By DONNIE WILKIE
College coaches could spend their entire July live period recruiting all 50 states and might never find anything quite like “The Weekend,” the creation of New Jersey Playaz director Jim Salmon and a two-day event last weekend at Montclair State University that featured 16 high school powerhouses from New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia. That’s right … high school basketball in the middle of July!
Each day featured an eight-team tournament in which every team played two games – except the two finalists, who played a third. Forty-six schools were in attendance, including Sunday’s standing-room-only crowd energized by the presence of head coaches from Villanova (Jay Wright), Arizona (Sean Miller), Seton Hall (Kevin Willard), UConn (Kevin Ollie), Rutgers (Steve Pikiell), St. John’s (Chris Mullin) and Ohio State (Chris Holtmann).
The two “champions” provided an insightful look at the present (Hudson Catholic on Day 2) and future (Our Savior New American on Day 1) of prep hoops in the Northeast.
Jersey City (Hudson Catholic) NJ started slowly, trailing West Orange (Seton Hall Prep) NJ 30-26 at halftime of its first-round game Sunday, but the veteran trio of 6’8 Sr Louis King, 6’1 Sr Jahvon Quinerly and 6’4 Sr Luther Muhammad, combined for 49 points per game in wins over Seton Hall (58-51), The Patrick School (72-56) and Don Bosco Prep (83-78). King, who averaged 20.3 ppg, was easily the unofficial MVP of The Weekend, overwhelming all three with a combination of scary-smooth, NBA-range 3-pointers and the ability to finish at the rim or create his own shot from any spot on the floor. In the final, he shot 8-of-12 from the field (3-of-4 on threes) and added four rebounds, four assists and four steals, scoring 18 of his 23 points in the first half and making three consecutive treys to help his team open a 33-23 lead late in the first half that the Hawks nursed all the way to the finish.
King’s size and versatility gives him a long-range advantage at the highest levels over Quinerly, but the fact remains that the latter, who had 19 points and 5 assists in the final, is a probable McDonald’s All-American and has the look of a kid who will do whatever it takes to become a pro.
That provides quite a contrast to 6’11 Sr Nazreon Reid from Roselle (Roselle Catholic) NJ, who scored 30 points in a 68-65 victory over Salmon’s talented-but-young Montclair (Immaculate Conception) NJ, but tweaked a foot and quickly shut it down as Ramsey (Don Bosco Prep) NJ raced to a 39-15 lead and beat Roselle Catholic 62-49 in a semifinal. Reid spent most of his abbreviated day lounging near the 3-point line (he DID make three of them), while explosive 6’6 Jr Kahlil Whitney and 6’9 Sr Alanzo Frink did the bulk of the dirty work down low. When Reid choses to dominate in the paint, though, he usually does, as evidenced by an offensive rebound and strong putback when the Lions trailed Immaculate by six points early in the second half.
Salmon’s team boasts top-60 talent 6’3 Sr Jalen Carey, who was the HoopScoop’s No. 8-ranked player at this year’s Nike EYBL Finals at the Peach Jam, but he was also hampered by a foot injury. Carey’s competitive juices kicked in, though, when he caught a glimpse of the overflow mob in the Panzer Athletic Center, and his third 3-pointer in a 22-point performance helped the Lions turn a late 63-57 deficit into a one-point game (and the ball) with 42 seconds left. Three young teammates – 6’10 Soph Elijah Hutchins-Everett, 6’3 Soph Zion Bethea and 6’2 Soph Raejon Figures – are worth monitoring very closely, as is 6’7 Jr Justin Winston, who stole the show with 25 points in the loss to Roselle Catholic.
The surprises of The Weekend were 6’6 Sr Ron Harper, Jr., from Don Bosco Prep and 6’8 Sr Joel Ntambwe from New Rochelle (Iona Preparatory) NY. Harper piled up 38 points, making 13-18 field goals and 6-10 3-pointers, with 4 rebounds and 3 assists in Sunday’s championship loss to Hudson Catholic. His recruitment has escalated during the past two weeks, with genuine interest from Rutgers and Nebraska to go with offers from Miami (Ohio), Illinois-Chicago, Howard and Radford. His teammate, burly 6’5 Sr Marcellus Earlington (15 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists in the final), is a high-major football recruit but might prefer basketball, so Temple, Boston University and Howard are involved.
