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SAN ANTONIO -- When Tahaad Pettiford first walked into the Alamodome this week with his Auburn teammates, he took one look around at the arena that holds nearly 63,000 and took it all in.

The freshman from Hudson Catholic High School and Jersey City is about to play in the Final Four with a chance to win a national championship.

“[A] dream come true,” Pettiford, who is generously listed at 6-foot-1 but is closer to 5-11, said Thursday in the Auburn locker room ahead of Saturday’s matchup with Florida. “Honestly, you know, [I’m] probably never going to get an experience like this with a team like this and be able to make the run that we have, and obviously just trying to win it all.”

Jersey City native Tahaad Pettiford surrounded by media in the @AuburnMBB locker room pic.twitter.com/Kh40gXsLob

— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) April 3, 2025

Pettiford was a four-star recruit coming out of Hudson Catholic, where he was coached by Nick Mariniello, and might have expected to start in college. But because Auburn has a number of older, veteran guards ahead of him, he comes off the bench and has embraced his role as the team’s Sixth Man.

Pettiford is averaging 11.7 points and 2.9 assists, but has stepped up his play in the NCAA Tournament. He has scored in double-figures in all four games, and poured in 23 against Creighton in the second round and 20 vs. Michigan in the Sweet 16.

“He just knows his role,” Auburn star Johni Broome told NJ Advance Media. “He knows what his job on the team is to do. I think he should win Sixth Man of the Year because he’s so important to this team.”

Pettiford said he was able to embrace the bench role because he’s always done it while playing against older competition as a kid in Jersey City and during his AAU days with the New York Lightning and Sports U. He credited his father, Travis, and his older cousin, Chris Miller, a former pro player overseas, with forcing him to play older competition on the playgrounds and in the gyms in Jersey City and Secaucus.

As a third-grader, Pettiford would go to the playground and play against grown ups. He learned how to absorb physical punishment against bigger, stronger players early on.

“I always played up, so always being the youngest on the team, I didn’t always start,” Pettiford said. “So just being used to that, honestly, just knowing that I can impact the game, no matter if I started or not. So I just tried to do that however I can.”

“Well, those things help the development of a lot of kids,” said Auburn assistant and Newark, N.J. native Ira Bowman. “When you’re a kid like Tahaad was, he wasn’t a 6-9 player or a big kid, he was a smaller guy that was explosive and had athleticism. So playing against older people helps you absorb the physicality. When you get to playing with kids that are your age, the game is so much slower for you.”

Auburn coach Bruce Pearl loves Pettiford’s Jersey City toughness and moxy, and said he’s never complained once about his bench role.

“I suppose some would just sort of expect that to be a problem,” Pearl said of Pettiford’s bench role. “Great player, one of our best players, and yet only started one game because I think Denver was injured. Not a word. Not a body language, shoulder shrug, roll eye ever from Tahaad. Because if he did, his dad would slap it right out of him.”

He added that Pettiford “has great respect for the [older] guys like Denver [Jones], Chad [Baker-Mazara] or Chaney [Johnson] that were in front of him. They were seniors.”

Still, Pearl said Pettiford is playing as well as almost any freshman in the nation -- including Duke star Cooper Flagg, the presumed No. 1 NBA Draft pick.

“He’s been unbelievable, one of the best freshmen in college basketball this year,” Pearl said. “You look at him, Cooper Flagg, maybe a couple others, who has had greater impact on the success of the team than those two guys?

“He also recognizes that he’s always been overlooked because he’s 5′11″. He’ll be overlooked in the Final Four again. But he has the opportunity to prove that he’s pretty special."

Pettiford has a chip on his shoulder because of his size and the fact that he’s from Jersey City.

During his freshman season at Hudson Catholic, Pettiford scored a game-high 40 points in a triple-overtime win against Dylan Harper and Don Bosco. As a senior last year, he went for 42 points and hit two buzzer-beaters against Roselle Catholic. One came in regulation, the other won the game in double-OT.

He’s the only player from New York or New Jersey in the Final Four.

“Jersey City basketball is not like every other basketball, obviously,” he said. “It shows all the players that came out of Jersey, they prosper some way, somehow, so I just feel like the competitiveness in Jersey helped.”

Said Pearl: “The Jersey City toughness, it comes through all the time, that confidence.”

Travis Pettiford played high school ball under Bob Hurley Sr. at St. Anthony’s, while Bowman played at Seton Hall Prep and also played AAU ball with Dan Hurley.

When it came time for Pettiford to choose a college, it came down to UConn, where Hurley coaches, and Auburn, where Bowman coaches.

“I picked the school because I knew I wanted to win,” Pettiford said.

