Tristan Thompson (2010) Power Forward Finds New Home

Tristan Thompson

Tristan Thompson a consensus top five prospect in the class of 2010 who was dismissed from St. Benedict’s Prep (NJ) team last week for public insubordination has found a new school. The talented forward who is verbally committed to (Texas) has decided to finish his year at Findlay Prep (NV) which is ranked #3 in the ESPN Rise Top 50 rankings.

Tristan has been granted eligibility and started to practice with the team, he will suit up for Findlay Prep (NV) this Friday when they travel to Dallas, TX to take on Duncanville (TX). Findlay Prep is currently undefeated with a record of 28-0. At Findlay Prep (NV) Tristan joins fellow Canadian in Corey Joseph along with fellow Texas commit Avery Bradley.

This is a huge pick up for such an already talent heavy team, it will be interesting to see how he gels with his new teammates. The team has a high level of chemistry so it will take him some time to figure out what his role will be with them. There is no denying the tremendous amount of talent that Tristan has along with his huge upside.

Findlay Prep (NV) has been invited to participate in the inaugural ESPN Rise National High School Invitational tournament being held in Bethesda, MD at Georgetown Prep on April 3-5^th.

#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.

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.