iS8/Nike Quarterfinal Recaps

SOUTH RICHMOND HILL, NY -Sunday at iS8/Nike Fall Tip Off Classic was Quarterfinal Day as the action headed to the Metro Queens Boys and Girls Club with 4 Semifinal spots on the line.

It was a truly exciting day of action with a standing room only crowd gathered into the Boys and Girls Club, and with Championship Day berths on the line it's no shock that each of Sunday's contests were fierce and heated as the intensity was ratcheted up for sure.

One impressive upset headlined the day of games though each were solid and competitive, and with a lot of the line lets now look back at play from Sunday's quarterfinals as we recap the iS8 action.

In a game that featured the players from Frederick Douglass Academy against the players from Thomas Jefferson something had to give. Jefferson, the defending PSAL Class "AA" Champions are once again among the favorites to take home the crown again this year, while FDA, a PSAL Class "A" Finalist from last season, are considered among the favorites for the "A" title this season.

With both having such high expectations for the high school season you knew this one would be a barnburner, and while Jefferson got out to a big early lead, the "A" powers from FDA never quit, fighting back to take a lead late in the 4th quarter and then holding on for the 3-point win.

Nothing was going right early on for FDA as the Orangemen press was creating turnover after turnover. Jamari Lewis '17, Kyle Harding '17, and Jordan Armstrong '17 each turned up the pressure and that allowed Jefferson to take a 19-2 lead with 3:29 to go in the opening quarter.

After a timeout FDA started to lose the nerves and get more comfortable in the style of play and with Travis Cox '17 able to beat his defender one on one the lead for the Orangemen was pushed down to 22-9 after one.

Early in the second the chipping away by FDA continued as Lasana Camara '17 was able to do a nice job on back to back put backs inside against the Jefferson frontline, and Ahamadou Fofana '17 hitting a 3 ball from the left wing the once 17-point lead was dwindled all the way down to 30-26 midway through the quarter.

Malachi Faison '17 though rose to the challenge off of the FDA run as he put the Jefferson squad on his back as he controlled the paint late in the first, and along with Stephen Moncrieffe '18, they were able to dominate the glass and score on numerous opportunities around the rim as they were able to close the half on a 14-4 run to take a 44-30 lead into the break.

Every time that FDA made a run it seemed like Jefferson did have an answer. Even early in the 3rd quarter after getting the deficit down to 8, it was Armstrong who sent in a pair of treys to up the Orangemen lead once again, and while it still seemed like Jefferson was in control, FDA was refusing to back down from the challenge of the "AA" champs.

Instead of backing down FDA just came forward even more as Camara was a major weapon with his length and ability to finish with either hand, and even though he had 4 fouls, Cox proved to still be capable of avoiding contact and scoring with runners and floaters in the lane. It was 60-54 heading to the 4th in favor of Jefferson, but nothing was going to be easy for them if they wanted to head to next weekend's semifinals.

It all seemed ok for Jefferson after a Moncrieffe put back with 4:20 to play as they went up 67-61, but they were careless with the ball at times, and with FDA gaining more and more confidence, they began to pounce on every mistake.

First it was a steal and finish the other way by Cox, then it was a put back by Camara off what should've been an easy defensive rebound for the Orangemen, and follow that up with a 3 by Luka Sikharulidze '17 and from being 17 down in the early going, FDA had taken a 1-point lead at 68-67 with just over a minute to play.

Trailing the whole game, this was FDA's first lead of the game, and while they at times down the stretch were sloppy with the ball too, Jefferson themselves couldn't take advantage. Camara went 1 for 2 from the FT line to see FDA go up by 2, but then Harding could only muster a 1 of 2 from the FT line to make it 69-68 with 9.4 seconds to play.

FDA had all sorts of problems getting the ball inbounds at this point but it was eventually gotten in and Camara was pushed out of bounds off a loose ball chance by Faison sending the 6'5" forward to the line for 2 FT's with 1.0 seconds to go.

He calmly sank both in a major pressure spot to see FDA go up 71-68, and a heave at the buzzer by Lewis fell well short as it was FDA who proved they could absolutely compete with the big boys, and win as well, taking home the impressive 3-point victory.

