#5 St. Patrick (NJ) Vs. #3 St. Benedict’s (NJ) Final 88-62

Dexter Strickland (St. Patrick, NJ)

In one of the most highly anticipated games of the season two national powers met last night at the “RAC” on Rutgers campus.

This game was between # 3 St. Benedict’s (NJ) and # 5 St. Patrick (NJ) each team boost numerous division one players across their rosters. Some of these talented players include Dexter Strickland (2009/UNC/St. Patrick), Michael Gilchrist (2011/St. Patrick), Kyle Irving (2010/St. Patrick) and Paris Bennet (2009/GM/St. Patrick) from St. Patrick, NJ. The standout players from St. Benedict’s, NJ are Tristan Thompson (2010/Texas/St. Benedict’s), Myck Kabongo (2011/Texas/St. Benedict’s), Tamir Jackson (2009/Rice/St. Benedict’s) and Lamar Patterson (2009/Pitt/St. Benedict’s).

The game ended up drawing in some of the area’s top college coaches and staff, coaches in attendance included Rutgers head coach Fred Hill, Seton Hall head coach Bobby Gonzalez and staff, UConn assistant Andre LaFleur, St. John’s assistant Fred Quartlebaum and Penn assistant Mike Martin.

At the beginning of the game it looked like this one would live up to the hype with each team going back and forth at each other in the first quarter with St. Patrick holding a slim 21-17 lead over St. Benedict’s. Kyle Irving had 10 points in the opening period for St. Patrick and Tristan Thompson led St. Benedict’s with 9 points.

St. Patrick blew a close game wide open in the second quarter outscoring St. Benedict’s 24-8 in the period. They went into the half with a 45-25 lead and never looked back from then on cruising to a blowout victory 88-62.

It seemed like after the first quarter when St. Benedict’s was getting the ball inside to Thompson and scoring buckets they went away from that. It also seemed like they just didn’t come to play last night and were disinterested in the game.

This was a big-time statement game for St. Patrick, NJ who is predicted to win the Tournament of Champions of New Jersey. They showed everyone in the state that when there at full strength they are a team to be wrecking with when it comes playoff time.

The leading scorers for St. Patrick, NJ were senior Dexter Strickland 21 points and junior Kyle Irving 21 points. Super sophomore Michael Gilchrist chipped in 8 points.

The leading scorers for St. Benedict’s, NJ were junior Tristan Thompson 13, sophomore Myck Kabongo 13 points and senior Tamir Jackson added 10 points.

Each of these teams has big-time match-ups coming up in the next week. St. Benedict’s takes on undefeated and #1 team in the country Mater Dei (CA) at the Nike Extravaganza this Saturday February 7^th at 12:00 a.m. eastern time on ESPNU. St. Patrick faces NYC powerhouse Lincoln on Friday February 13^th at 7:00 p.m. eastern time on ESPN 2.

2008 City of Palms Classic Final 4 Match-Ups

The 36th annual City of Palms Classic has made it down to the final four after the first 3 days of action. The teams that have advanced to the semi-finals include #1 Mater Dei (CA), # 4 St. Patrick (NJ), Wheeler (GA) and Winter Park (FL).

In game # 1 you have a battle of front courts when David & Travis Wear (Mater Dei, CA) go up against Ari Stewart and Richard Howell (Wheeler, GA). Mater Dei, CA is the # 1 team in the land, there starting five have all signed with a major division one school.

2008 Bank of America City of Palms Classic

2008 Tournament Teams

American Heritage HS (Plantation, Florida), 19-9: Kenny Boynton, HoopScoop’s No. 2-rated junior, had a 61-point game at last year’s COP, and is joined by pint-sized Ray Taylor.

Arlington Country Day (Jacksonville, Florida), 22-6: Apaches have won four consecutive state championships and boast 6-9 Wally Judge, Rivals.com’s 26th-rated junior.

Briarcrest HS (Memphis, Tennessee), 22-12: Leslie McDonald, HoopScoop’s 15th-rated junior, teamed with fellow juniors Johnny Williams and Gregg Wooten to win state title.

Dunbar HS (Fort Myers, Florida), 21-8: Tigers reached 3A state tourney behind sophomore David Paulk & juniors Melvin German, Dontel Singleton and Jeffrey Evans.

Duncanville HS (Duncanville, Texas), 36-2: Shawn Williams and Roger Franklin, both national top-75 juniors, are 75-2 with only one in-state loss during the past two seasons.

Fayette County HS (Fayetteville, Georgia), 23-10: Tigers rode 6-6 consensus top-30 junior Noel Johnson (25 ppg, 9 rpg, 3.6 apg) all the way to the Class AAAA state-title game.

Fort Myers HS (Fort Myers, Florida), 26-4: Green Wave reached Class 5A regional semis and will build around junior big men Josh Nicholas (6-11) and Steve Spline (6-7).

Lincoln HS (Brooklyn, New York), 28-4: Lance Stephenson, HoopScoop’s No. 1-rated junior, has led the Railsplitters to three consecutive city championships.

Mater Dei HS (Santa Ana, California), 35-1: Monarchs could be nation’s preseason No. 1 team, led by 6-9 brothers David & Travis Wear, who have committed to North Carolina.

Olympia HS (Orlando, Florida), 24-3: Titans won Tampa Hoops Classic and are state’s top young team, led by juniors Dexter Fields, William Green, Jamel Marshall and Martell Blue.

Roman Catholic HS (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 19-6: Cahillites, upset in the Catholic playoffs after a 14-0 regular-season, boast HoopScoop’s No. 11 junior, Malik Wayns.

St. Patrick HS (Elizabeth, New Jersey), 25-5: Kevin Boyle’s Celtics will make record eighth City of Palms appearance, powered by consensus top-10 junior Dexter Strickland.

