SOUTH JAMAICA, NY – The Northeast Basketball Club entered the iS8 gymnasium on Saturday fully loaded as the reigning and defending champions of the iS8/Nike Spring H.S. Classic. The challengers, Beacon Elite were missing two of their starters, Rheaquone Taylor ‘17 and Jaheem Cornwall ’17. On paper, the winner appeared to be a foregone conclusion but that’s why we come and watch because you never know.
Paced by an MVP performance from Jamel Horton (Holy Cross ‘17) and an indomitable will to win, the undersized and undermanned New York based Beacon Elite not on overcame adversity but totally dominated their New Jersey opponents en route to a 73-55 victory.
"We had to be aggressive and don’t back down,” said Horton who recently committed to Seward County Community College. “We had to let them know we came here to play.”
Beacon Elite’s plan got off to a rocky start as baskets by Jawaun Daniels (Teaneck ’17) and M.J. Richardson (Teaneck ’17) put NE Basketball out front midway through the warm-up quarter. A trifecta from C.J. Kelly ‘17 along with buckets by Horton and Taj Anderson (Cardozo ’19) sparked a 13 – 2 run that turned the tide for Beacon Elite who would lead for the remainder of the contest.
Down by eight points to start the second quarter, NEBB tried to close the gap. Richardson helped narrow the deficit but the combo of Horton and Kelly pushed the lead back to 8. Led by Elijah Diouf ‘17, NEBB mounted a surge and pulled to within one-point with 3:50 left in the first half
Once again Horton and Kelly came up big for Beacon Elite along with a clutch shot from Wes Nelson to move the needle back to seven. A tough move by the otherwise silent Jahvon Quinerly ‘18 did put the Northeast Basketball Club within striking range as the half ended.
Beacon Elite was defying the odds, leading 30 – 25 as the third quarter commenced. Max Amadasun (Our Savior Lutheran ’20) and Horton upped the ante, piling on points in the quarter, turning a five-point advantage into a 14-point lead as the final quarter got underway.
As desperation set in, Northeast initiated a press to disrupt Beacon Elite. While the pressure did cause a little uncertainty and mismanagement, Nelson and Anderson came up huge with timely steals and baskets to keeping the point spread in double digits. In the final two-minute, Beacon Elite went on an 8 -1 run, dashing any hopes of a Northeast comeback win.
“We made them play our game,” said Horton who said the win against the Jersey squad made the win that much more enjoyable. “A couple of good guys on their team like [Quinerly] and [Jaquaye James (Teaneck HS ’18)] doing their thing so to beat them was big for us.”
Horton and Kelly were high scorers for Beacon Elite with 21 points apiece with Anderson contributing 13 points. Daniels led Northeast Basketball with 14 points with no other player scoring in double digits.
