iS8/Nike Playoff Final Four Emerge

BROOKLYN, NY - It was a jam packed day at the iS8/Nike Spring HS Classic quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon at Nazareth Regional HS. Four teams took to the court to face each other.

In the first match-up the Panthers (seniors) demolished the Warriors followed by Believe Prep versus Long Island Lightning (Ahern). In the third game, the Badgers faced NYC Jayhawks with Sports U take on New Heights in the finale.

NY Panthers (Seniors) Eat The Warriors, 81-31

This game got ugly fast. With 5 minutes remaining in the first quarter, the Panthers found themselves leading over the Warriors 24-7. The Panthers' furious run was led by the fast breaking and dunks by Manny Suarez (Bayonne Catholic 2013).

The second quarter turned out to be nothing but the same. More steals that led to easy fast break dunks for Suarez coupled along with the good play making and scoring by guard Aaron Cust (Uniondale HS 2013). The Warriors really struggled to score points on the inside due to the length and athleticism of Suarez and a balanced scoring effort gave them an insurmountable at halftime 39-12

The half opened up with a three point shot by the Panther's Jerel Marshall (Mount Vernon 2013) along with a dunk by Suarez and continued to be a long afternoon for the Warriors. The Panther continued to run away with this one.

The Panthers were led by Cust with 16 points. Suarez contributed 14 points. The Warriors were led by Ashon Giddings with 11 points.

Believe Prep smacks Long Island Lightning (Ahern), 70-54

The Lightning started the game off scoring a lot out of the gate and jumped out to a 10-2 lead causing Believe Prep to take a timeout. Lightning player, Kewan Beebe (Glen Cove HS, 2013), got off to a fast start and scored a couple of lay-ups in transition. In the first 3 minutes of play, it appeared that Believe Prep was in trouble; they turned over the ball and struggled to finish easy lay-ups.

This began to change after Shadell Millinghaus (Believe Prep, 2013) caught a vicious alley oop slam from the right side to inch his team back to within 4 points with 2 minutes remaining in the quarter. Beebe then respond with a steel and a dunk of his own and his Lighting held a 17-14 lead at the end of the first.

Lightning player, Dwayne Daniel (Lawrence HS, 2014), opened up the half with a steal and a lay-up and his team then set up in a 3-2 zone to slow down the perimeter shooting of Millinghaus and Believe Prep but to no avail. Another alley oop slam with 2:00 minutes, this time by <Leroy Fludd (Believe Prep, 2013), gave Believe Prep their first lead 21-19. After a couple of threes and solid defense for the rest of the quarter Believe Prep pushed the lead to 38-23 at half.

The second half was dominated by Believe Prep. Millinghaus continued to dominate the game with fall away three point shots and effortless scoring and the Lightning continued to struggle and trailed by as much as 20 at one point. However, with 2:45 remaining a trey by Beebe brought the Lightning back to within 9 points causing Believe Prep to call for time. A few buckets and a three by Millinghaus with 1:17 sealed the game for his team and kept the Lightning at bay.

Believe Prep was led by Millinghaus with 31 points while the Lightning were led by Daniel with 18 and Beebe with 14 points.

Badgers bury NYC Jayhawks, 67-55

The Badgers opened up this game with an early 7-0 run capped off by a one handed slam by Shamiek Sheppard (South Shore, 2013) causing to Jayhawks to call at timeout. After the timeout, Tawayne Anderson (Long Island Lutheran, 2013) responded with a deep three from the left wing and his team responded with a couple of buckets to make the score 11-8 with 4:22 left. At the half, the Badgers held a narrow lead 33-28.

In the second half, the Badgers continued to play well behind the good play of Sheppard, he played very aggressively in the paint and scored several lay-ups on the inside off of drives, he also assisted teammate David Tait (South Shore, 2013) on a nice alley-oop to make the score 39-31. A few plays later, Sheppard's teammate, Khadeen Carrington (Bishop Loughlin, 2013) served up a left handed facial that had the crowd going crazy with 2:16 remaining. The Badgers led by as much as 15 during the third end ended the quarter up 54-41.

UConn bound, Terrence Samuel (South Shore, 2013), facilitated easy baskets for his teammates and with 4:56 left the Badgers led comfortably 61-46. Anderson and the Jayhawks were resilient and did not give up and they came back to within 7 points of the Badgers who called timeout with 3:00 minutes remaining to stop bleeding. After the timeout, the Badgers regrouped and cruised to a victory.

Sheppard led the Badgers with 16 points while Anderson led the Jayhawks with 10 points.

Sports U topple New Heights, 73-57

The game started out with both teams trading baskets. New Heights opened up in a 2-3 zone and Sports U came out in a man-to-man. With 1:02 in the first the score was tied at 15-15 and both teams appeared to be bringing their A game for the day.

The second quarter consisted of both squads trading baskets. DeAndre Bembry (The Patrick School, 2013) showcased a couple of impressive dunks one of the a sick two handed alley-oop. Sports U played excellent defense and really rattled the normally stellar guards on New Heights, both Chris Robinson (Cardinal Hayes, 2014) and Paul Jorgensen (Don Bosco Prep, 2013) struggled to score. At the end of the half Sports U led 30-28.

New Heights came back out in the second half with a hard full court press but got burned by a couple of transition pull up threes by Hallice Cooke (St. Anthony's, 2013) that hit nothing but the bottom of the net.

Bembry and Cooke began to get hot and the defense by Sports U slowly started to crumble New Heights. At one point Sports U's lead ballooned out to 20 points with 2:32 remaining and they never looked back again.

Cooke led all scorers with 16 and teammate and Bembry tallied 13 points for Sports U. New Heights was led by Robinson and Mustafa Jones with 10 a piece.

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