iS8/Nike Action: Friday

SOUTH JAMAICA, NY - On Friday, two games took place as the iS8/Nike Spring Classic resumed play following the April Live Period. Here are brief recaps of each.

JYO Taps Out NYC Jazz-Brooklyn, 74-63

Rashond Salnave had recently turned heads at the Pittsburgh Jam Fest. Although hot like fire at the out of State event, it would take a second half explosion by the sophomore to tip the scales in favor of JYO, a team comprised of Cardozo HS players.

NYC Jazz jumped ahead 12-2 before JYO woke and responded with an 8-2 run of their own. With 1 minute left in the warm up quarter, JYO still trailed 19-15 but a buzzer beater by Armando Dunn closed the gap to three to begin the second quarter.

JYO started out strong in the second quarter as Armando Dunn quickly put them up 23-20 off freethrows and putbacks. Both teams shot poorly from the perimeter but JYO was beginning to win the battle inside and led 36-28 at the half.

Salnave, who was scoreless from the perimeter in the first half, drained his first three-point attempt of the second half for JYO. Amped up, the team went on a 13-2 run and led by 19 early.

Salnave's second trey was also butter and JYO was comfortably ahead. Down 57-37 to start the fourth quarter and unable to deal with JYO's pressurized defense, the NYC Jazz would not recover.

Salnave was high man for JYO with 18 points with Dunn adding 13 points. Joel Modesto scored 23 points for the NYC Jazz.

Team Price Hold Off L.I. Seniors, 69-61

How do you out score your opponent but lose by eight? When the L.I. Seniors Head Coach Ted Thomas brought his team over 45 minutes late, the team unfortunately learned the answer the hard way. Penalized 16 points and a quarter's worth of play, the squad from Long Island would fall to Team Price coached by the wily J.R. Rodriguez.

The L.I. Seniors did make a dent led by high flying antics of Jonathan Grimley but trailed at the half 33-25 as Jerry Mejia pierced their defense often.

In the third quarter, the L.I. Seniors closed the gap to a point with 7-0 run but turnovers still allowed Team Price to extend their lead to 5.

With 2:30 left to play the third the seniors trailed 42-36 but by the end of the third Team Price pushed their advantage to 50-38.

Midway through the final quarter, Team Price remained ahead by 10 and would stave off any further attempts at victory. The Long Island Seniors had too little, literally 45 minutes too late.

Mejia led Team Price with 18 points with Josh Martinez adding 12 points. Grimley paced the L.I. Seniors with a game high 27 points.