iS8/Nike Juiced-Up On Day One
SOUTH JAMAICA, NY - The 2016 iS8/Nike Spring HS Classic got underway on Friday and featured two Juice All-Star teams. The opening match pit the 17U Juice squad against a relentless L.I. Trotters. The 16U Juice All-Stars-Black team closed out the evening battling a game Team Price.
Juice All-Stars Edge L.I. Trotters, 85-81
Featuring key players from Abraham Lincoln HS including Jahlil Tripp ‘16, the Rutgers bound forward who was ineligible to play his senior year. With the addition of Nicholas Richards ‘17 along with the firepower of Cahiem Brown ‘16, Juice led by ten points at the half and seems on its way to a relatively easy win.
The L.I. Trotters had other plans as Charles Manning ‘16 and Ryan Beckles raised their level of play. In the third quarter, the Long Island squad made a push 13-2 run, cutting a 12 point lead down to a point. Tripp scored to briefly stem the tide but Pat Jackson finally knotted the game at 70 with 3 minutes left in regulation.
Donald Flores ’17 (Lincoln) put Juice back in front but Jackson countered and put the Trotters out front by one. Both team battled fiercely as time wound down. Richards slammed it home giving Juice the advantage and spearheading a 4 point victory.
Richards and Brown led the way for the Juice All-Stars with 19 points apiece with Flores and Tripp contributing 18 points each. Manning scored a game high 21 points for the L.I. Trotters.
Juice All-Stars-Black Inch by Team Price, 54-53
It’s never an easy out when playing against Coach J.R. and Team Price. The 16 Juice All-Stars team would learn this reality the hard way in a hard fought win from start to finish.
Juice would blast out in from 17-6 to start the second quarter paced by Curtis Gordon. Once again it appeared that the Coney Island based team would cruise to a win. All that changed in the second quarter as Jalin Suber ’17 (Thurgood Marshall) and Steven Takyi got buckets.
Midway through the second quarter, a 12-3 run pulled Team Price to with 2 points of the lead. Klay Brown and Boubacar Kamissoko ‘17 (Wings Academy) became the catalyst that helped Juice to re-established a 10 point advantage going into the third quarter.
Team Price spearheaded another run with a major effort by Anyeuri Catillo ‘17 (Luperon) and took a 1 point lead to start the final quarter. Marques Watson ‘16 (Thomas Jefferson) put Juice back on top with a midrange jumpshot. The tag team of Watson and Kammisoko increased Juice’s but Suber soon tied the game at 48 with 1:20 left in regulation.
Both Juice and Team Price tried to keep the upper hand and with 38 seconds Tykei Greene ‘18 (Edison) gave Team Price a two-point lead. Watson responded at the 6 second mark and Juice was now up 54-52. Suber drew a foul with one second left to play but went one of two from the charity stripe giving the win narrowly to the Juice All-Stars-Black squad.
Kamissoko led the way for Juice with 16 points with Watson adding 10 points. Catillo was high man for Team Price with 15 points.
