying off."

"It's definitely great to have two years under varsity; for some, it's three years, and to play with the seniors in Sean(Golden), Phil(Doornheim), and Liam(Hickey), and it's good to develop under them and have that knowledge for next year, Patrick Sweeny described."

"Will(Brunner), Ryan(Rossig), and Aditya(Pandya) and I have been playing together basically since we were in third grade and working our way up the ranks from middle school into varsity basketball" "It's been fun playing with these guys for the last eight years of my life, and it's good to have that chemistry with them."

River Dell returns to action on Thursday, February 22nd, hosting the Dwight Maroon Raiders(15-11, 5-3 Big North American) in the first round of the North Jersey Section 1, Group 3 State Tournament at River Dell High School with tip-off set for 5 p.m.

The Golden Hawks and Dwight Morrow are facing each other for a third time this season, with the Maroon Raiders winning the first two matchups, including a 66-59 victory in the Bergen Invitational Tournament Semifinals.