Marquette Recruiting, Zach Smart

NEW HEIGHTS REACH IS8 SEMIS

New Heights Dumps Off JR All-Stars In IS8 Tip Off

By Zach Smart

New Heights was angry. They were angry at the torrent of turnovers the JR All-Stars would instigate in a foul-plagued, turnover party of a first half. They were angry with how they were being manhandled early. The JR All-Stars ran off 18 of the game’s first 22 points.

They were angry with the sloppy brand of basketball they were playing, as they folded under the All-Stars’ suffocating, full-court harassment press.

If there was anything to be heated about Sunday at IS8, it was the Heights’ lackluster first ten minutes, coupled with an admittedly hilarious verbal bashing they took from the high-energy IS8 P.A. man.

“Oh! Another turnover,” said the P.A., who noted that New Heights might need to put a search warrant out for their ‘A’ game if they were to think about triggering a valiant comeback. They were getting thoroughly mauled, thanks to some crucial buckets from Isiah Stokley and a well-oiled machine on both ends of the floor. Still, it was just 10-12 minutes in the contest but New Heights needed to recover from their embarrassing, tumultuous inaccurate account of themselves.

A New Heights guard overthrows a risky alley-oop lob that soared over the backboard.

You know what happened next. Committing a costly turnover of this type is like waving a red flag at the announcer if he were to quickly grow horns and morph into a bull.

“Umm….Your buggin!”

The P.A. man’s live and loud comments (all of which were directed towards the players on the floor…how’s that for increased pressure?) engendered outbursts of laughter from the strongly bi-partisan crowd at IS8′s sweatbox gymnasium.

Never on a short chain, the announcer and his wild comments simply wouldn’t relent. New Heights’ lack of chemistry and savvy earned them an early earful.

“Everybody might not be able to play today,” he serenely said, his words echoing outside of the gym and filtering into nearby outdoor courts, churches, homes, and a hot dog truck in front of the gym.

“Someone forgot their ‘A’ game on the ride to IS8! New Heights, having problems! Count it! Get that out of here! Stop trying to make passes while you are in the air…Somebody’s going on vacation here at IS8…”

The frustration compounded after a New Heights guard fired an errant pass, resulting in a two-handed banger at the other end of the floor.

“I guarantee you are coming out,” said the announcer, his eyes glued on the player who just rushed a costly turnover. “I can bet my bottom dollar, you are coming out of this game!”

Sure enough, the player was yanked and received an earful from his coach.

“Yep, I told ya,” the announcer followed.

Whether it was the in-your-face antics of the announcer, the growing aspiration, or some other source, something lit a fire under New Heights after those first few strugglesome minutes.

Suddenly, the New Heights came firing back. Returning the favor of ziplock-tight, hounding defense, New Heights cut the deficit to 22-16.

“JR All Stars, now they are starting to turn it over,” the announcer observed.

New Heights began to run neck-and-neck with them, outscoring them 19-16 over the final eight minutes of the first half. They trailed, 37-32, with 2:51 remaining but kept matching the JR All-Stars’ physical brand of play. At the half, New Heights trailed 39-35.

Then, in blink-quick, tazmanian devil fashion, they re-wrote the script.

New Heights surged ahead, 51-44, with Corey Edwards connecting on an acrobatic layup and delivering a sweet pass to a wide open big man (who rewarded Edwards with a rim-ringing dunk) as the Heights ripped off a 16-5 surge.

Earth shattering slams, good looks at the basket, and short jumpers allowed New Heights’ margin to balloon. It was 61-47, as the All-Stars missed dunks and stabbed themselves in the foot with turnovers. The Heights jacked up the lead to 78-52 when some scrub life began to emerge.

At the end of the day it was New Heights that resuscitated itself and the JR All-Stars that went on vacation at IS8 Saturday.

Devon Collier had a game-high 24 for New Heights with Edwards finishing with 10 and Ashton Pankey made timely plays during the big 2nd half run.

In other quarter-final action:

Playaz Club Seniors got big points from Chris Gaston to end the Unique All-Stars run, 84-79. For more on Marquette-bound forward Jeronne Maymon, see Zach Smart’s new story on our Marquette Team Blog Site: Marquette Commit Shines in IS8 Atmosphere.

Juice All-Stars, led by dynamic duo of Lance Stephenson (26 pts) and Karron Johnson (21 pts), outlasted a very game Playaz Club Juniors 95-88. Fuquan Edwin scored 24 and Isaiah Epps added 21 for the younger Playaz squad that fell in the round of 8.

The final team joining New Heights, Playaz Club Seniors and Juice All-Stars in next weekend’s final four will be the Gauchos, meaning the usual suspects make a very exciting final four of the IS8 Fall Tip-off league. The Gauchos got 22 points from Durand Scott and 20 from Mohammad Lee to defeat the Brooklyn Ballers 92-83.

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