iS8/NIKE Pool Play Sunday

RICHMOND HILL, NY -The Nike iS8 2015 Tip-Off Classic shifted over to the Metro Queens Boys and Girls Club on Sunday with a day's full of compelling games.

It was a stacked day of action from start to finish, but there was one game especially that had everyone talking as we recap Sunday's games from Queens.

2GZ outlasts The Rens 78-75

In what was clearly the marquee contest of the day 2GZ was able to hang on in a tight contest against a hungry Rens group, but it wasn't without its share of controversy as the game had a good amount of physicality that changed the dynamic and outcome of the game.

Early on it was Tareq Coburn (Cardozo '16) who was leading 2GZ as he was able to attack the lane on back to back possessions and show an added dimension to his game by finishing around the rim as he scored 7 early points to help 2GZ take a 14-9 lead.

Gianni Ford (Boys and Girls '16) was able to finish the first strong for The Rens as he was able to put back a miss inside and get his squad to within 3 after one. The Rens kept it going at the start of the second as well as they were able to square the game up at 14 just over a minute in, but the momentum was once again about to shift as Shamorie Ponds (Thomas Jefferson '16) and Rasheem Dunn (Thomas Jefferson '16) both made their arrivals for 2GZ and as they entered the game for the first time, 2GZ started to pull away.

Dunn was able to find his way to the rim against a pair of defenders, and then off a steal it was Ponds with a three from the left wing, and the offensive abilities of the Jefferson duo, along with Coburn and big man Emmanuel Egbuta '16 really seemed to slow The Rens down as 2GZ took its first double digit lead at 32-21 with just under a minute to go in the half when Egbuta was able to finish off a pass from Dunn for the monster throwdown.

Just before the half, The Rens cut it back down to single digits as Baron Goodridge (Cardinal Hayes '16) was able to connect on a floater in the lane to make it 32-23 in favor of 2GZ who didn't get off a final shot before the halftime buzzer.

Dunn came out and buried a three from the right side to open the second half scoring for 2GZ, but it was Tyrone Cohen (Christ the King '16) who started to come alive after a quiet first half to really start to get The Rens going early in the 3rd.

He was able to connect on back to back corner threes and then was able to make a nice feed up the court to Goodridge in transition to get the deficit down to 39-35 midway through the third quarter, but just as The Rens seemed to be making headway Ponds hit a stepback three from the left wing to stall whatever progress they had made.

A pair of drives by Dunn and Ponds allowed 2GZ to grab a double digit lead again late in the quarter, and while Goodridge and Jared Rivers (Christ the King '16) were doing their best to keep The Rens close, a late putback at the end of the 3rd allowed 2GZ to go up 55-43 heading into the fourth.

The 4th quarter is where this game took a turn for the ugly you could say as the game went out of control for a good portion of the final 8 minutes, with both teams turning it into a physical contest, a contest that some could say got too physical.

It all started with The Rens making a run and down just 58-52 with 5:38 to go in the game. Rivers had just sunk a big three ball from the right wing, and had also scored on a fastbreak, finding an offensive rhythm and really making his mark on the game early in the final quarter, but while Coburn drove the lane and was fouled, Rivers and Ponds got tangled up, with Rivers being thrown to the floor, and in retaliation shoving Ponds back. Both were initially hit with technical fouls, but the shove by Rivers gave him his second.

His second technical gave him an automatic ejection, but Rens head coach Chris Alesi seemed floored at the two technicals given to his player, unable to comprehend what gave him his first technical foul before getting his second for the shove.

After all the dust was settled after this scuffle, 2GZ would find themselves back up 66-56 and seemed like they were back in control.

The Rens never went away though, and with Ponds fouling out with 2:38 to play, it seemed the door was open for them to finally kick through and they started to do just that getting within 3 at 68-65. They had a chance to tie with 1:38 to go but Ford missed a three, and off a rebound by 2GZ, it was Egbuta who was able to put in a reverse down the baseline to up the 2GZ lead once again to 5 at 70-65.

