CHSAA Team Camp (Day 2 Recaps)

BRIARWOOD, NY- The action in Queens continued on Saturday with Day 2 of the CHSAA Team Camp. It was another long day of play with all of the heavy hitters from the league taking the court in front of the dozens upon dozens of Division 1 college coaches who made the trip to the five boroughs.

Getting in early saw many of NYC's best hit the floor looking to make an impression, and with NYCHoops.net on hand here is a recap of the first half of the day from Queens.

In one of the marquee games of the afternoon the Crusaders were able to move to 2-0 on the weekend so far as R.J. Davis '20 had 15 points as Stepinac led from the start and never relinquished the lead in what would be a 12 point victory.

With Stepinac getting out to a 15-4 lead it seemed as if the Crusaders would coast for the second day in a row, but Uriah Logan '21 was able to a solid job pushing the tempo and getting looks for Liam Murphy '20 from the outside as the Eagles would score the next 7 to get St. Peter's closer.

The one area where St. Peter's did struggle in was inside as Malcolm Chimezie '21 was a major force around the basket dominating the paint with his size, while Alpha Bangura Jr. '20 was a versatile big wing who did a good job attacking off the bounce.

It was a 21-18 lead for Stepinac at the half but behind Chimezie who was able to score on three straight possessions early in the second half it was the Crusaders who again began to open up the lead, and with the Eagles defense focused in on Davis offensively he was able to find Samuel Gibbs '22 who had a great close to the game for a number of good looks to see the Crusaders eventually pull away.

Credit has to go to St. Peter's for never backing down from the big challenge but behind Davis' 15, Chimezie's 11, and the 9 from Gibbs it was Stepinac who were able to do enough for a 55-43 win.

Murphy would score 16 in the loss for St. Peter's with Logan showed good bounce and quickness as the rising junior added 11.

While the Eagles lost their second game of the day to one of the CHSAA's best in Stepinac, they were able to jump out quickly in their opener against Holy Cross before a late run brought it much closer than it looked it would be.

The Knights had a couple chances to tie in the closing minute but Murphy proved to be a dominating 6'7" weapon all over the floor in this one scoring a game high 30 points in a St. Peter's 3 point victory.

Be it from deep with the Holy Cross defenders not doing what they needed to in closing or, or off the dribble going by multiple Knights defenders, Murphy was proving to be an impossible stop as the St. Peter's win had 25 opening half points as the Eagles were running away with this one.

If it wasn't Murphy it was Thomas Keane '22 who added 9 first half points from the lead guard spot as St. Peter's took a 39-24 lead into halftime with the offense in total control of the game for the Eagles.

Slowly but surely though Holy Cross began to chip away as St. Peter's began pushing Murphy more inside, with the Knights becoming more physical in trying to push him off his spot and make life at least a little more difficult for him.

Anthony Walters '20 and Tyler Chapman '20 were proving to be great weapon in transition as the Knights were getting up and down the floor at a quicker pace than they were early which allowed them to play at a tempo they were more used to.

Holy Cross on a couple of occasions got the deficit down to a one possession game in the final 1:30, but each time that happened either Murphy or Keane would come up with the big shot, holding off a late Knights run and allowing St. Peter's to take the 51-48 victory.

Murphy had 30 while Keane had 11 in a win for St. Peter's, with Holy Cross being paced by the 15 points of the combo guard Walters.

It was all Hayes in the early going in one of the earlier games of the day on Saturday at Archbishop Molloy as Shemani Fuller '20 was a menace inside dominating the paint and pushing the Cardinals to a lead that grew in the opening half to as big as 20.

Julien Soumaoro '20 was able to drain three early treys, and with Noel Echevarria '22 running the floor and being the definition of playmaker in the half court and the open floor.

The tide began to turn early in the second half though as the Terriers put in a 2-2-1 full court press that seemed to rattle Cardinal Hayes with the Cardinals committing turnovers while also missing shots that they were hitting on in the opening half.

A.J. Lopez '20 had one of the more ferocious one handed tomahawk dunks that you would find over a Hayes defender, with Darrell Victory '22 getting out into space and trimming the St. Francis Prep deficit to as little as 3 in the closing minute.

Fuller would get fouled a good amount late with the Terriers hoping to see him miss to get closer, but the big man would go 4-4 late from the charity stripe. St. Francis Prep never stopped attacking but never got a chance to get off a look that could've tied the game as the Cardinals held off a major Terriers charge to take the 6 point win.

With 17 points it was the 6'8" Fuller who led Cardinal Hayes, with Lopez also adding 17 of his own for St. Francis Prep in the defeat.

A battle of a pair of teams expected to compete next season for the CHSAA Class A Division title saw the Kingsmen take on the Eagles, and while St. Edmund's hung around for most of the game, Nazareth proved to be too athletic on the wings and too big and physical inside as they pulled away in the closing minutes for the 7 point win.

Nazareth struggled in the early going finding a rhythm from the outside, but their size with Ikenna Ude-Smith '21 and Tymel Stevenson '21 allowed them to finish inside against a smaller St. Edmund Prep team and take what was a small one point 20-19 lead at the break.

Sean Edwards '20 came out of the break and knocked down a left wing three ball to give the Eagles their first lead of the game at 22-20, but that only seemed to motivate Nazareth as T.J. Morris '21 would score 6 of the Kingsmen's next 10 points as they went on a 10-0 run to take a lead they would not relinquish.

It was Jaqai Murray '21 who used his size and length on the perimeter along with Ziare Wells '21 as they both were able to put the finishing touches on this one late, taking a lead as big as 11 before ultimately settling for a 48-41 victory in front of over a dozen Division 1 coaches.

Balance was the name of the game for Nazareth as Ude-Smith and Wells each had 10 points, with Morris adding 9 points and Stevenson chipping in with 8 for the winners.

In the loss for St. Edmund Prep it was Cameron Shields '20 who had a game high 15 points to lead all scorers in the loss for the Eagles.