Now he’s in the Final Four and two wins from a championship.

“No moment’s too big for him, because he’s not thinking about the moment,” Bowman said. “He’s thinking about playing in the space that he’s in at the time and who’s in front of him.”

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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter and Basketball Insider for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.

In the heart of Jersey City's Powerhouse Arts District lies the Arts + Powerhouse Building, a century-old warehouse that finished a historic revitalization in February 2024. The building has over 100,000 square feet of office/retail space and is slowly filling that space with all kinds of new businesses, from restaurants to fitness spots. Daily Provisions, a NYC-based breakfast and lunch spot, recently opened its doors on the ground level of the building — and more is soon to follow. Read on for more about the new businesses coming to Jersey City's Arts + Powerhouse Building, located at 124-134 Bay Street.

^ A layout of some of the new businesses in the building

A NYC-based food and drink eatery has arrived at 132 Bay Street. Daily Provisions celebrated its Jersey City grand opening on Thursday, March 20th, per its Instagram. Run by Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group (the group that first launched Shake Shack), the restaurant now occupies 3,134 square feet of space in the Arts + Powerhouse building, per Jersey Digs. The menu is primarily focused on to-go orders with breakfast, lunch, and dinner items — including sandwiches, bakery items, soups, and salads, among other dishes (and a special Taylor Ham sammy for the JC opening). The drink menu includes coffee, tea, and lemonade, among other choices. Daily Provisions currently has eight locations in New York City — this will be the eatery's first New Jersey locale.

Read More: Is Hoboken the Beauty Capital of New Jersey?

Along with the new restaurants on the ground floor also comes a new workout spot that is no stranger to the fitness scene — Rumble Boxing. Here, participants can expect a 45-minute boxing class split into ten rounds. Each round lasts about three minutes and gym-goers switch between floor exercises and punching series on the heavy bags. Rumble's Hoboken location opened up in February 2023 at 1201 Shipyard Lane, and another location recently opened in Edgewater. Rumble Boxing has multiple New Jersey and NYC locations, as well as many more across the United States. The boxing studio is set to open on March 17th, 2025. To celebrate, there will be a buy one, get one free class for first-timers.

See More: These Restaurants + Bars in Montclair Will Wow Your Visitors

We first shared the news back in 2021 that NYC-based taco spot 'Tacombi' would be coming to Jersey City's Arts + Powerhouse building. The Mexican restaurant will also be on the ground floor, and will take up about 2,700 square feet of space. Tacombi’s story began by selling Mexican street food in a vintage VW camper bus on the beach in Yucatan, Mexico back in 2005 and has since grown to be the popular Mexican restaurant it is today. The restaurant is known for its beautiful interior design — think bright colors, murals, and major beach vibes — and serves up tacos, quesadillas, burritos, and savory appetizers. Some menu highlights include corn esquites (sweet corn sliced from the cob with cotija cheese, smoky homemade Morita mayo, spicy chili), baja crispy fish tacos, and a la bisteca burrito (sirloin steak with rice, beans, cabbage, spicy escabeche, + salsa) Tacombi currently has locations in New York, Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, and Illinois — this will be its first New Jersey storefront.

Other businesses set to open at Jersey City's Arts + Powerhouse Building include One Medical, a primary care office, and Spear Physical Therapy, per an Instagram post from the building. This post will be updated as more tenants are announced.

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It could take more than two years to conclude a proposed merger between Kean University and New Jersey City University, campus officials said in a newly-released timeline.

New Jersey City University accepted Kean’s merger proposal four weeks ago. It was a step that authorized further discussions between the two public universities without finalizing an agreement, leaders of both schools said.

The nearly century-old higher education institution in Hudson County has been in a financial crisis and the merger with Kean is expected to allow the school to continue operating.

New Jersey City University would be renamed Kean Jersey City under the proposal, Kean President Lamont O. Repollet said in a March 5 letter to the campus community.

Repollet, the state’s former education commissioner, said Kean had taken “another important step” by submitting a draft Letter of Intent to New Jersey City University, which is currently known as NJCU.

“As you know, the NJCU Board of Trustees earlier this month voted to move forward with our proposal to merge our two institutions and establish Kean Jersey City. We look forward to NJCU’s response to the draft letter in the coming weeks,” Repollet wrote in an update to the Kean community posted on the university’s website.

“Once this letter is signed by both universities, we will enter a period of due diligence — a time for teams from Kean and NJCU to learn more about each other’s academic and administrative operations as we explore the path forward together,” Repollet wrote.

The merger, if it happens, is not likely to occur before 2027.

