USC’s Derozan Qualifies; Terrell to Wake
Demar Derozan has qualified to play at
Demar Derozan has qualified to play at
LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. – The Juice All-Stars and the New York Panthers were the big winners at the Reebok Summer Classic East at Rider University.
Juice downed the New Jersey ShoreShots, 75-70, in the U17 final behind 18 points apiece from Lincoln’s James Padgett and Curtis Loving of Wadleigh. Keith Spellman of Jefferson added 15 points.
Chazz Williams, a Hofstra-bound point guard out of Bishop Ford (NY), scored 13 of his 19 in the second half for the ShoreShots.
“It was fun, it was tough,” Spellman said. “It feels real good to show everybody that we could be tough with only six players.”
The other three Juice players were David Coley, Vincent Council and Darwin “Buddha” Ellis.
LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. — The game with the greatest concentration of high-profile Division I coaches was a game that didn’t mean anything in the Reebok Summer Classic East.
Coaches from virtually every Big East school, as well as Memphis, Georgia Tech, Xavier and elsewhere, gathered around Court 1 to watch Dante Taylor, a 6-9, 225-pound power forward from Fort Washington (Md.) National Christian Academy.
National Christian had to forfeit its first game, making this showdown with the New Heights 2010 squad meaningless in the grand scheme of the tournament, but the coaches didn’t care.
They came to see Taylor, who averaged 20 points and 11 rebounds last season, including the 25 he gave to Tyreke Evans and American Christian. Taylor played well at the NBA Top 100 Camp and was recently named one of the top performers at the LeBron James US Skills Academy. He is ranked No. 9 among power forwards nationally by Rivals and No. 23 overall in the Class of 2009.
LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. – Isaiah Epps is a scorer.
The rising junior from Plainfield HIgh School dropped 30 points in his first game for the Playaz Red Friday and he will be on display Sunday when the Playaz take on the New Jersey Shoreshots in the quarterfinals of the Reebok Summer Classic at Rider University.
A slew of Division I coaches, including scouts from Rutgers, Seton Hall, Pitt, St. John’s, Georgia Tech, West Virginia, Temple and Stony Brook, watched the Playaz on Friday afternoon. The team also includes potential high-major players Fuquan Edwin, Jermaine Peart and Trevor Clemmings of Paterson Catholic and Cameron Ayers of Germantown Academy.
“It’s good (playing in front of the coaches) because they can see your game,” Epps said.
Rutgers and Seton Hall fans should settle in for a long and protracted recruiting battle over St. Patrick point guard Kyrie Irving.
Not that those are the only two schools that will be in the mix for the talented junior combination guard. St. Joe’s and Texas A&M have also offered, according to Irving.
The more we see Irving, who transferred from Montclair Kimberley Academy toward the end of last year, the more impressed we are. He has already led St. Pat’s to victories at the Hoop Group Showcase at Rutgers and the Hoop Group Team Camp at TCNJ. Markus Kennedy, a 6-8 junior from Philly, has also been a big component of St. Pat’s success this summer.
Lance Stephenson and Derrick Favors were the first two players selected for the Boost Mobile Elite 24 Event to be held in Harlem’s famed Rucker Park Aug. 22.
The roster will continue to be announced throughout the month by ESPN Rise, and we expect that several other locals will be picked, including St. Patrick of Elizabeth standout Dexter Strickland, who participated last year.
The 6-foot-5 Stephenson out of Brooklyn Lincoln, known as “Born Ready,” was the Co-MVP of last year’s game after dropping 36 points in front of a capacity crowd.
PHILADELPHIA – Brandon Jennings made an unscheduled appearance here at the Reebok All-American Camp — as a fan only. The 6-foot Jennings recently announced that he would skip next season at Arizona and play ball in Europe instead. He stopped by press row and mentioned that he might possibly play in Italy, Spain, Russia or Israel. Other than that, he’s not doing any formal interviews.
**Despite 19 points and 13 boards from Renardo Sidney, Pump Omni beat Answer XII, 70-66, in the Championship Game. Raymond Taylor led Pump Omni with 15 points, Maurice Creek added 12 and Oscar Griffin 11.
Nobody but Sidney reached double-figures for the losers, but Fuquan Edwin and Erik Swoope each had 8. Sidney told me his Top 6 include Texas, Texas A&M, Arizona State, USC, UCLA and Memphis.
“(I’m going to decide) after my season, after my senior season,” the 6-9 Sidney said.
