Mount Olive named top seed for Morris County Tournament

The Morris County Tournament seeding meeting was held on Sunday afternoon at Morris Catholic and two-time defending champion Mount Olive garnered the No. 1 seed for the second year in a row.

Roxbury (9-2) was given the No. 2 seed, which is the highest seed the Gaels have received since the 2005-06 season.

"It feels good, I think it's important but it's not that important because there are a lot of teams that can make a run and get to the semifinals and final this year," Roxbury coach Jon Deeb said. "We've been ourselves and been the No. 8 and No. 12 seed and gotten to the semifinals before. I think the seed is indicative that we've been playing well but if we don't keep playing well it's not going to mean too much."

Chatham was named the No. 3 seed, the fourth seed went to Mendham, which advanced to the semifinals last year, Montville received the fifth seed, Jefferson, a semifinalist last season, was named No. 6 and last year's finalist Morristown rounded out the top seven seeds, which will receive a bye into the first round.

The prelimiary round must be played by Saturday, Jan. 31 while the first round needs to be played by Feb. 7, all games at the higher seed. The quarterfinals are scheduled for Feb. 14 at Randolph with game times set for 2 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.

The semifinals are slated for Feb. 21 at the County College of Morris, game times are 5 and 6:30 p.m. The final is at 7 p.m. on Feb. 28 also at CCM.

"I think the tournament is always exciting, it's a well-run tournament and it means a lot to the players and the coaches in the county, but this year there's probably a little more added enthusiasm about the tournament because so many teams believe they have a chance to win or to do very well," Deeb said. "That makes it more exciting and it also makes it more nerve racking to us as a No. 2 seed, we're certainly capable of going out in the first round, we have to be ready to play every weekend."

Here is the complete bracket.

25-Butler (1-11) at 8-Hanover Park (9-5); 24-Kinnelon (2-10) at 9-Delbarton (7-5); 23-Parsippany Hills (2-10) at 10-Morristown-Beard (6-5), winner at 7-Morristown (6-6); 22-Madison (2-9) at 11-Pequannock (9-4), winner at 6-Jefferson (9-2); 21-Randolph (2-10) at 12-West Morris (5-8), winner at 5-Montville (9-2); 20-Dover (7-7) at 13-Morris Knolls (7-4), winner at 4-Mendham (8-3); 19-Parsippany (6-6) at 14-Morris Hills (5-5), winner at 3-Chatham (9-4); 18-Boonton (7-6) at 15-Morris Catholic (6-7), winner at 2-Roxbury (9-2); 17-Whippany Park (7-5) at 16-Mountain Lakes (5-6), winner at 1-Mount Olive (8-2).

Staff Writer Lauren Knego: 973-428-6674; lknego@gannett.com