2009 Jordan Brand All-American Rosters Announced

The Jordan Brand All-American game announced the rosters for the game held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. This year’s event tripleheader will begin with an International Game at 3:30 p.m. followed by the Regional Game at 5:30 p.m., and the All-American Game at 8:00 p.m. The International and regional rosters will be announced at a later date. The All-American game will be aired on ESPN2.

The biggest surprise of the team selected was the omission of “NYC Standout” Lance Stephenson (Lincoln, NY) and “Jersey Star” Dexter Strickland (St. Patrick, NJ). Each of these players deserves to play in this game both are ranked in the top ten players in the country. There has been a rumor going around that the reason Lance Stephenson was left off of the roster has to do with him test-wearing Under Armour gear for (Lincoln, NY).

The Jordan Brand selection committee really dropped the ball on this decision leaving off the top player in New York for an All-American being held in the Madison Square Garden.

Tickets are now on sale at all Ticketmaster locations, the Madison Square Garden box office, online at ticketmaster.com or by calling 212-307-7171. For more information, please visit the official web site, www.JordanBrandClassic.com. Live webcasts of the Regional and International games, produced by the High School Basketball Network, are also available at www.JordanBrandClassic.TV.

The roster for the game includes:

John Wall (Word of God, NC) (PG) Undecided

Lamont “MoMo” Jones (Oak Hill Academy, VA) (PG) Virginia Tech

Tommy Mason-Griffin (Madison, TX) (PG) Oklahoma

Abdul Gaddy (Bellarmine Prep, MA) (PG) Washington

Kenny Boynton (American Heritage, FL) (SG) Florida

Avery Bradley (Findlay Prep, NV) (SG) Texas

Xavier Henry (Putnam City, OK) (SG) Memphis

Dominic Cheek (St. Anthony’s, NJ) (SG) Villanova

Durand Scott (Rice, NY) (SG) Miami

Royce White (Hopkins, MN) (SF) Minnesota

Jordan Hamilton (Dominguez, CA) (SF) Texas

Renardo Sidney (Fairfax, CA) (PF) Undecided

Derrick Favors (South Atlanta, GA) (PF) Georgia Tech

Mason Plumlee (Christ School, NC) (PF) Duke

John Henson (Sickles, FL) (PF) UNC

Wally Judge (Arlington Country Day, FL) (PF) Kansas State

DeMarcus Cousins (LeFlore, AL) (C) Undecided

Alex Oriakhi (Tilton School, NH) (C) UConn

Keith “Tiny” Gallon (Oak Hill Academy, VA) (C) Oklahoma

Daniel Orton (Bishop McGuiness, OK) (C) Kentucky

2008 City of Palms Classic All-Tournament Team

The 36th annual City of Palms Classic wrapped up on Tuesday, after which the all-tournament team was announced. It was no surprise that super sophomore Austin Rivers (Winter Park, FL) who has committed to Florid, was named tournament MVP. He helped lead his team to a 3rd place finish after knocking off nationally ranked Duncanville, TX and Westchester, CA.

Here is the rest of the All-Tournament Team:

Austin Rivers, Winter Park (FL)

Lance Stephenson, Lincoln (NY)

Tyler Lamb, Mater Dei (CA)

Kenny Boynton, American Heritage (FL)

Michael Gilchrist, St. Patrick’s (NJ)

Gary Franklin, Mater Dei (CA)

Richard Howell, Wheeler (GA)

Tahj Tate, Wheeler (GA)

John Wall, Word of God (NC)

Roger Franklin, Duncanville (TX)

Maalik Wayns, Roman Catholic (PA)

Jordin Mayes, Westchester (CA)

2008 City of Palms Classic Day Two Scores

In day two at Bishop Verot H.S. there were some big time performances along with a huge upset. Kenny Boynton (American Heritage, FL) poured in 43 points against Dunbar, FL. In last year’s tournament Boynton set a single game scoring record versus Dunbar going off for 61 points. Lance Stephenson (Lincoln, NY) led his team to a 70-55 victory behind a game high 37 points. This has been a long day for the Railsplitters from NYC who have been stuck traveling all day with weather delays and arrived at the gym around 9:30 p.m. Super sophomore Austin Rivers (Winter Park, FL) led his team to a huge upset of preseason #1 Duncanville, TX with a 69-64 win. He finished with a game high 26 points. The #1 team in the land Mater Dei, CA showed why completely dominating a over matched Fayette County, GA team winning easily 74-46. 

2008 City of Palms Classic Day One Scores

The 36th annual City of Palms Classic tipped off today at Bishop Verot H.S with five opening day games. This years tournament is filled with a number highly talented teams from across the country.

Game #1 – Roman Catholic (PA) vs. Arlington Country Day (FL) 56 to 55

Leading scorers: Rakeem Brookings (Roman Catholic, PA) had a game high 27 points and Maalik Wayns added 14 points for Roman Catholic. Rodney McGruder (ACD, FL) finished with 20 points and Wally Judge totaled 12 points for ACD.

