The 2018 iS8/Nike Championship
SOUTH JAMAICA, NY – Saturday’s semifinals and championship games of the iS8/Nike Fall Tip-Off Classic lived up to the hype. Six team entered the pit at Intermediate School #8 but only one team emerged to claim the tournament’s legendary hardware.
SEMIFINALS
D1 Stars dismantle PD Nation, 88 – 64
Jonathan Kuminga (Our Savior New American ’21) proved from the onset why he’s well on his way to becoming a high major recruit. Buckets from the sophomore along with transition scoring from Sterling Jones (Christ the King ’22) quickly put D1 up at the top of the of the second quarter even though Kayvontay Williams countered for PD Nation
The D1 Star’s lead increase to 46 -35 at the half as Kuminga effortless scored at the rim or from the perimeter. T.J. Morris (Nazareth ’21) chimed in from three-point range during the third quarter leaving PD Nation down by 17 as the final stanza got underway. Unable to hold off the D1 Stars, PD Nation continued to fold in the forth quarter ultimately falling short by 24 points.
Kuminga led D1 Stars with a game high 30 points with Morris adding 14 points. Williams was the high man for PD Nation with 16 points.
Goldminz advances over 2GZ, 93 – 83
Goldminz, the young upstarts of the iS8, faced off against, 2GZ the defending champs. It was a tall order, but they were up to the task. 2GZ came to the dance fully loaded with UNLV bound Josh Pierre-Louis (Rozelle Catholic ’19) providing high flying French pastry moves in the first quarter along with a solid showing from Marcus Bennett. Goldminz stayed in the hunt with balanced scoring from Curtis "D-Bo" Funcho (Hudson Catholic ’19) and Dashawn Davis ‘19 but trailed by 8 points to start the second quarter.
2GZ held onto their lead but the tandem Malachi Smith (St. Raymond ’21), Julian Champagnie ‘19 and Davis closed the gap. Perimeter shots by Smith finally knotted the score for Goldminz at 38 apiece with 3:30 left in the opening half.
Goldminz flipped the script on 2GZ late in the half with Davis powered his way to the rim. At the end of the first half, suddenly Goldminz was up, 52 – 44.
2GZ responded with a strong third quarter with scoring from Burnett, Pierre-Louis and Jaquan Carlos ’21 stepped up their games and recaptured a one-point advantage as the final quarter got underway. The 6th man of the game would end up being trash talking.
Smelling the possibility of an upset, the Goldminz fans began to get into the heads of a few players from 2GZ. Davis and Smith then spearhead a surge that propelled 2GZ to a 12-point lead with 2:50 left in regulation. 2GZ fought hard and even sliced their deficit to 3 points but the catch-up energy expended caught up with the defending champs.
Davis was the high scorer with 28 points with Smith contributing 18 points. Pierre-Louis scored 22 points for 2GZ in defeat.
THE CHAMPIONSHIP
McPherson leads D1 Stars Over Goldminz, 93 – 83
It was a battle of attrition for 3 quarters followed by a 21-point breakout quarter by Quaron McPherson (Christ the King '20) that put the D1 Stars over the top. The war would provide a high-level contest that kept everyone on the edge of their seats.
Kuminga continued where he left off in the semifinals scoring in a diverse way for D1. Goldminz pushed back as Dontae Walker (Innovation Charter ’20) and Davis put up points. D1 took a 1-point advantage into the second quarter but the exploits of Kuminga and Morris pushed that lead to 12 points midway through the quarter.
Davis exploded in the quarter and narrowed D1’s lead to 44 – 41 at the half and was Goldminz was still only down by three as the fourth quarter commenced. The fourth quarter, however, was the McPherson show as the junior combo guard went berserk on Goldminz.
Scoring jumpers, dunks, lay-up, transition bucket, McPherson singlehandedly took the heart out of Goldminz in the fourth quarter as D1 Stars removed all obstacles en route to the championship.
Kuminga once again led D1 with 33 points with McPherson finishing with 29 points. Davis and Smith netted 17 points each for Goldminz.
