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PATERSON CATHOLIC BEATS ST. PETER’S PREP IN PLAYAZ HEADLINER

Cougars use 19-0 4th quarter run to remain unbeaten this season

The Paterson Catholic Cougars have made quite a name nationally for themselves in the early part of the 2009-2010 High School basketball season. They recently captured the prestigious City of Palms Tournament title with a win over Winter Park (Fla.) High School in the finals on a game that was shown on national television by the ESPN family of networks. After an overtime win against a strong Huntington (WV) Prep team in Wheeling (WV) on Friday night, coach Damon Wright’s team returned back home to face their first New Jersey opponent of the season at Teaneck High School Sunday night when they took on St. Peter’s Prep of Jersey City (NJ) in the headliner contest of the ‘New Year’s Jump Off’ hosted by the Playaz Basketball Club AAU program, run by Jimmy Salmons.

St. Peter’s Prep entered the contest with a record of 6-0 and was more than a stiff test for the jet-setting Cougars. Led by St. John’s-commit Ronald Roberts and top 2011 Big East guard prospect Myles Davis, the boys from Jersey City hung tough throughout, leading by as many as five points early into the fourth quarter.

Paterson Catholic used a 15-2 run in the second quarter to take a 36-32 lead at intermission. Fuquan Edwin nearly brought the house down with a thunderous and-one slam dunk that showed off his athletic ability attacking the rim.

Davis led St. Peter’s by scoring 14 of his 17 points in the first half. A defensive adjustment at halftime by PC was aimed at taking Davis out of his game as the Cougars used a box and one defense against the high scoring guard. The move worked as Davis did not score again until a game-ending three-pointer that would be meaningless.

While Davis was held down, Roberts began to exert himself in the second half. The 6-foot-7 forward finished the game with an impressive 19 points and 17 rebounds and helped St. Peter’s gain control of the game in the third quarter and stretch their lead to 51-46 early into the fourth.

Then the game changed. With his team down five, Myles Mack scored on a three-point basket and then on a transition lay-up to ignite a 19-0 run which Edwin took over shortly after, scoring 10 straight points, and the Cougars had a 65-51 lead with 3:24 left and cruised to a 75-55 finish by outscoring St. Peter’s 31-8 over the game’s final eight minutes.
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Fuquan Edwin, committed to Seton Hall in the 2010 class, showed off his athletic ability with the strong flush in the second quarter. He also showed that his perimeter game is improving as he connected on four three-pointers in the contest. Scored 10 of his game-high 25 points in the clinching 19-0 run for the Cougars. Was very aggressive all game at attacking the defense, but doing so in a smart manner showing a high basketball IQ. Could use a little more weight and muscle for the Big East, but the tools are there to be a contributor for Bobby Gonzalez and company in the future.

Talented sophomore Kyle Anderson is very versatile for PC. Doesn’t really play a particular role or position, but contributes a lot to his team. When he grows into his frame watch out. His father Kyle Anderson Sr. stated his son has new interest from Oklahoma State on the recruiting side. The class fo 2012 prospect will be highly coveted by Big East teams. Scored 12 points in the win.

Kavon Stewart is only a freshman, but looks like the next great Paterson Catholic player. Only played for a few minutes in the fourth quarter and while Stewart is very raw and undersized he displayed mind-blowing speed and ball-handling ability. One scout compared his future potential to former UC great and NBA guard Nick Van Excel.

Derek Randall didn’t log as many minutes as other Paterson Catholic upperclassmen and wasn’t always the most noticeable today as Mack and Edwin did most of the damage. However, under the boards Randall did play very tight defense using his size and strength to his advantage, blocking five shots. Prior to the game, Randall told NBE that he has offers from Providence, Virginia Tech and Rutgers with interest coming from Pittsburgh and has visited St. John’s as well. Many schools will be keeping an eye on the big man prospect in the class of 2011 as Randall’s development is in the early stages as he has played just three years of basketball.

“Yeah most likely,” said Randall of the possibility of attending a Big East school. “It’s a nice confrence.”

Myles Mack, as usual, was money for the Cougars scoring 23 points in the contest. Mack is having a tremendous run of late, earning MVP honors of the City of Palms Tournament as well as PC’s CRC Cancer Research event win over Huntington Prep on Friday night.

“It was great nobody thought we would win,” said Mack of the experience at City of Palms. “We played hard, played good defense and we won.”

At Teaneck, Mack showed off his blazing-fast handle with the basketball and quick hands that could strip the opposition of the basketball and turn it into an easy lay-up on the other end. Mack always makes solid passes even under pressure and distributes the ball well as a lead guard. His court awareness is outstanding as he found the open man time and time again. There has always been questions about his size (5-foot-9+), but his improving point guard skills go well with his silky smooth jumpshot that is amost always ‘on’.

Mack mentioned to NBE that he has taken visits to Providence, Fordham and St. John’s in recent months following the game. Drexel, Hofstra, Penn State, Rice and DePaul were other schools linked to his recruitment and Adam Zagoria reported this week that Seton Hall is entering the mix as Hall to Offer Mack (scroll down) in the near future according to sources.

The event was sponsored by Jimmy Salmon’s Playaz Basketball Club AAU program and one interesting angle was the many players on both teams that are AAU teammates in the spring and summer. NBE is used to seeing Myles Mack and Myles Davis as backcourt partners with the Playaz, but on Sunday they were lined up against each other. Edwin, Trevor Clemmings, Jermaine Peart, Anderson and Randle of Paterson Catholic all run with the Playaz as well while Roberts, Keith Lumpkin and Dallas Anglin of St. Peter’s Prep are members of the Playaz program, too.

The game also got physical, despite the friendships on both sides, with Clemmings committing a hard foul on Davis. Clemmings is one of the nation’s top football prospects and confirmed to NBE that he will be signing with Pitt this February on a football scholarship. The foul knocked Davis hard to the floor.

“No, It was just Trevor Clemmings being a football player,” Davis said afterwards on whether he thought Clemmings’ hard foul should have been called flagrant.

Davis, who is a cousin of Pittsburgh assistant coach and former Playaz Club standout Brandin Knight, told NBE that he has received a recent offer from the Panthers.
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Other ‘New Year’s Jump-off’ Coverage:
–Lakewood’s Jarrod Davis Impresses at Playaz Event
–Bosco/Plainfield Contest Thrills at Playaz Event

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