Last Tuesday's opening round of the inaugural Camden County (N.J.) Tournament for girls' basketball raised questions — namely, how was top-seeded Paul VI allowed to defeat 17th-seeded Camden Prep by a score of 95-3?
As reported by NJ.com, a running clock, which is a new rule implemented by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, was instituted at halftime with the score already 50-0. By the third quarter, it was 75-0.
Paul VI, No. 3 in the NJ.com Top 20, is 22-1 this season. Camden Prep is 0-7 and has been outscored 343-62.
"It was a mismatch that could not be avoided, though, under the structure of the Camden County Tournament, which features a traditional 16-team bracket with no byes," wrote NJ.com's Chris Nalwasky and Lauren Knego.
"There are mechanisms in place in other county tournaments to avoid mismatches like that," the authors continued. "Other tournaments offer byes to the highest-seeded teams, allowing lesser teams to play each other in the early rounds."
According to Bobby Timinski, coach at Woodbridge High School, “Someone should have known that was a disaster waiting to happen.”
Per the reporting of Nalwasky and Knego, Camden Prep coach Omar Holden said he didn’t feel his team was disrespected by Paul VI. Holden explained that Camden Prep is a grassroots program that was started in 2020 and said his players are still learning how to play the game.
Paul VI, meanwhile, has a nationally-recognized program that annually competes for titles.
“I don’t think there was any controversy with where teams landed, but it just unfortunately left Paul VI to play Camden Prep, and obviously not a good situation for either team involved,” said Dan Butler, head coach of tournament participant Cherry Hill West. “It puts both teams in a difficult situation on how to handle it properly. As for the seeding and the organization of the tournament, there’s not much that could have changed, I think everything was done properly.”
Without the 95-3 Paul VI score factored in, the average margin of victory is 36 points in the first game of tournament play for No. 1 seeds in 2026 county or conference tournaments, Nalwasky and Knego reported. Eleven of the 15 games were decided by 30 points or more, six by 40 or more and three by 50 or more.
In Passaic County, the top four seeds bypass the first three rounds of play and get automatic spots in the quarterfinals.
“We’re a small county of 22 schools. We want everybody to participate and if we had a 16- or a 22-seed play a 1-seed right off the bat, I’m sure we’d have the same situation,” Passaic County Tournament director William Vacca told NJ.com. “To entice teams to stay in the tournament, we have brackets where 22 plays 18 and so on. Everybody gets equal games, and the top teams get a bye.”
