Along with its own hefty expectations for the new basketball season, Newark East bears a sizable target upon its back as a reigning state champion.
Thus far, the Red Raiders don't look weighed down in the least by all that excess baggage.
Sparked by the smooth, heady floor leadership of junior point guard Ahmad Harrison and the early scoring of its talented seniors, top-seeded East Side rolled to a 20-point lead in the first quarter on its way to a 72-56 win over second-seeded University for the Newark Public Schools Holiday Tournament championship Monday afternoon at Essex County College in Newark.
Abdul Lewis dropped in 11 of his 17 points, Akbar Hoffman scored eight of his 14 and fellow senior Ismael Sanogo had eight of his 12 in the first quarter as East Side (4-0), No. 8 in the MSGVarsity NJ Power Rankings and the 2013 Group 3 champ, forged a 30-10 lead en route to its second consecutive NPST title and eighth overall.
East Side has made it clear that the objective this season is to win the Essex County championship (it lost in the final last February), repeat in Group 3 and compete more resolutely for the Tournament of Champions title after falling in the first round last season.
But, first things first.
"We just wanted to win the tournament," The 6-8 Lewis said. "We have bragging rights in Newark and this is my second time winning. It's a good thing."
Lewis, a South Alabama recruit, struck for 13 of his 17 points in the first half (East Side led, 41-21) and finished with eight rebounds. The 6-7 Sanogo (Seton Hall U.) also pulled down eight rebounds, and Harrison, a 6-2 junior, dished out eight assists, recorded three steals and scored four points on just three field goal attempts. He did not take his first shot until the third quarter.
"Scoring wasn't really my big deal; I'm more of a distributor," Harrison said. "I don't care about scoring as much. I'm more focused on making my teammates happy instead of being selfish with the ball and taking everyone's shots."
There were a lot of contended looks on the East Side bench after Harrison carved through University's 2-3 zone with five assists, including a pair of low post feeds to Lewis and Sanogo against the Phoenix' undersized interior.
"He's always looking for us," Lewis said. "He even told me last night it's not his job to score. It's his job to get us the ball."
While the defense sagged to combat Lewis and Sanogo, Hoffman took advantage of that activity by knocking down two 3-pointers in the big first quarter. Jamar Gilbert, the Red Raiders' fourth senior starter, also drained a 3-pointer in the quarter off a feed by Harrison.
"We were ready," Hoffman said. "We were in practice the last couple of days working on our jump shots and stuff. We knew they were gonna play zone, so we came ready to come out and shoot and ready to get the big men involved. They (University) don't have any height."
But University--the 2011 NPST champion and one of the best small-school programs in the state--does still have spunk, and showed plenty of it when forced to switch to man-to-man late in the first quarter and throughout the second.
Sophomore Zamir Wright sank a 3-pointer and two free throws to help University open the second quarter with a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 30-17. But East Side's big guys reasserted themselves defensively in the paint and Hoffman became a driving force with a transition dunk off a steal, a fast break layup off a rebound by Gilbert and another basket inside off a give-and-go by Sanogo to help boost the lead back to 20 points.
"I think because we worked on the zone so much in practice, we just weren't really in an offensive flow. We weren't prepared for them to go man," Lewis said.
Lewis and the rest of his Raiders understand, however, that they will have to be prepared for zones, double-teams, gimmicks and scrappy man-to-man looks once East Side busts its way out of a zone. The opposition knows East Side's stature as a state champion with much returning talent and wants nothing more than to knock it from its pedestal.
"It's kind of a lot more pressure," Lewis said. "Before, we weren't really expected to win. Now there's a little more pressure this year."
The mental pressure is something the team and co-head coaches Bryant Garvin and Anthony Tavares will have to deal with. As far as the physical pressure goes, the versatile and unselfish Harrison is prepare to help alleviate that as much as possible with his smart playmaking.
"I've got a lot of weapons I can choose from," Harrison said. "My game plan today was to feed the ball down to the post. They're (University) a really small team, so all we had to do was get the big guys involved and get our guards more involved with their shots. Once they went man, we just spread the court around."
Senior guard Joseph Kelly scored 14 points, eight in the third quarter, and Zamir Wright added nine to lead University. Hoffman had four rebounds and two steals to go along with his 14 points, Sanogo added two steals and Lewis came up with two blocks.
All-Tournament Team (as picked by the coaches): Abdul Lewis, East Side; Joseph Kelly, University; Alfonzo Anderson, Newark Vocational; Derrick Johnson, West Side; Izaha Jackson, West Side.
Tournament MVP: Akbar Hoffman, East Side
12/31/13
Newark East Side edges Blair Academy
Let the records show that Newark East Side played its first official basketball game of the season Saturday in West Orange.
But let any opposing ball handler tell you that the Red Raiders defensively are playing well beyond that.
East Side, ranked No. 8 in the MSG Varsity New Jersey Power Rankings, fashioned a defense that kept constant pressure on the backcourt and reduced the effectiveness of Blair's talented big men to open its season with a 46-43 victory at the Hoop Group Tip-Off Showcase at West Orange High.
Senior forward Abdul Lewis scored 14 points and pulled down eight rebounds and played a pivotal role in holding down a deep and experienced Blair team that entered at 7-0 and averaging 72.1 points a game.
