by Alex Schwartz

Today was the second and final day of the 2009 Hoop Group HBC Metro Summer Showcase, and it was an interesting one to say the least. I began by watching the quarterfinal matchup between Lincoln (NY) and Seton Hall Prep (NJ), while glancing over at the Elite 8 game on the next court, which featured St. Patrick's (NJ) and Westtown (PA).

SHP, behind the play of Sterling Gibbs '11, jumped on top of Lincoln in the later parts of the first half and came into the break with an 18-point advantage. That quickly became a 22-point cushion, and the tradition-rich Garden State school was in complete control of the contest. Charles Oliver '11, Connor Wujcak '11, John Caprio '10, and Stephon Mosley '12 gave aid to Gibbs, as he slowed down a bit in the second 16 minutes. Meanwhile, for four-time defending PSAL AA NYC champ Lincoln, it was a complete one-man show. The squad was totally reliant on Shaq Stokes '11, but he could not take down SHP alone. Although the Railsplitters got the lead down to single-digits, they fell 65-55. Sterling Gibbs led Seton Hall Prep with 25 points, while Shaq Stokes dropped an astounding 37 for Lincoln, for a whopping 67.3% of his team's offensive output.

St. Patrick's had to deal with a resilient Westtown team, but pulled away late and advanced to the finals. Josh Daniell '10, Jarrel Lane '11, Chase Plummer '10, Rich Dobin '10, and Kevin Boyle, Jr. '10 looked to be key pieces to the victory from what I saw. The Celtics entered the event as the defending champions, but were without their two best players, Kyrie Irving '10 and Michael Gilchrist '11.

In the other quarterfinal games, Paterson Catholic (NJ) trounced Lakewood (NJ), as Jarrod Davis '11 was limited to a mere four points by the PC defense. Neumann-Goretti (PA) defeated Christian Brothers Academy (NJ) in the last Elite 8 affair, making the semifinals, which the Saints were unable to do last year.

The semifinal contests were on adjacent courts, but most of my attention was focused on the Paterson Catholic/Neumann-Goretti matchup, which I expected to be a fantastic game. It did not turn out that way. The home-state Cougars jumped all over N-G, holding a double-digit lead for much of the first 16 minutes. The outside shooting of Myles Mack '11 (16 points, three treys), overall play of Kyle Anderson '12, and scoring ability of Seton Hall-commit Fuquan Edwin '10 (10 points, two treys) gave PC a 49-32 lead at the intermission. Wake Forest-bound Tony Chenault '10 was the primary source of offense for Neumann, as he had nine points on three triples. Danny Stewart '10 added a few dunks. When the PC/N-G game was at the half, St. Pat's—who led 37-22 through 16 minutes—was leading SHP 49-35 with 8:51 left. Soon after, though, the Celtics had run away and were up 64-37. St. Pat's would go on to get the W and advance to the championship.

In the second half of the Paterson Catholic/Neumann-Goretti game, things went back and forth, with the Cougars continuing to hold a large lead. The Saints had their main six players there, but many of their key reserves were not at the event. PC had its whole squad at its disposal, but regardless of the reason, Paterson Catholic dominated the Keystone state team. Late in the affair—which saw three technicals fouls handed out in the first half (one to PC, two to N-G)—things got out of hand. All of a sudden, a brawl broke out—it was on the far hoop from where I was sitting so I did not see exactly how it began—and punches were thrown players had to be separated. From what I'm told, it was much worse than yesterday's St. Patrick's/Newark Central (NJ) fight. Needless to say, the game was called and Paterson Catholic was declared the victor.

Due to the nature of the events that ended the semifinal contest, likely combined with the fact that a similar occurrence went down last night, The Hoop Group decided not to have a championship game. The choice made sense, as this was merely a high school basketball summer tournament, and it was not worth risking any more problems. Kudos to The Hoop Group for its hard work in handling the unfortunate events and making a tough decision.

St. Patrick's and Paterson Catholic were declared the co-champions of the 2009 Hoop Group HBC Metro Summer Showcase. For the Celtics, it was their second straight title in this event.