iS8/Nike Fall Tip-Off Classic: Opening Day
QUEENS, NY - Saturday was go-time for the 2016 iS8/Nike Fall Tip-Off Classic which took place in both South Jamaica and South Richmond Hill venues. NYCHoops.net checked out some of the more intriguing games of the day.
Scholar Athletes (Blue) terrorize Fearless Tigers, 77-57
Players from Long Island’s Upper Room HS comprised the Scholar Athletes (Blue) squad and in a very cohesive effort took it to the Fearless Tigers. The tag team of Lester Quinones ‘18, who transferred from Brentwood, and Osbel Carabello ’18 proved to be an insurmountable obstacle for the Tigers.
While Mason Monelaar ’18 and Brandon Paul ’18 provided some offense for the floundering team, the Scholar Athletes would still lead by 21 points at the end of the third quarter. The best the Fearless Tigers could do in the final stanza is keep pace.
Carabello was high man for the Scholar Athletes (Blue) with a game high 21 points with Quinones adding 15 points. No one on the Fearless Tigers team reach double-digits with Monelaar scoring 8 points.
Team AJ Price puts Early Risers to sleep, 54-28
Coached by Jose “JR” Rodriguez, Team Price is always competitive regardless of the personnel on any given year and this year was no exception. Just ask the Early Risers (formerly known as the B.C. Eagles). In a contest that remained close throughout the first half, both teams gave as good as they got.
Team Price broke the game open in the second half with a strong team effort and good floor generalship from Bryce Council (LaSalle ’17). A six-point advantage to start the half blew up to a 19-point lead entering into the fourth quarter.
Tykei Greene (Edison ’18) who pumped in 21 points proved to be a handful for the Early Risers to defend as was Brandon Allen (Marist HS ’17) who contributed 10 points all in the second half.
Northeast Basketball Club stifle Ben Gordon All-Stars in OT, 83-74
The Ben Gordon All-Stars a/k/a Mount Vernon Knights faced a former Knights player in Marco Morency ‘17 who ended up being pivotal to the Northeast Basketball Club's win. Morency who told NYCHoops.net that he intends to go Prep this season ended being the player that help put the kibosh on his former team's chances of winning.
With Greg Calixte ’17 and Noah Morgan ’17 controlling the paint and the BG All-stars took an early lead but Saquan Singleton (Monsignor Scanlon ’17) and Morency stepped up and gave the NE Basketball Club a two-point lead at the end of the warm up quarter. The BG All-stars deficit was growing exponentially throughout the first half.
Trailing by 10 points to begin the second half, the Mt. Vernon squad went to its patented defensive intensity and led 57-55 at the top of the fourth. Both teams could smell victory and battled as Calixte and speedy point guard Demetre Roberts ‘18 poured in on for the BG All-Star who led by two with 51 seconds. Jawann Daniels (Teaneck HS ’17) sent the game into overtime knotted at 73 apiece.
In the first overtime, the BG All-stars were only able to produce 1 point while that tandem of Morency and Daniels helped the Northeast Basketball Club net 10 point to secure the win.
Morency led the NE Basketball Club with 26 points with Singleton adding 22 points. Calixte paced the Ben Gordon All-Stars with a game high 33 points.
NY Rens soar over Eagles, 74-69
Basketball trainer Jerry Powell said, "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." But what happens when talent does work hard?
When one team is severely undermanned with only five players while the other team has 11 players it just isn’t fair. In this case it wasn’t fair to the eleven Eagles players who played catch-up all afternoon against the Rens quintet fortified with top tier talent.
While the game was competitive and the Eagles, a team comprised of players from Paul Robeson, did play excellent team ball, they had their hands filled against the NY Rens. Especially difficult for the Eagles was trying to contain Markquis Nowell ‘18 and Isaiah Washington ‘17, two of the top point guards in New York State playing side-by-side.
The game was never a blowout and the Eagles had multiple chances close the show as Keith Swinton ’17 and Aquarn Butler ’18 paced the Brooklyn squad’s offense. Unable to contain Nowell and Washington’s 53-point output along with multiple assists, the Eagles eventually fell from the sky.
Nowell scored a game high 35 points for the Rens while Washington contributed 18 points. Swinton scored 13 points for the Eagles.
