by Alex Schwartz

Earlier this morning, I reached out to 6'6 combo forward Paris Bennett '09, a George Mason-signee from St. Patrick's (NJ), to see how he was feeling. Last night during the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions Semifinals, the talented Garden State star injured his nose and was on the bench for the final 22+ plus minutes of the game, which was won 66-40 by the St. Pat's Celtics. Bennett, who has been a key inside presence for Kevin Boyle's undersized squad this year, told me that his "nose broke [in] two places." So how did this unfortunate injury happen? "Michael [Gilchrist] blocked a shot and hit me in my nose." Gilchrist is a 6'7 sophomore sensation for the Celtics, so it was a "friendly fire" injury. Paris told me that he will be starting on Monday, and another source close to the St. Patrick's program informed me that Bennett will be wearing a "'Rip Hamilton' mask." Once again, Paris Bennett of the St. Patrick's Celtics has broken his nose in two places, but will be starting on Monday in his final high school game on Monday, the NJSIAA TOC finals.

In other news from last night, I caught up with Mike Celestin '09 of Lenape (NJ) via text message after the his team was knocked off by St. Pat's. The speedy senior point guard told me that he will "be at Trinity Pawling [in New Jersey] next year" and will be "playing with the Playaz this summer." Celestin, who is young for a senior, is hoping to get some more exposure by going the post grad route. I asked him how he decided on Trinity Pawling, to which he responded, "Their coach really likes me and my family really likes them, so I'm going to go there. The team looks pretty good too." This is what Celestin told me when I asked who the squad will have next year: "I don't know their names, [but they will have a] 6'8 shooter from Oakland, a 6'4 high flier from Rochester, and they are returning their starting center." Celestin added, "[They have] a real good strength and conditioning coach." Again, Mike Celestin of Lenape will be at Trinity Pawling next year, doing a post grad year.

Note- photo is from http://scouthoops.scout.com/