Westchester HS (Los Angeles, California), 28-5: Comets will put their 14-0 City of Palms record on the line, led by national top-5 sophomore Dwayne Polee.

Wheeler HS (Marietta, Georgia), 30-3: Highly touted juniors Ari Stewart and Richard Howell will be trying to give Coach Doug Lipscomb his fifth state title in 16 seasons.

Winter Park HS (Winter Park, Florida), 28-2: Wildcats won first 21 games and return national top-25 freshman Austin Rivers, son of Boston Celtics coach Glenn “Doc” Rivers.

2008 Sunshine Teams

Bishop Verot HS (Fort Myers, Florida), 16-11: Host school loses a lot of size, but return juniors Brennen Melvin and Ettiene Effenberg, plus sophomore Jacquard Hagan.

Dwyer HS (Palm Beach Gardens, Florida), 24-4: Panthers return 14 of 15 players, including 6-1 junior Ramon Galloway and 6-3 freshman Jacoby Brissett.

Montverde Academy (Montverde, Florida), 24-5: Nationally regarded Eagles program will build around 6-11 Ruslan Pateev and 6-foot Dmitry Zimin, both juniors.

North Port HS (North Port, Florida), 20-7: Shaun Noriega is widely regarded as Southwest Florida’s top junior, and will lead the Bobcats to their first-ever City of Palms.

For Tournament and Ticket Information Call:

Ron Riley, Executive Director, 239-671-9347
Kristi Hurd, Event Coordinator, 239-850-1707

For Tournament Team Information (Coaches) Call:

Donnie Wilkie, VP, 941-456-9388

Boost Mobile Elite 24 @ Rucker Park (Lance Stephenson & John Wall Standout)

Elite 24

2008 Boost Mobile Elite 24 @ Rucker Park Recap

 

 

I was in attendance at the 3^rd annual Elite 24 game held at the famous “Rucker Park” in Harlem, NY which took place on Friday night. This game brings together 24 of the elite high school players in the country regardless of shoe affiliation to go head to head in this all-star game. On Friday night the blue squad “Skip to My Lou” earned a 135 to 121 victory over the white squad “The Goat”.

The players who were awarded the MVP’s were Lance Stephenson (Lincoln, NY) aka “Born Ready” with a game high 29pts, John Wall (Word of God, NC) aka “Ammo” aka “Make’em Fall” with 10pts & 6ast, Dominic Cheek (St. Anthony’s, NJ) aka “Peek A Boo” with 23pts, 7rebs & 3stl and Maalik Wayns (Roman Catholic, PA) aka “So Unique” with 10pts and 8ast.

St. Patrick’s (NJ) vs. Oak Hill (VA) Primetime Shootout

St. Patrick’s (NJ) vs. Oak Hill (VA) Final 63-54

This a quick clip from the Primetime Shootout in Trenton, NJ.

Primetime Shootout @ Trenton Recap Day 1

Primetime Shootout Day 1 In Trenton, NJ

On Saturday the Primetime Shootout moved over to the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, NJ for the first of two days of action. The day was packed with elite prospects taking the floor in Trenton along with some big time match-ups team wise. The standout performances of the day were led by junior Lance Stephenson (pictured), (Lincoln, NY), senior Greg Monroe (Georgetown, Helen Cox, LA), junior Maalik Wayns (Villanova, Roman Catholic, PA), senior Kevin Jones (West Virginia, Mt. Vernon, NY) and junior Lamont “MoMo” Jones (Louisville, American Christian, PA). 

Primetime Shootout @ Rutgers Recap

 Primetime Shootout @ Rutgers (RAC) Recap

Well I am on the road again this weekend to cover the second weekend of Primetime Shootout in New Jersey. I headed up Friday afternoon to watch 3 headline match-ups at the Lewis Brown Arena (RAC) on Rutgers University campus.

The group from Primetime Shootout had four nationally ranked teams at this event with # 1 St. Anthony’s, # 3 St. Benedict’s, # 11 Oak Hill and # 13 St. Patrick. The big match-up of the night was St. Benedict’s vs. St. Patrick in the final game. These two teams our both national powers and rivals in New Jersey.

The individual standouts on the night were Mike Rosario (Rutgers, St. Anthony’s, NJ) who had 32 points in 20 minutes on his future court. Brandon Jennings (Arizona, Oak Hill, VA) who finished with 35 points and 9 assists. Dexter Strickland (UNC, St. Patrick, NJ) who totaled 32 points in 3 quarters of action, Samardo Samuels (Louisville, St. Benedict’s, NJ) dominated on the inside for 30 points and 7 rebounds. Theses star players all stepped up big for their schools on the big stage tonight.

Primetime Shootout @ Rutgers Results

Game 1 – St. Anthony’s (NJ) vs. John Carrol (MD) Final 71 to 33

Game 2 – Oak Hill Academy (VA) vs. Piscataway (NJ) Final 81 to 39

Game 3 – St. Benedict’s (NJ) vs. St. Patrick’s (NJ) Final 68 to 62

Dexter Strickland (St. Patrick, NJ) Class of 2009 Picks UNC

On Sunday afternoon Dexter Strickland picked UNC over Florida and Michigan State.

Dexter Strickland is one of the elite players in the class of 2009 and has the skill set to play either guard position at the next level. He is a 6’3 combo guard that is a smooth guard that can take over a game when needed. He is a very athletic guard that finishes strong at the rim and has nice floor vision.

This now gives UNC five committments in the past week from the class of 2009 & 2010.

Houston vs. The Nation

# 3 St. Patrick (NJ) falls to Yates (TX) 66 to 60 at Houston vs. The Nation on Saturday night.