It was a foul contest over the next minute as both teams tried their luck at hoping the other would miss in clutch chances from the charity stripe, but Cohen for The Rens and Dunn for 2GZ both came up big time and time again. It was 78-75 with 25 seconds to play when the biggest moment of the game occurred.

There was a scrap for a ball on the 2GZ side of the court and Rens big man David Cole (Christ the King '16) was hit by a 2GZ player and reacted angrily to being struck. Without the referee being witness to what happened, the retaliation by Cole is once again what was seen. After a lengthy discussion that took well over 5 minutes, it was decided that it would be a double technical foul on Cole and 2GZ Davonte Wilson '16, though Cole was given his second technical and thrown out of the game as well.

The alternating possession arrow was used to decide whose ball it was, and The Rens were given the ball with 25 seconds to play and down just 3 in what was their big last chance to get the game even.

With 10.7 seconds to go Kevin Saylor (Wings Academy '16) would be fouled. He calmly stepped to the FT line and sank both FT's to make it a 76-75 game in favor of 2GZ.

2GZ inbounded the ball but they were called for a push off while tried to inbound the ball, and it was Rens ball with a chance to win. Ford would ultimately get off 2 great looks at the rim, but both fell off the iron, and Dunn would grab the defensive board. He drained his pair of free throws with 6 seconds to play to make it 78-75, and after rushing up the court, it was Cohen with a chance to tie, but he missed. He got his own rebound in the corner, but another shot was off the mark as the buzzer sounded to see 2GZ hold on to knock off The Rens in a very exciting thriller, 78-75.

Egbuta was the high man for 2GZ as he had 17 points as a ferocious presence in the paint. Ponds and Coburn each had 15 for 2GZ as well with Dunn adding 13 in the victory.

In defeat it was Goodridge and Cohen who each paced the way for The Rens with 14 points apiece, while Anthony Munson (Bedford Academy '16) added 11 as well.

The Rens pluck Eagles, 66-59

While the contest with 2GZ didn't go the way The Rens had hoped, there first game of the day was a success as they took on Robeson H.S., and while it wasn't a clean or crisp game overall for the AAU power, Rivers had a game high 24 points to lead the way and grab the 7 point victory.

Robeson never felt like they were out of the game, but Rivers was never truly able to be stopped from attacking the lanes as the Eagles gave up too many transition buckets to give themselves a true chance at toppling The Rens.

Young guard Carl Jackson (Robeson '18) was a big bright spot as he showed the versatility to shoot the ball from deep, while also taking on the defense and driving down to the rim where he showed fearlessness against The Rens to finish in the paint.

Israel Farrington (Robeson '17) was an interior presence who showed a nice short hook around the rim and nice footwork as well, but Ford and Goodridge were able to dictate the tempo, and while Rivers went off on a scoring barrage, it was the point guards who controlled the game late and didn't allow Robeson to get any closer when they did start to make a run as The Rens were able to come away with the 66-59 win.

Rivers had his aforementioned 24 points, but Ford and Saylor each had 11, while Goodridge ran the floor perfectly and had 9 points along with a good number of assists to help propel The Rens to a 1-1 day.

Jackson had 15 points to lead the way for Robeson, and Farrington added 10 as the Eagles demonstrated the ability to be a surprise team in the PSAL Brooklyn "AA" this coming season with how they looked on Sunday.

Team Albany edges 2 The Rack, 51-50

This game came down to the wire, with Team Albany taking their first lead of the game at the final buzzer to come away with the shocking 1 point victory.

It really seemed like 2 The Rack was in control throughout. They led from the very start and with the guard duo of Amir Tutt (Cardozo '16) and Elias Ezenekwe (Van Buren '16) leading the way and scoring in a variety of ways around the Team Albany guards, the win for them seemed inevitable.

2 The Rack held a 6 point lead heading into the 4th quarter, and led by as many as 4 with just a minute to play, but a basket inside by Arsheen Jones (George Westinghouse '16) cut it to a 2 point deficit for Team Albany, and then after a turnover with 6.5 seconds to go, Albany got the ball back with the Brooklyn based team looking for the tying basket to send it into OT.

