iS8/Nike Fall Classic (Sunday)

SOUTH RICHMOND HILL, NY- It was the iS8/Nike Fall Classic getting underway this past weekend and NYCHoops.net made the trip to the Metro Queens Boys & Girls Club on Sunday to take in the action for the day. Led by a fantastic game between two local squads and a powerhouse from Pennsylvania, it was a strong day of action to help get the tournament started.

Running now through the end of October, this season's iS8 promises to be another must see event each weekend. Sunday itself was full of high points with one game standing above the rest as one that had to be believed to be seen.

This one looked as if it would be over in the blink of an eyes as Team Deuce, a team comprised primarily of players from Brooklyn Collegiate H.S., went on a big run in the early minutes led by the sharpshooting from the corners and the wings of Tahron Allen 21 and Amaharie Simpkins '20 to go up 26-6.

Jose Cuello (Wings Academy '21) was able to get Beacon Elite back within 26-13 after one quarter as he himself scored the last 7 of the opening quarter for his team to at least try and take back some momentum before the game got completely out of hand.

Team Deuce was still able to run out and get a good number of transition points in the second quarter as Majesty Johnson '20 was able to keep the pace up that they wanted but credit has to go to Beacon Elite as Shemar Chester (H.S. for Construction '21) was excellent pulling up and knocking down long range shots, while William Ruiz (Wings Academy ‘20) was proving to be a load inside with 8 points in the quarter.

The lead was still held by Team Deuce, but with it being 43-32 at the half it was still in play for Beacon Elite who more than held their own after a rough start.

Ruiz was able to handle his own in the paint as Team Deuce was smaller and didn't match up well with him, especially in the third quarter, and when Cuello hit his fifth three ball of the game with 2:44 to go in the 3rd it was for the first time a tie game with both teams locked up at 55.

At that point something happened to Team Deuce as maybe they finally realized they had blown a 20 point lead but they for the second time went to work as Jaylin Anderson '20 who bury a triple from the right corner to put his Lions team back in front, leading them to a 17-0 run extending from late in the third to over a couple minutes into the fourth quarter, giving Team Deuce back total control as Beacon with just five players seemed to wear down.

They came back and made a game of it but Beacon Elite after tying things up had no more to give as Anderson and Simpkins found easy shooting opportunities from the wings, while Allen was beating his defenders time and time again down the stretch as a blowout turned into a close game, but then a blowout ensued again as a dominating close to the game allowed Team Deuce to ultimately pull away for the 88-69 victory.

Simpkins led all Team Deuce scorers with 20 points in the win, a win that also saw Allen score 19 points while Anderson added 14.

In the loss it was Cuello who paced Beacon Elite as the Bronx native had a game high 24 points to lead all scorers in what was a solid individual performance in defeat.

This was a high school vs. high school matchup as Elmont took on the Brooklyn All-Stats which is really St. Edmund's Prep out of Brooklyn. From start to finish this was a nip and tuck battle but getting great shooting from Jordan Lawson '20 on the outside enabled Elmont to hang on for a hotly contested 3 point victory.

Neither team at any point held a double digit lead with the two evenly matched up teams going head to head with each other throughout. Jayden Seraphin '21 had 11 points in the opening quarter to give Elmont a 20-18 edge, though Shemar Latty '20 wasn't allowing his St. Edmund's team to get too far away as his speed and ability to run the floor and make things happen was evident each time up the court.

Gus Louis '20 and his length and athleticism around the basket gave Elmont a nice second half figure inside, while Lawson was able to knock down shots with ease as he had three second half treys to keep Elmont in front.

The duo of Cameron Shields '20 and Malik Cole '21 proved to be tough for the Brooklyn All-Stars as they combined for 16 points in the third quarter to tie the game up at 46 after three with this one coming down to the very wire.

Seraphin would score a big bucket on a second chance late to put Elmont up 4 with 1:27 to go, and while as a team they struggled from the FT line for most of the game, Elmont came up big when they needed it most with Isaiah Walker '20 and Isiah Barnes '20 each knocking down clutch freebies from the charity stripe in the closing seconds to help them keep their lead.

St. Edmund's Prep did all they could but only connecting on 1 three ball in the entire game hurt and even though they got 17 points from Shields and 15 points from Cole it wasn't enough as when the final buzzer sounded it was Elmont who would leave victorious with a 61-58 win.

For the winners it was Louis who had 16 points to lead the way while Lawson was a major weapon from the outside and ended with 14 points in the victory.

Coming down with a team composed primarily of kids from the greater Philadelphia area, Above & Beyond made a point to leave a statement that they are a team that has major intentions of making a deep run in the iS8 Nike/Fall Classic playoffs this season.

Jerome Brewer (Camden, NJ '21) had 24 points in their opening win over Brook BB Club, while Zack Hicks (Camden Catholic, NJ '21) showed impressive inside/outside abilities in both games as he had 14 in Above & Beyond's first win, and 19 in their second.

One of two New Yorker's on the team was Max Ragusa (Poly Prep '22) and he was dominating in game two as against Team Underrated he was the man running the show and had 15 points, while also being a great facilitator to get everyone else going in a great two game performance by nearly the entire Above & Beyond roster.