Juice All-Stars Ghost Rens; Win iS8 Chip

SOUTH JAMAICA, NY - The calendar says its Halloween, which is a day that some people like to dress up in costumes while others are prepped to be scared.

The calendar also said today was the iS8 Fall Tip-Off Classic. Juice All-Stars were matched up against The Rens for the final and Juice did their best to celebrate Halloween by becoming monsters on the glass.

Caheim Brown scored 31 points and dominated the boards for Juice, and in turn they were able to win the iS8 chip comfortably. The final score was 101-90, and despite the margin of victory being double digits, the game didn't really even feel that close. The Rens never seriously got into contention to make it a game.

It wasn't just Brown, but the whole team was superior in the paint. The phrase "No rebounds, no rings" was especially relevant for this game. The Rens couldn't compete with Juice when it came to getting those important rebounds. Brown was huge on the boards, as well as scoring pretty much all his buckets on lay-ups and put-backs.

Juice's other big man Jahlil Tripp also was a problem in the paint for the Rens. The only thing that really slowed Tripp down was the referee's whistle, putting Tripp on the bench a couple of times during the contest with foul trouble. Despite picking up his fourth foul in the third quarter and fouling out in the fourth, Tripp still was able to put in 20 points for Juice and was the team's second leading scorer.

The first quarter was the most competitive quarter of the game, ending with the teams tied at 23. However, Juice took control of the game in the second quarter and went into halftime with a 9 point lead. The third quarter was the opportunity for the Rens to make a run at Juice and get back into the contest, but they didn't do a good job of it. They didn't move the ball to get easier shots and they were getting out-muscled inside by Brown and Tripp.

It wasn't all done in the paint. Juice's diminutive but deadly guard Tyler Bourne nailed two threes in the second half, one in the third and the other in the fourth. Both shots were exclamation points and felt like daggers in the eye of the Rens when he made them. Bourne wasn't as accurate as he can be, but he never stopped shooting. He had a good game and finished with 18 points.

The Rens best chance at getting back in the game was to pick up the pace and try to out run Juice. But the aggressive defense employed by Juice was enough to slow the Rens down and force them into a mostly one-on-one team. The foul trouble that Juice had to deal with the entire game was a direct result of the constant pressure applied by Juice's defense. They were aggressive and didn't give an inch, and because of that the refs were quick to blow the whistle. Still, the fouls never derailed Juice and they kept on track.

On the other hand, Juice pushed the rock whenever they got a chance. They made a few lay-ups in transition, but a lot of the scores came from missed shots and rebounds by Brown with him going right back up with it and scoring.

The Rens best player in this game was guard Isaiah Washington, who finished with 21 points. Washington hit a couple of jumpers in the second half and was aggressive offensively. He made a lay-up late in the fourth quarter that cut Juice's lead to 86-79, but that was the last real run the Rens made.

Brown answered Washington's score with a lay-up of his own plus a foul. He made the free throw and pushed the lead back up to 10 and at that point it was just a matter of second's ticking off the clock before Juice would be crowned champs.

Brown was announced as the game MVP and received a plaque to go with the golden basketball trophies given to the winners of the tournament. The sportsmanship award went to Tyrone Cohen, who finished with a team high 24 points. Gianni Ford also had a nice scoring game for The Rens, adding 18 points to the tally.

It's a good start for Juice and their coach Tiny Morton, who is back coaching high school ball after a year away. A chip in IS8 may not mean much when it comes to the high school season, but the champions of the fall are mostly players from Lincoln. Winning is a good habit to have.