Camara had 20 points in the winning effort for FDA while Cox added 17 points, and Fofana had 13 points in what could only be described as a remarkable come from behind win.

In the defeat it was Faison who had a game high 22 points for the Orangemen with Armstrong the only other scorer in double figures for Jefferson with 15 points.

While the Northeast Basketball Club didn't quite have all the star power they had in Saturday's opening round playoff game, they had enough pieces to come back late and take down a tough S.E.S. squad by 6.

It was bombs away in the early going as S.E.S. was feeling it from long range in the opening quarter with Jasiah Wright (H.S. of Construction '18) and Alonzo Ortiz-Traylor (Msgr. McClancy '17) each burying multiple early three balls to give their squad a quick 8-point lead.

Northeast Basketball Club were able to use their superior size advantage inside to their advantage though as both Juwan Daniels (Teaneck, NJ '17) and Justin Minaya (Old Tappan, NJ '17) were controlling the glass on both sides of the floor was put back chances down low.

S.E.S. had a 4-point lead after one, but a Ja'Quaye James (Teaneck, NJ '18) three ball erased that and tied things up in the opening seconds of what proved to be a back and forth second quarter.

Joel Boyce (St. Luke's, CT '17) was the difference maker for S.E.S. in the 2nd as off the dribble he was nearly unstoppable scoring going around two, and sometimes three defenders for buckets getting the rim, while it was Daniels who used his brute force inside to keep things close for Northeast Basketball Club.

Northeast never led in the 2nd quarter until a late lefty finish inside by Minaya just before the halftime buzzer allowed them to take a 41-40 lead into the half.

While the momentum seemed to be on the Northeast Basketball Club side heading into the 3rd quarter, it was actually S.E.S. that came out determined and hot as Kclejuan Brown (Abraham Lincoln '17) scored 5 straight points, and Ortiz-Traylor again connected from long range. A 16-4 run to start the half allowed S.E.S. to jump out and take a 56-45 lead with 4:04 to go in the quarter, and their ability to run the floor and finish with multiple shooters and scorers looked to be paying off.

Needing a spark, the Northeast Basketball Club turned to Ryan Straining (Mahwah, NJ '18) who connecting on a pair of corner three balls to knock the deficit down to just 5 in a matter of seconds, and with Daniels continuing to do a great job down low against an undersized S.E.S. team, it was just a 61-57 game heading into the 4th.

Boyce looked as if he was going to lead his team in isolation opportunities as he was able to take anyone he looked at one on one and finish, but the same on the other end was true with Minaya, and when Minaya was able to get by his man on the left baseline and score while getting fouled, the game was tied up again at 71 with 3:15 to play.

James would come down and drain a 3 ball off a S.E.S. turnover, and then off a missed three on the other end, Minaya finished on a put back inside, and a 10-0 run allowed the Northeast Basketball Club to take a 79-71 lead with 2:06 to play.

To the credit of S.E.S. they didn't roll over as Boyce hit on a three ball, and then missed FT's by Northeast Basketball Club allowed it to become a 1 possession game with 27 seconds to go, but a missed three by Ortiz-Traylor that could've tied it led to James FT's that he sunk to essentially wrap up the game.

It was another great contest but Northeast Basketball Club and their New Jersey stars moved on with a hard fought 88-82 victory.

Daniels was a beast and a dominating force to the tune of 30 points to lead the way for the Northeast Basketball Club, though with James and Minaya going off for 17 points and 16 points respectively as well it truly was a great all around team effort win.

For many on S.E.S. it was not the final score that they wanted but it was a great iS8 tournament overall as Boyce paced them with 19 points in the loss, while Ortiz-Traylor added 16 points of his own in a very solid performance.

Don't let this final score fool you as this game was much tighter than it looks as the team of players from Queens H.S. of Teaching were close the whole way through until it got away from them late, losing to the team comprised of players from Mt. Vernon by 12.

It was all Greg Calixte '17 in the early going as he thoroughly dominated the paint to the tune of scoring the first 7 points of the game by himself to see Ben Gordon take control at the start.

Kion Hill '17 though was able to shoot QHST back into the game as he drained back to back threes to bring the local Queens team back into it.

