Sports U Takes Title

Sports U emerged as champions of the Hoop Group Headquarters Spring Jam Fest in two seperate divisions. Sports U beat Team Phiily for the titles late Sunday afternoon in the 17 & Under and 16 & Under brackets. They came out on top from fields of 28 and 24 teams respectively.

In the 17 & Under championship 6-foot-6 Britton Academy NC Sr. Dustin Hogue scored on a putback with :01 remaining to give Sports U a 57-55 win. The New York native was named MVP and finished with a team high 15 points.

6-foot-7 Trenton Catholic Jr. Brandon Taylor paced Team Philly with 19 points and 4 treys.

Roadrunners Take Title

The NJ State 17 & Under AAU Tournament wrapped up early Sunday at Linden High School with the championship and 3rd place games. The Roadrunners edged the Hot Shots for the 2011 title.

The Roadrunners (Jamal Reid and Aaron Bodie) emerged from a field of 24 teams. Trailing 40-37 heading into the final quarter the Roadrunners took control of the game and held onto it from the free throw line. They converted 14-17 free throws in the final stanza.

6-foot-8 Union So. Tyler Roberson paced the winners with 17 points and 11 rebounds. 6-foot-8 Roselle Catholic Jr. Jameel Warney was high for the Hot Shots with 16.

Nitty Gritty Begins at IS8/Nike

Jay Mumford
NYCHoops.net Staff Writer

One would assume that when the playoffs begin at iS8/Nike Spring HS Classic, playtime ends. The intensity grows fiercer and the scoreboard gets tighter.

However, Thursday night's inaugural playoff games for the Spring 2011 season disproved that theory, as the Panthers (2) and Pennsylvania-based Sportsfest.org put away their opponents without much hassle.


Panthers subdue TGT Warriors, 73-63

For the first six minutes of action, this one had the potential to get ugly. The Panthers (2 / 17U) squad employed a taxing press that turned TGT over repeatedly. The mid-range touch of Travis Flagg and the open court prowess of Tariq Carey helped the Panthers make a push at the other end of the floor, and they consequently secured an early 16-2 lead. To make matters worse for TGT, one and done offensive possessions meant they had another Achilles' Heel in the rebounding department. However, they eventually threw some of the Panthers' medicine back at the NYC unit and showed signs of life.

TGT's 2-2-1 press exploited some of the Panthers' lackluster possessions, and an 8-2 run to close the first quarter got the Bronx-based TGT back into the game. Hot-shooting senior guard Jonathan Loria began to percolate in the second quarter, and with a little help from Donte Adams, chipped the Panthers' lead to three points, 30-27. The duo would go on to score all 32 of TGT's second half points, with Loria putting on a clinic and finishing with a game high 29 points. It wasn't enough, though. Flagg and Carey drained back to back threes at the top of the second half to deflate the Warriors, and the latter drained another later in the period to bring the Panthers' lead back to double digits, 55-43. TGT were never able to get over the hump and never held a lead in the contest.

Carey and Flagg led the Panthers with 17 and 16 points, respectively. Ryan Yearwood chipped in with 9 points. Adams was the number two scorer for TGT with 24 points.

The Panthers (2) will face NIA Prep on Saturday at 9AM.

Panthers II Flatten Mountain Ball

LONG ISLAND CITY, NY - On Sunday, Mountain Ball from Hyde Park, NY would become educated in the ways of the iS8/Nike.

In a tournament whose motto is "Bring your game, not your name", Mountain Ball came equipped only with the latter.

Obviously virgins in the tournament, up against the NY Panthers who've won multiple chips in event, the outcome became clear early on. Even though it was the junior Panthers squad, Mountain Ball would still end up losing, 73-40, in a game that literally turned into a practice session.

The final pool play game for both teams was played at Variety Boys & Girls Club. It would be the Panthers who would strike first, jumping ahead 11-3 as Tariq Carey and Eddy Guisarry put up transition points. Mountain Ball did manage some interior points as big man Keon Scott and JaQuan Bryant showed some offensive prowess.

Ahead 19-9 as the second quarter began, another 8-0 run with points in the paint by Travis Charles pushed the Panthers lead to 18 points midway thru the quarter and 43-16 at halftime.

Down by 30 at the end of three quarters, Panthers head coach Paul Ruddock used the fourth quarter to teach his students the art of playing keep away.

Without a shot clock, Mountain Ball was defenseless against the Panthers ability to run time off the clock. Even though the Panthers tried not to score, they still managed to increase their lead to thirty-three before the refs mercifully called the game.

Carey and Charles led the way for the Panthers with 13 points apiece while Bryant was the high man for Mountain Ball with 12 points followed by Scott with 8 points.

At 3-1, the Panthers are in a three way tie for first place in their pool while Mountain dropped to 1-3 excluding themselves from playoff contention.

Spring Break Photo's of the Frosh

iS8/Nike

It may have been raining outside intermittently but inside the gym at Intermiate School #8 the reign was steady.

Two games were scheduled on Thursday and although each game took a different path, the out was the same, a blowout. In the opening contest, the NY Panthers (2) took on the MetroHawks followed by Playaz Club Jrs. versus Royalty.

Panthers Eat MetroHawks, 52-30

Carlos de Jesus, rising senior from J.F.K Campus got the ball rolling got the Panthers, spearheading an 11-3 run from the perimeter. Jeff Neverson would cut the Panthers lead to 5 points with 2 minutes left in the quarter but a late surge left MetroHawks down 19-7 to start the second quarter.

The Panthers lead extended to 16 point before Leroy Fludd began to do some work in the interior but Tariq Carey finished strong keeping the Panthers advantage steady. Addition buckets by De Jesus and Eddy Guisarry would keep the point spread at 34-17 at the half.

The third quarter was a mirror image of the second as the MetroHawks' deficit remained at 16 points at throughout. At the bottom of the fourth quarter, the MetroHawks had all but checked out as runner by Travis Flagg extended the Panthers lead to 20 points. If this were a movie, the credit would've begun to roll as the Coach Paul Ruddock and his Panthers would close out the MetroHawks.

Carry led the Panthers with 16 points with De Jesus and Guissary dropping 8 points apiece. Neverson and Fludd would lead the MetroHawks with 11 points and 10 point respectively.