#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.

2009 National High School Invitational (April 3-5)

ESPN RISE ANNOUNCES NEW HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT:  “NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL INVITATIONAL” APRIL 3 – 5, 2009   Eight Boys and Four Girls Teams – 10 Games Live On ESPN, ESPN 2 and ESPNU

ESPN RISE, in conjunction with Paragon Marketing Group, has developed a new post-season boys and girls high school basketball tournament called the “National High School Invitational” (NHSI).  ESPN RISE’s NHSI will feature an eight boys team tournament and a four girls team tournament; games will be televised live on the ESPN family of networks: ESPN (1 game), ESPN2 (4 games) and ESPNU (6 games).  The event will take place April 3-5, 2009 at the Hanley Center at Georgetown Prep High School, Bethesda, Md.

Rutgers lands St. Benedict’s (NJ) JR. Greg Echenique

On Monday, Greg Echenique ended his college search choosing to stay in New Jersey and attend Rutgers University. He is rising prospect in the class of 2009 who helped St. Benedict’s (NJ) to a 24-1 record this season well averaging 11.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.3 blocks per game.

Tristan Thompson (St. Benedict’s, NJ) Class of 2010 Picks Texas

Texas lands a big commitment from 2010 Forward

On Tuesday afternoon Coach Rick Barnes received a huge verbal commitment from elite prospect Tristan Thompson from the class of 2010. He had the option to attend any school that he wanted to in the country with his unlimited upside. He was receiving interested from some of the elite programs in land before pulling the trigger for Texas.

ESPN Showing Two Elite High School’s Games Tonight

Hurley Night on ESPN Networks

The ESPN network will be showcasing two high school games tonight they are marketing this event as The Hurley Night since both games will have a Hurley coaching in them. In the first game of the night #3 St. Benedict’s (NJ) will take on Benedictine (VA) at 7:00 P.M. on ESPN U. Then in the nightcap #1 St. Anthony (NJ) will face American Christian (PA) at 9:00 P.M. on ESPN. These two games feature a ton of Division 1 talent on each squad the headliners in the event are Tyreke Evans (American Christian, PA) and Samardo Samuels (St. Benedict’s, NJ). Other top talent includes Dominic Cheek (St. Anthony’s, NJ), Ed Davis (Benedictine, VA), Tristan Thompson (St. Benedict’s, NJ), Lamont Jones (American Christian, PA), Greg Echenique (St. Benedict’s, NJ) and many more.

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.