iS8/Nike Pool Play (Final Saturday)

JAMAICA, NY- It was the final Saturday of the regular season at the iS8 Spring Classic and it showcased one of the bigger matchups of the season as 2GZ's took on the Sean Bell All-Stars in a game that brought out a huge crowd of spectators that included New York Knicks forward Kyle O'Quinn.

That was just one game of many that stood out on a day full of exciting contests that more than lived up to the pregame hype. From start to finish the day in Queens was all about excitement, and with NYCHoops.net in the legendary I.S. 8 gymnasium to take in the action, here is a recap of how things played out from some of the top games of the day.

It was a rare regular season match-up of what could easily be considered two of the most notable teams in the iS8 Spring Classic and it started with one of the more interesting starts to the game as both teams had Markquis Nowell (The Patrick School '18) written into the book meaning one team was going to be extremely disappointed.

Nowell arrived just after the opening tip and suited up for 2GZ's, a tough blow to a Sean Bell All-Stars team that had just 5 players with them on Saturday. They were a very talented group of 5 led by recent Loyola (IL) commit Tykei Greene (Long Island Lutheran '18) but having to deal with 2GZ's Moses Brown (Archbishop Molloy '18) would prove to be too much for the shorthanded group.

Brown was able to dominate the inside and control the paint throwing down dunk after dunk to help put 2GZ's in front in the early going, but even though they didn't have the depth of their opponents the Sean Bell All-Stars were able to rally and take the lead late in the opening half after Tyson Walker (Christ the King '18) found Greene on the wing for a three ball.

Both teams were able to have strong moments for spurts in the second quarter, but with a large crowd gathered on each baseline cheering and rooting on the game went into halftime tied up at 40.

Even though eventually many had to think that Sean Bell's lack of depth would hurt them that wasn't how things played out early in the 3rd quarter as Walker and Greene connected on a pair of three's each in the first five minutes of the stanza to see them go up 56-46. Brown would break up the run with a putback dunk inside which started 2GZ's own run that was capped off by an Omar Silverio (St. Raymond '18) trey to tie things back up at 60.

The game was tied at 62 going into the 4th quarter and with the game still in the balance it was of course Nowell, the player who had to make a choice of which team to play the on, that hit the opening three ball of the final stanza to put 2GZ's up for what would be good as they as a team would opening up the quarter on a 13-3 run to take their first double digit lead of the game.

While Nowell and Silverio were key cogs to the comeback for 2GZ's it was truly all about Brown as he had 8 dunks in the game and was able to assert his will down low from start to finish as he pushed 2GZ's past a big game from Greene to help take down the Sean Bell All-Stars in a game that had the iS8 gym rocking, 93-85.

Leading 2GZ's with 26 points was the UCLA bound big man in Brown while Silverio who is headed to Rhode Island added 22 in the win.

For Sean Bell in the defeat it was Greene who had 23 points with Tyrese Williams (Cardinal Hayes '18) chipping in during the loss with 17 points.

Playing together with their high school team for one last time, Mount Vernon got themselves a win for the first time this iS8 session as behind the senior duo of Jason Douglas-Stanley '18 and Demetre Roberts '18 the Knights were able to rally back late and take down LPAC by 4.

LPAC didn't make it easy as Samuel Davis (Wadleigh '18) was able to use his big body down low to do a strong job in the paint against an undersized Mount Vernon team, and when Santiago Collado (Morris '18) drained a three at the end of first quarter buzzer, LPAC took the lead at 17-16.

A back and forth contest was controlled by Douglas-Stanley and Jose Cuello (Wings Academy '20) as the two guards for Mount Vernon and LPAC respectively were able to hit on long range shots with Cuello getting the last shot to send his team up 36-34 at halftime.

Maintained that 2-point lead going into the 4th quarter, LPAC looked to be in good shape as Ali Sumareh (South Bronx Prep '18) was using his athleticism to get the rim and finish while Douglas-Stanley was settling for long range contested shots that weren't dropping.

Wanting to go out as winners though, Douglas-Stanley hit his first three since the first quarter early in the 4th, and then with the George Mason bound guard finding his rhythm it was Roberts who then got going himself as he would drain 3 final stanza threes to see Mount Vernon go from down 2 to up 7 with just under two minutes to go.

Davis was able to finish against contact while getting fouled to cut the deficit to 4 with 35 seconds to play, but that was as close as LPAC would get as Mount Vernon was able to control the play late en route to a 73-69 win.

Roberts and Douglas-Stanley paced the way scoring 27 and 21 points apiece for Mount Vernon in the win as they picked up win #1 on the iS8 season.

In the loss it was Cuello who looked to be a young future star in scoring 19 points for LPAC, with Davis adding 16 points and doing an excellent job inside in the tough luck defeat.

Even though they have all the stars it wasn't an easy day by any stretch for the NJ based Northeast Basketball Club as McDonald's All-American Nazreon Reid (Roselle Catholic, NJ '18) had a rough time of it in what would prove to be 2 hard fought wins for N.B.C.

In both games it seemed as if Northeast Basketball Club were in trouble late as Elijah Buchanan (Woodstock Academy, CT '18) and Stephen Takyi (James Monroe '18) were each using their athleticism to finish both outside and inside for Road to Riches.

It was much of the same for Team Deuce as Howard Turner (Susan McKinney '18) and Tahron Allen (St. Raymond '21) were able to shine from deep against a team that was loaded from top to bottom with future Division 1 stars.

Both of Northeast Basketball Club's opponents had chances late to win but Ron Harper Jr. (Don Bosco Prep, NJ '18) would hit the clutch shots in Game 1 against Road to Riches, and then it was Marcellus Earlington (Don Bosco Prep, NJ '18) who came up huge late in Game 2 to rally their team from 4th quarter deficits to come away from the day 2-0.

While Reid had off games in both and playing without the services of lead guard Jahvon Quinerly (Hudson Catholic, NJ '18) it was the Rutgers commit in Harper who had 22 points in the opening game to pace Northeast Basketball Club to the win while Earlington, who is off to St. John's next season, had 23 points to lead the way in his team's second win of the day.