Ntambwe’s athleticism powered Iona Prep all the way to Saturday’s title game, averaging 20 ppg in 20+-point blowouts over Somerset (Rutgers Prep) NJ and Warminster (Archbishop Wood) PA, before being held to 14 by Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY in a 60-45 loss, and has legitimate interest from a slew of high-majors, including Providence, Florida State and Clemson. His emergence allowed 6’5 Jr Bryce Wills to attack at will, and he responded with 71 points (23.7 ppg) in three games, including 28 in the final. The Gaels were missing two bigs, 6’8 Josh Alexander and 6’9 Souleymane Koureissi.
As is often the case, Eric Jaklitsch has assembled a roster-full of intriguing talents at Our Savior New American, but for this event, his six-man roster was comprised entirely of underclassmen. At least five of them – 6’5 Soph Nate Tabor, 6’2 Jr Clarence Nadolny, twins 6’5 Jr Hassan Drame and 6’5 Jr Fousseyni Drame, and 6’2 Soph Jefferson Koulibaly – flashed high-major possibilities. Jaklitsch thinks that Tabor, a big-bodied guard who showed up at halftime of Saturday’s first game but scored 15 points against Iona Prep, is “the next great guard out of New York City.” The twins drip with athleticism, are still growing and have gotten significantly better during the past nine months. The French-born Nadolny brings “don’t-mess-with-me” toughness and is utterly fearless on the floor. Oh … and Koulibaly scored 17 points in two of his team’s three games.
By themselves, Our Savior’s perimeter talents were enough to win on Saturday. But when you add two missing big men and whatever else Jaklitsch will surely add between now and the beginning of the season, we’re talking about a team that could make waves nationally in the next few years.
High-level talent was scattered throughout the 16-team field, as many of these high school programs were stunningly successful at keeping their players together during the heart of travel season. Seton Hall Prep had 6’4 Jr Ashton Miller (24 points against Hudson Catholic) and 6’6 Soph Jabri Abdur-Rahim (14 points vs. Bergen Catholic). Middle Village (Christ the King) NY lined up with impressive 6’10 Jr Kofi Cockburn, though the rest of the Royals appeared missing-in-action as Don Bosco raced to leads of 30-9 (first nine minutes) and 48-18 (halftime).
Archbishop Wood, the reigning Philadelphia Catholic League champions, thrives on the balance provided by Ivy/Patriot League-type recruit 6’4 Sr Andrew Funk, 6’3 Sr Tyree Pickron – who likely will graduate as Wood’s all-time leading scorer – and 6’11 Sr Seth Pinkney, who is attracting strong Atlantic 10 interest. But the Vikings aren’t really built for three games in a day, and were overwhelmed by Iona Prep 70-45 after Pickron was slowed by an ankle injury and held to 12 points.
Hillside (The Patrick School) NJ, playing for the first time with 5’9 Markquis Nowell and well-traveled 6’4 Jr Atiba Taylor, beat Oradell (Bergen Catholic) NJ 77-71 before bowing 72-56 to Hudson Catholic. The Celtics will remain a force in the Garden State’s brutal Parochial B race, as they were missing 6’10 Sr Valdir Manuel and will be adding 6’10 Sr Giorgi Bezhanishvilli.
Rutgers Prep was without ballyhooed 6’7 Frosh Trey Patterson and 6’3 Jr Jonah Charles and unsurprisingly lost both of its games, but got 20.5 ppg from 6’2 Jr Nahshon Battle. Bronx (St. Raymond) NY split two games without many of its older players, with 6’5 Sr Darius Lee and 6’4 Sr Nicolas Rivera carrying the load.
The leading scorer for The Weekend (at least by average) was 6’1 Sr Aaron Clarke from Sparta (Pope John XXIII) NJ, who had 22 points in a 70-52 win over St. Raymond, then dropped 26 on Our Savior New American in a game that was tied at 51-all with three minutes left (OSNA won 62-56). Clarke’s touted teammate, 6’7 Sr Samba Diallo, scored 10 of his 13 points against St. Ray’s in the first half.
With games spread over three courts, we didn’t get a fair look at Bergen Catholic, Philadelphia (West Catholic) PA or Neptune City (Coastal Academy) NJ.
Asked after the event about adding more teams in the future or adding a third day, Salmon responded, “I like this format.” So do we. Such a novel concept, high school basketball in the summer.
Donnie Wilkie has been the tournament director of the prestigious Culligan City of Palms Classic in Fort Myers, Fla., for the past 32 years.