“Once due diligence is complete, a successful merger can take up to 24 months,” Repollet wrote.

“The process will be led by transition teams addressing academic alignment, student services, administrative systems, finances, athletics and more. Stakeholder contributions and input from the state and accrediting bodies will guide each step, and Kean will share updates as the timeline progresses,” Repollet wrote.

A joint meeting with employee union leaders at Kean and New Jersey City University will be held April 15, he wrote. Neither university has said whether a merger might result in staffing cuts.

A joint town hall for both institutions, mentioned by Repollet, would take place only after the letter of intent is signed by both sides.

New Jersey City University’s spokesperson said the school will be providing updates on a section of its website devoted to the proposed merger.

“Any future joint Town Hall meeting on the NJCU campus would occur sometime after the signing,” spokesperson Ira Thor told NJ Advance Media on Tuesday.

“The purpose of the meeting will be to keep our students, faculty, staff, and community engaged in the process as our institutions continue our ongoing discussions. NJCU will continue to communicate any updates directly to the NJCU community,” Thor said.

Kean University enrolls approximately 17,000 students while New Jersey City University has 5,500 students, officials said previously.

The move to hammer out a merger comes as New Jersey City University has been grappling for years with financial challenges and questions about oversight.

The school was assigned a monitor by the state in 2023.

New Jersey Secretary of Higher Education Brian Bridges gave New Jersey City University until the end of March to identify a potential university partner.

The university’s leaders also discussed a possible merger with Montclair State University.

New Jersey City University was founded in 1927, became a college in 1935 and was granted university status in 1998.

If the merger is finalized, the Jersey City campus would join Kean University’s other campuses, including its campus in China.

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Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com.

JERSEY CITY, New Jersey (WABC) -- A 37-year-old man was injured after he was run down by a car following a dispute in Jersey City on Monday, police said.

The incident happened just before 1:30 a.m. at the intersection of Bay and Erie Streets near a very popular pedestrian plaza.

Police say when officers arrived, they found a man on the ground with injuries.

Investigators said it appears the victim and the driver had gotten into some sort of dispute just before the incident.

Police say the victim suffered head trauma, a collapsed lung, and internal injuries to his stomach area.

The victim was transported to Jersey City Medical Center where he was in critical condition.

He is now stable and receiving treatment.

The driver of the vehicle that allegedly struck the victim fled from the scene.

It remains unclear what the dispute was about and if the collision was intentional.

No other details have been made on the make or model of the suspected vehicle.

An investigation is ongoing.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Office of the Hudson County Prosecutor at 201-915-1345

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By: Contact: Hannah Hirst; Assistant Athletic Communication Director

PITMAN, N.J.- The New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) has recognized two standout players from the New Jersey City University (NJCU) men's volleyball team for their exceptional performances during the week of March 31 to April 6. Sophomore outside hitter Marcus Pardasie (Paramus, N.J./Cresskill) has been named NJAC Men's Volleyball Player of the Week, while freshman outside hitter Matt Peralta (Hackensack, N.J./Hackensack) earned the title of NJAC Men's Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week.

The Gothic Knights (21-8) ended the week with a perfect 2-0 record, thanks in large part to the stellar contributions of both Pardasie and Peralta. In a dominant three-set victory over Old Westbury, which ended with scores of 25-10, 25-9, and 25-11, Pardasie showcased his offensive prowess by leading the team with 13 kills, hitting an impressive .591, along with seven digs and a block. Peralta also made significant contributions, finishing with eight kills, 10 digs, and three service aces, marking his first double-digit digs performance of the season.

In the Gothic Knights' four-set victory against Ramapo (18-25, 25-20, 25-22, 25-23), Pardasie delivered a historic performance, setting a career-high with 34 kills—the most in a four-set match in NJCU history. He also added seven digs and a block in the match. Peralta also recorded a career-high 21 digs and posted 12 kills, earning his first double-double of his rookie season.

For Pardasie, this recognition marked his seventh weekly award of the season, including his fourth NJAC Player of the Week honor and his fifth overall NJAC accolade. This brings his career total of NJAC weekly awards to an impressive 15. Peralta's NJAC Defensive Player of the Week honor is his first such award, and his third weekly recognition of the season, bringing his total to five awards in his inaugural campaign.

UP NEXT: Looking ahead, the Gothic Knights are set to face the winner of the #3 Ramapo/#6 Sarah Lawrence match in the Skyline Conference semifinals on Thursday, April 10, at 7:00 p.m.

For the latest news, updates, and information on New Jersey City University sports, visit njcugothicknights.com. Fans can also stay up-to-date on the latest Gothic Knights news by following NJCU Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.