City of Palms Classic Day 2 Taft, CA vs. Charlotte, FL

   

Game 3 - Taft (CA) vs. Charlotte (FL) - 77 to 40

This game was a over by the end of the 1^st quarter Taft (CA) came out on fire and was basically able to get whatever they wanted against Charlotte (FL).

The score at the half was 49 to 19 with the top scorers being Bryce Smith (Taft) with 12 points and Justin Hawkins (Taft) with 10 points. Charlotte (FL) top scorers in the half were Chris Stephenson with 9 points and Dago Pena with 6 points.

Taft was able to force 15 turnovers in the 1^st half which helped lead to the huge deficit at the half. The 2^nd half started just like the 1^st Taft came out running outscoring Charlotte 15 to 3 in the 3^rd quarter.

Taft had a balanced attack on offense with 4 players in double figures. Leading the way was Justin Hawkins with 20 points and 5 rebounds, Bryce Smith 13 points and 6 rebounds, (UNC) signee Larry Drew finished with 12 points, 5 steals and 2 assists and Terran Carter totaled 11 points and 8 rebounds.

The Charlotte team didn’t get much production from anyone other than Stephenson and Pena who combined to score 32 out of the teams 40 points.

Dago Pena scored 11 in the 2^nd half to finish with 20 points and 6 rebounds and Chris Stephenson was held to just 3 points in the 2^nd half totaling 12 points for the game.

City of Palms Classic Day 1 St. Benedicts, NJ vs. Gainsville, FL

  

Game 5 - St. Benedict’s (NJ) vs. Gainesville (FL) - 87 to 32

St. Benedict’s comes into this tournament the new # 1 team in the country.

They proved that the ranking was well deserved as they completely dominated this game from start to finish.

St. Benedict’s used their size to control both ends of the floor. Gainesville did not have an answer for the combo of Samardo Samuels and Greg Echenique who each scored with ease.

Samardo and Greg each had big games with Samardo finishing with 23 points and 6 rebounds in 19 minutes, Greg finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds respectively.

Tamir Jackson had a solid game finishing with 11 points and 4 assists.

Basically it looks like St. Benedict’s is the team to beat for the crown at the City of Palms Classic after day one.

Top 25 for 12/11/07

1. Duncanville (TX) - (12-0) LW 1
2. Oak Hill Academy (VA) - (11-0) LW 2
3. St. Patrick (NJ) - (0-0) LW 3
4. St. Anthony’s (NJ) - (0-0) LW 4
5. American Heritage (FL) - (5-0) LW 5

Top 25 Teams

 

Preseason Top 25 Teams

• 1. Duncanville (TX) - (39-0)
• 2. Oak Hill Academy (VA) - (40-1)
• 3. St. Patrick (NJ) - (30-2)
• 4. St. Anthony’s (NJ) - (29-1)
• 5. American Heritage (FL) - (17-9)