Just before Team Albany was set to inbound with less than 2 seconds left after a near errant pass, 2 The Rack called a timeout. In the timeout, Team Albany was able to set up a play, and with Myles Patten (St. Anthony's, NJ '16) inbounding, he found star wingman Gerald Williams (George Westinghouse '16) on the left side and he caught and shot the ball from behind the arc as the buzzer sounded, and it was nothing but net to give Team Albany a stunning 51-50 victory over the Queens based 2 The Rack squad.

Williams had 16 points to lead Team Albany, but none were bigger than the 3 points he put in at the buzzer to give his team the win. Jones added 13 as well as Team Albany took their first win of this iS8 tournament.

Ezenekwe and Tutt each had 12 points to lead 2 The Rack in the heartbreaking defeat as they played well enough to win, just falling late on a fantastic shot in an extremely clutch situation.

Brooklyn Ballers top Frederick Douglass Academy, 61-57

This was another game that was played down to the wire and even though the Brooklyn Ballers looked to have control of this one headed to the 4th quarter up by 12, the lockdown pressure in the backcourt by FDA created all sorts of headaches for the Ballers. They relinquished the lead late, but behind the play of Curtis Smith (Thomas Jefferson '16), they were able to come back and grab the hard fought 4 point win.

It was all Brooklyn Ballers, with Smith scoring 14 points through 3 quarters to have them in firm control, but Steven Cherry (FDA '16) went to work pressuring the ball and causing havoc in the backcourt causing turnover after turnover by the Brooklyn Ballers.

Most of the turnovers caused by FDA were then taken advantage of by Travis Cox (FDA '17) as the athletic guard was able to work his way down lanes for buckets inside, but he also showed that he was equally as adept at pulling up when he saw nothing available and knocking down midrange jumpers.

Frederick Douglass took their first lead with 3:26 to go in the game when Cox was able to finish with his left hand while being fouled to make it 52-51 for the Lions, but that lead only held up for 7 seconds as Smith came back and went all the way on the other end, and while they fought hard to rally, it seemed that the young FDA squad had run out of gas.

Smith had 19 points to lead the way for the Brooklyn Ballers, and he came up big at the FT line late with 4 big makes from the charity stripe to put the game away for good as they were able to hold off FDA 61-57.

Cox had a fantastic game in his own right for Frederick Douglass as he led the Harlem area H.S. with 20 points, while Cherry added great defense in the backcourt and 12 points of his own in the close defeat.

H.S. for Construction thumps Archbishop Molloy, 57-38

Having to play without the services of injured big men Isaac Grant (Archbishop Molloy '16) and Moses Brown (Archbishop Molloy '18), along with missing star freshman guard Cole Anthony (Archbishop Molloy '19), the Stanners were severely undermanned, and after a tight opening half, H.S. of Construction took advantage in the second half and ran away with this one to the tune of a 19 point blowout victory.

Without the Red Hawks settling for too many three point shots, getting crushed on the glass in the first half, Molloy, though missing most of its scoring threats, managed to hang around. It took a Micaiah Goosby (H.S. of Construction '16) putback at the halftime buzzer to actually see them go up 25-24 at the half.

Though they remained tough through the opening 16 minutes of the game, Molloy seemed to run out of steam early in the 3rd as Construction ran off 12 straight to start the quarter as Bryshon Bryant (H.S. of Construction '16) dominated the inside, and Jordan Wright (H.S. of Construction '16) was able to score at will from the perimeter.

Justin Cole (Archbishop Molloy '16) was a bright spot for the Stanners, along with John Herring (Archbishop Molloy '17) who looks to be a solid addition from the JV team, but the team struggled to just 14 second half points as they went the 2nd half without making a 3 point shot, and it was all Red Hawks for the rest of the way.

Bryant had 15 points in the victory, while Wright and Goosby had 12 and 10 respectively as H.S. of Construction cruised late to take the convincing 57-38 win.

Cole, Herring, and Dominick Priolo (Archbishop Molloy '16) each had 7 points to lead the way for the Stanners in the defeat in what was their first game this fall in the iS8 Tip-Off Classic.