Calixte though continued to impose his will inside as he had 13 first quarter points, showing how much of a threat he can be around the rim, and while QHST had their chances to draw closer, the Ben Gordon All-Stars took a 22-15 lead after one.

Noah Morgan '17 was another bright star for Ben Gordon in the early going as he would drain a pair of threes as it was a long distance shooting contest for much of the half when you take out Calixte's play, and while the Mt. Vernon players did well from the outside themselves it was the combination of Hill and C.J. Kelly '17 that allowed Queens H.S. of Teaching to get within 37-35 at the half.

QHST may not have had the size and strength around the rim to compete with the likes of Calixte inside, but they knew that they could run and beat the Ben Gordon All-Stars up the court and get themselves good looks from the outside, and when William Ellis '17 was able to hit off a pull up midrange jumper with 1:39 to go in the 3rd quarter, the game was tied up at 44.

The game being tied seemed to wake up the Mt. Vernon players from whatever trance they seemed to be in for much of the 3rd though as Jason Douglas-Stanley '18 went coast to coast for an easy layup as the QHST team never got back off their tying bucket, and that Ben Gordon All-Stars basket was just the start of what proved to be an 11-0 run Morgan scored 6 during the run, and with young guard Truth Harris '19 also doing solid things in the open floor, it seemed as if QHST was running out of gas.

There was only 1 time the rest of the game that QHST got the game back down to single digits as they all continued to get up threes, and good looks from long range as well, but the shots just stopped dropping, and as the Mt. Vernon players began to push more and more, the defensive intensity and effort just started to fade away for QHST.

It was anyone’s game through 3 quarters, but the relentlessness and the physicality of Mt. Vernon took over late as they rolled down the stretch to a 65-53 win.

Calixte had 21 points in what was a very strong outing for the big 6'8" forward, while Morgan and Douglas-Stanley had 14 points and 12 points of their own in a solid all around team victory for the Ben Gordon All-Stars.

Kelly was the high man for QHST with 18 points in the loss, while Hill, who played limited minutes in the second half, had 13 points as well in the defeat.

This was the one game of the day that never seemed to be in doubt as even with a strong start, Castle seemed a bit overmatched against the size and speed of the Shooting Stars who shot their way to a 35-point victory.

There wasn't even one player you could point to for the Shooting Stars and say that person was the one who carried the team as it was a truly balanced effort from a team loaded with talent.

Castle did get off to a 7-0 lead as Larry Moreno (Brooklyn Law and Tech '18) and Victor Potter (Msgr. Scanlan '17)each were able to get going in the opening minutes, but that lead evaporated quickly as Kofi Cockburn (Christ the King '19) came to play in a major way dominating on the defensive end down low, and with guards Tyson Walker (Christ the King '18) and Dallas Watson (St. Raymond's '18) each feeling it early on, the Shooting Stars took the lead midway through the 1st quarter and never looked back.

Once they did take the lead everyone began to get involved as Khalid Moore (Archbishop Molloy '18) and Chris Coalmon (Long Island Lutheran '17) were able to dominate on the wings as they looked like a fine oiled machine ready to go after the iS8 title.

Souleymane Koureissi (Iona Prep '18) was a bright spot throughout for Castle as his athleticism and size at 6'7" allowed him to score both inside and outside, but there were just too many threats for the Shooting Stars as 7 players had 8 points of more in what proved to be an easy 77-42 win.

Moore and Watson each had 12 points to lead the Shooting Stars in the win, but with Walker adding 11 points, Cockburn scoring 10 points along with a good amount of rebounds and blocks, and Coalman also pouring in 10 points, it was just about everyone who contributed for a tough Shooting Stars team.

It was Koureissi in the loss who led all scorers in the game with 14 points for Castle, while Moreno had 10 points as well in the defeat.

So with that the semifinals at iS8 are now set. The games will be played this Saturday at iS8 in Jamaica, Queens and in Semifinal #1 at 10am F.D.A. will take on the Northeast Basketball Club, followed by the Shooting Stars versus the Ben Gordon All-Stars at 11:30am. The semifinal winners will then meet the same day at 2pm to crown an iS8 Fall Champion.

Quarterfinals Top Performers