Game # 2 – Word of God (NC) vs. American Heritage (FL) 63 to 61

Leading scorers: John Wall (WOG, NC) finished with 15 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists. Dezmine Wells totaled 18 points in the win. C.J. Leslie ended with 11 points and 7 rebounds for (WOG, NC). Kenny Boynton (AH, FL) had a game high 19 points and Ray Taylor (AH, FL) chipped in 14 points in the loss.

Game # 3 – Andrew Jackson (FL) vs. North Port (FL) 76 to 58

Leading scorers: Stacey Poole Jr. (Andrew Jackson, FL) had a game high 20 points in the win. Bernard Nugent Jr. added 18 points and Marquel Wade had 14 for Andrew Jackson, FL. Shaun Noriega and Kasey Wilson scored 17 point apiece for North Port.

Game # 4 – Duncanville (TX) vs. Dunbar (FL) 83 to 62

Leading scorers: Sterns had 24 points, Franklin had 21 points and 11 boards, Williams had 16 points and Roger Dowell added 11 for Duncanville. Perkins, a sophomore point guard, stole the show for Dunbar, scoring a game-high 28 points on 10-of-20 shooting, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range. Simons had 10 points and six rebounds and Paulk finished with 10 points for Dunbar.

Game # 5 – Westchester (CA) vs. Fort Myers (FL) 62 to 47

Leading scorers: Jordin Mayes (Westchester, CA) had a game high 17 points and O’Conner added 14 points and seven assists. Terran McClendon (Fort Myers, FL) ended with 16 points in the loss.

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

2009 HoopHall Classic Schedule Jan 16-19 @ Springfield, MA

The Hoophall Classic held at Springfield College during MLK weekend is loaded this year. Some of the key players in attendance this year include Lance Stephenson (Lincoln, NY), Xavier Henry (Putnam City, OK), DeMarcus Cousins (LeFlore, AL), David & Travis Wear (Mater Dei, CA), Dominic Cheek (St. Anthony’s, NJ), Kenny Boynton (American Heritage, FL) and Tristan Thompson (St. Benedict’s, NJ).

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.

Bob Gibbons TOC Title Game Results

On Sunday, afternoon at the Dean Smith Center the championship games were held for the Bob Gibbons TOC. In the 17U title game the Atlanta Celtics (GA) defeated Team Breakdown (FL) 72 to 62 behind a impressive performance from the # 1 player in the class of 2009 Derrick Favors with 20 points. Kenny Boyton of Team Breakdown was the games leading scorer with 29 points in the loss.

In the 16U title game the D.C. Assult (D.C.) defeated Triple Threat (MD) 64 to 61. Then in the 15U title game OBC (OH) defeated M33M (TN) 60 to 45.

City of Palms Classic Day 3 American Heritage, FL vs. Bishop Verot, FL

  

Game 2 – American Heritage (FL) vs. Bishop Verot (FL) 63 to 59

This game was another match up of Florida schools with the host school taking on highly talented American Heritage.

The game began with Kenny Boynton showing everyone why he is a big time scorer with his team’s first 11 points. He was making up quickly for a subpar game the day before, when he scored a season low 13 points and fouled out.

Bishop Verot used a packed in zone defense to try and slow down Florida signee Eloy Vargas early on in the game. The defense seemed to frustrate Eloy Vargas early on in the game.

Eloy Vargas is still trying to come back from an ankle injury from earlier in the season. You could tell that he was slowed a little by the ankle in this game, after such an impressive performance the night before.

The game was close in the first half with American Heritage taking a 35 to 34 lead into the half.

The scoring leaders at the half were Kenny Boynton for American Heritage with 21 points and Brennen Melvin for Bishop Verot with 14 points.

In the 2^nd half the game continued to be a back and forth contest with American Heritage still holding a 1 point lead at the end of the 3^rd quarter.

Kenny Boynton continued to put on a show on the offensive end scoring mostly from behind the arc. Eloy Vargas never seemed to be able to get into the flow of the game and was basically a non factor in the 2^nd half.

American Heritage was able to slow down Brennen Melvin in the 2^nd half holding him to 3 points on 1 of 6 from the field. Bishop Verot did however receive a big 2^nd half from Ryan Schrotenboer who scored 8 points and pulled down 8 rebounds.

In the 4^th quarter American Heritage were able to increase their lead by 3 and hold onto for a tough victory over a pesky Bishop Verot team. The final was American Heritage 63 and Bishop Verot 59.

The standout players in the game were Kenny Boynton from American Heritage who finished with a game high 35 points on 12-24 shooting and 7-16 from behind the arc. Raymond Taylor finished with 16 points and 7 assists. Eloy Vargas had 9 points and 6 rebounds. The standouts from Bishop Verot were Ryan Schrotenboer who totaled 14 points and 15 rebounds and Brennen Melvin who totaled 17 points and 5 rebounds.

Kenny Boynton (American Heritage,FL) Drops 61 points

Class of 2009 Standout Kenny Boynton scored a tournament record 61 points in his team’s morning victory over Dunbar, FL.

 He was 22 of 33 from the field. He has made sure everyone will remember what type of prolific scorer he is for years to come.