East Side, also an experienced club, looked quite a lot like the team that allowed only 36.6 ppg. during the state tournament last year on its way to the Group 3 state title. In fact, the Red Raiders were so physically sharp and cohesive, they looked as if they'd completed that successful tournament run only a week or so ago.
"It was a challenge, but we’ve been together all summer," Lewis said. "We played in the fall league together and we've been together so long. We just wanted to show everybody we were already in season mode."
East Side will probably want to bone up on its shooting as time goes on (18 of 54 from the floor), but won't have to sweat that detail too much if the defense holds form.
There was stifling ball pressure from guards Ahmad Harrison, Akbar Hoffman and James Gilbert, solid interior defense and rebounding from Lewis and Ismael Sanogo (10 points, eight rebounds) and reliable assistance from reserves Ra'Quan Lynn, Jibreel Ahmad and Taj Price.
Mike Silverthorn. Elijah Burns, Donovan Wright and Sean Lubreski each scored eight points for Blair, which had scored no fewer than 64 points in any previous game this season. They probably had not yet confronted a backcourt that doubled the ball so quickly or defended the passing lanes so thoroughly.
"The guards did a great job," Lewis said. "The big men couldn't even get the ball a lot of times because of the pressure they put on the ball. They helped me out a lot."
East Side trailed most of the first half, but gained crucial momentum with an 8-0 run that bridged the third and fourth quarters and opened a 37-31 lead.
Lewis, signed with South Alabama, sparked the run with a bucket inside off a pass from the Seton Hall-bound Sanogo with 2:04 left in the third quarter, and Sanogo followed with a transition basket off a feed from Ahmad. Hoffman scored the last field goal of the third quarter with a layup off a steal for a 35-31 lead, and Sanogo increased it to six points with a resounding dunk 28 seconds into the fourth.
Blair never regained the lead, but did pull to within 45-43 when Silverthorn buried a 3-pointer with 8.6 seconds to go. Blair had missed an opportunity to tie the game 20 seconds earlier with a steal and 3-point attempt, but East Side collected the rebound and Hoffman wound up being fouled and sank both free throws for a 45-40 lead.
Hoffman was fouled again on the inbound after Silverthorn's 3-pointer and hit the front end of a one-and-one for a 46-43 lead. He missed the second and Marial Shayok gathered the rebound for Blair. The Buccaneers called timeout with less than six seconds remaining and they missed on a 33-point attempt as the buzzer sounded.
But let any opposing ball handler tell you that the Red Raiders defensively are playing well beyond that.
East Side, ranked No. 8 in the MSG Varsity New Jersey Power Rankings, fashioned a defense that kept constant pressure on the backcourt and reduced the effectiveness of Blair's talented big men to open its season with a 46-43 victory at the Hoop Group Tip-Off Showcase at West Orange High.
Senior forward Abdul Lewis scored 14 points and pulled down eight rebounds and played a pivotal role in holding down a deep and experienced Blair team that entered at 7-0 and averaging 72.1 points a game.
East Side, also an experienced club, looked quite a lot like the team that allowed only 36.6 ppg. during the state tournament last year on its way to the Group 3 state title. In fact, the Red Raiders were so physically sharp and cohesive, they looked as if they'd completed that successful tournament run only a week or so ago.
"It was a challenge, but we’ve been together all summer," Lewis said. "We played in the fall league together and we've been together so long. We just wanted to show everybody we were already in season mode."
East Side will probably want to bone up on its shooting as time goes on (18 of 54 from the floor), but won't have to sweat that detail too much if the defense holds form.
There was stifling ball pressure from guards Ahmad Harrison, Akbar Hoffman and James Gilbert, solid interior defense and rebounding from Lewis and Ismael Sanogo (10 points, eight rebounds) and reliable assistance from reserves Ra'Quan Lynn, Jibreel Ahmad and Taj Price.
Mike Silverthorn. Elijah Burns, Donovan Wright and Sean Lubreski each scored eight points for Blair, which had scored no fewer than 64 points in any previous game this season. They probably had not yet confronted a backcourt that doubled the ball so quickly or defended the passing lanes so thoroughly.
"The guards did a great job," Lewis said. "The big men couldn't even get the ball a lot of times because of the pressure they put on the ball. They helped me out a lot."
East Side trailed most of the first half, but gained crucial momentum with an 8-0 run that bridged the third and fourth quarters and opened a 37-31 lead.
Lewis, signed with South Alabama, sparked the run with a bucket inside off a pass from the Seton Hall-bound Sanogo with 2:04 left in the third quarter, and Sanogo followed with a transition basket off a feed from Ahmad. Hoffman scored the last field goal of the third quarter with a layup off a steal for a 35-31 lead, and Sanogo increased it to six points with a resounding dunk 28 seconds into the fourth.
Blair never regained the lead, but did pull to within 45-43 when Silverthorn buried a 3-pointer with 8.6 seconds to go. Blair had missed an opportunity to tie the game 20 seconds earlier with a steal and 3-point attempt, but East Side collected the rebound and Hoffman wound up being fouled and sank both free throws for a 45-40 lead.
Hoffman was fouled again on the inbound after Silverthorn's 3-pointer and hit the front end of a one-and-one for a 46-43 lead. He missed the second and Marial Shayok gathered the rebound for Blair. The Buccaneers called timeout with less than six seconds remaining and they missed on a 33-point attempt as the buzzer sounded.
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