by Alex Schwartz

The 2008 Summer Shootout is about to get underway, and I’m in the East gym to check out a battle between New Jersey squads. The Trenton Central Tornadoes are traditionally one of the Garden State’s premiere public school teams. Last year, led by Lorenzo Freeman ’08, TCHS won the Mercer County Tournament. Notre Dame’s head coach left for an assistant coaching position at Rider and their best player, Julian Diaz ’08, has moved on to college, so it should be an interesting season for the Irish. We’re about 3:30 from tip time and Trenton has just arrived, so their players may be a bit cold to start the game. We’ll see what happens.

6:19pm- Both squads have taken the floor, with Trenton in white shirts and Notre Dame in blue jerseys.

6:20pm- Notre Dame opens up the scoring with a mid-range jumper from Greg Nuggent about 30 seconds into the game.

6:23pm- The Tornadoes’ best player, Darren Elam ’09, is wearing a heavy duty brace on his left knee. He just scored in the paint to give Trenton a 4-2 lead.

6:26pm- Just to let you know, the games are being played with two 20 minute, running clock halves, with the final minute of each half being stopped clock.

6:27pm- Pretty pass from Cris Carothers to Brandon Dempster for a Notre Dame bucket. The Irish trail 8-6.

6:29pm- Eric Fanning ’11 stole a bad pass, dished it to Elam, who ran the break and hit a layup, tying the game a 10-10 with just over 10:30 left in the first half.

6:30pm- Darren Elam is a beast on the boards. Despite being no more than 6’3, he has at least four or five rebounds in just 10 minutes of play.

6:31- Notre Dame has jumped out to a 15-10 lead with 9:00 to go in the half off a 5-0 run.

6:32- A deuce from Fanning was answered by Kevin DeMille for Notre Dame, who banged down a triple.

6:33pm- Fanning and Elam were both just taken out for a breather with about 7:00 left in the first 20 minutes of play.

6:34pm- Some nice hustle from Bruce Brittingham ’11 on this last play. He grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free throw, missed a put-back, got his own board, was blocked, grabbed the ball again, and re-started the offense. Trenton missed a jumper but Notre Dame fouled Kyle Jones, who was going for an offensive board, giving the Tornadoes the ball back. The possession ended with a bucket for Brittingham.

 6:37pm- Carothers used some nice, fancy dribbling to bring the ball upcourt and kick it to a teammate for a layup, stopping a 10-0 Trenton run. The Tornadoes lead 22-20.

6:38pm- Dempster snatched an offensive rebound, and Darren Elam ferociously blocked his put-back attempt for TCHS.

6:39pm- Carothers is an assist machine for the Irish. He threw a no-look pass to Dempster, who pump faked twice, and hit a shot from down low, drew a foul, and knocked down a free throw, giving his team a 23-22 advantage.

6:42pm- Notre Dame ended the half well. Dempster took a pass from Carothers and kicked out to DeMille. He hit another three-ball as time expired, putting the Irish ahead 26-22 entering the break, finishing the half on an 8-0 run.

6:43pm- Eric Fanning currently leads all scorers with eight points on four buckets, while Kevin DeMille is tops for the Irish with six points on two three-pointers.

6:46pm- Notre Dame has opened the second half scoring with a layup from Greg Nuggent about 40 seconds in, stretching the lead to six points and continuing their scoring run. The Irish are on top 28-22.

6:47pm- A Darren Elam bucket on a pass from Eric Fanning ends the Irish’s scoring run and makes the score 28-24.

6:50pm- Ronnie Choute knocked down a three-ball for the Tornadoes, closing the gap to 30-29.

6:51pm- Choute used some nice court vision to get the ball down low to Fanning, who scored, putting TCHS on top 31-30 with about 13:30 left in the game.

6:52pm- Notre Dame just scored, ending a 9-2 run by Trenton, who then called timeout. Fanning is getting a rest on the bench with just under 13:00 left.

6:53pm- Elam hit a 15-foot J, giving Trenton the lead again, 33-32.

6:54pm- Carothers got to the rack, hit a layup and drew a foul. He could not connect on the free throw, though, so Notre Dame’s lead is 34-33.

6:55pm- A crossover from Choute just send an ND defender falling to the floor. He drove to the hoop, and Notre Dame forced a jump-ball. TCHS then called timeout.

6:57pm- Darren Elam scored on the inbounds play, making it 36-35 Irish as we head to the 10:00 mark.

6:58pm- Carothers drove the length of the floor, hit a layup and again drew a foul. This time hit hit the shot from the stripe, putting his team up 39-35.

7:00pm- DeMille just hit another spot-up three, stretching the Notre Dame lead to five, 42-37, with about seven minutes to go.

7:01pm- Two quick baskets from TCHS have the ND lead down to 42-41, leading to an Irish timeout with the clock showing 6:32.

7:02pm- Carothers got to the rack and tried to go up for a layup, but was blocked on the way up by Elam.

7:03pm- Elam drove baseline for the Tornadoes, faded away from the hoop, and banked one off the glass, giving TCHS a 43-42 lead on a 6-0 run.

7:04pm- Fanning grabbed an offensive rebound off a miss by Elam, got fouled on the way up, and connected on two free throws, stretching the TCHS run to 8-0 and giving the team a 45-42 lead with 4:00 left.

7:05pm- Carothers nailed a trey to even the game at 45 all, ending the Tornadoes’ run.

7:06pm- Kyle Jones hit a three for Trenton, putting the team on top 48-45. Elam then got a steal and ran the break, got fouled, and jammed the ball, but was fouled on the floor first.

7:07pm- Carothers banged in a runner off the glass, cutting the lead to one, 50-49.

7:08pm- Fanning was fouled down low by Greg Nuggent, who picked up his fifth, sending him out of the game. He hit the second of two at the line with 49.5 left.

7:09pm- Carothers scored to even it up at 51 all.

7:10pm- TCHS wasted some clock and called a timeout with 8.3 to go in regulation, with the scored tied at 51.

7:11pm- Fanning inbounded to Young who was fouled by Carothers.

7:12pm- Bruce Brittingham got the ball, took some dribbles, leaned in, and faded away for a jumper at the buzzer from about 18 feet. The ball fell through the netting, and TCHS got the win, 53-51 on the rising sophomore’s last second jumper.

Eric Fanning and Cris Carothers tied for the scoring lead with 19 each. Fanning was 5/6 at the line. Carothers hit one three. Elam had 12 points for TCHS, and DeMille had nine for ND, all on threes. Northstar Basketball’s MVP honors go to Eric Fanning for Trenton Central and Cris Carothers for Notre Dame.