by Alex Schwartz of Northstar Basketball

The Hoop Group Elite Team Camp’s second day featured some great action in front of many Division I coaches. Georgia Tech Head Coach Paul Hewitt was on hand to watch Kyrie Irving ’10 of St. Patrick’s (NJ), as were coaches from Seton Hall and Notre Dame. Many other programs, such as Columbia, Colgate, and Bryant had coaches at Albright College too. A number of players seized the chance to show what they can do in front of the coaches. The standout performers from the teams that I watched play, from both the National and American Divisions, are listed below:

Kazembe Abif ’11, The Pennington School (NJ)
Zaahir Allen ’10, Penn Wood (PA)
Darian Barnes ’11, Penn Wood (PA)
Kevin Boyle, Jr. ’10, St. Patrick’s (NJ)
Nate Britt ’13, Gonzaga (DC)
Aaron Brown ’11, Penn Wood (PA)
William Brown ’10, Penn Wood (PA)
Jared Carithers ’10, Bowie (MD)
Randall Castleberry ’10, Bowie (MD)
Patrick Connaghan ’10, Chestnut Hill (PA)
Todd Cramer ’10, Chestnut Hill (PA)
Chandler Fraser-Pauls ’11, The Pennington School (NJ)
Lamin Fulton ’11, Neumann-Goretti (PA)
Anthony Gaffney ’11, The Pennington School (NJ)
Joe Godette ’10, New Rochelle (NY)
John Golden ’10, Peddie School (NJ)
Anthony Goode ’10, Milford Mill (MD)
Kyrie Irving ’10, St. Patrick’s (NJ)
Kris Jenkins ’13, Gonzaga (DC)
Mustafa Jones ’10, Neumann-Goretti (PA)
Kyle Jordan ’10, Bowie (MD)
Stan Laurent ’10, New Rochelle (NY)
Cedrick Lindsay ’10, Gonzaga (DC)
Isaiah McCrary ’11, Milford Mill (MD)
Shawn Oakman ’11, Penn Wood (PA)
Chase Plummer ’10, St. Patrick’s (NJ)
Bill Shank ’12, Neumann-Goretti (PA)
Temlade Shonibare’10, Bowie (MD)
Danny Stewart ’10, Neumann-Goretti (PA)
Brandon Washington ’11, Bowie (MD)

Of these ballers, a few of them were the best of the best on this day. Aaron Brown ’11 from Penn Wood (PA) was fantastic. The 6’5 wing did a fantastic job of scoring the ball, and even outperformed more highly-touted class of 2011 teammate Shawn Oakman. Brown filled much of the scoring void that was left by Tyree Johnson ’10, arguably the squad’s best player, being absent from camp. The other elite performer on the second and final day of camp was none other than Kyrie Irving ’10 of St. Patrick’s (NJ). The 6’2 point guard showed why he is so highly ranked and so heavily recruited. Irving knocked down shots from beyond the arc, got to the hoop with outstanding athletic ability, and dished out some great passes. He is the next great player from St. Patrick’s, which has some others (Michael Gilchrist ’11, Derrick Gordon ’11, Dennis Green ’12, Austin Colbert ’13, Jason Boswell ’13) right behind him on that list. The other big-time performer was Cedrick Lindsay ’10 of Gonzaga (DC), who just scored whenever he wanted. The 6’0 guard was unstoppable when he drove to the cup, and was the key player for the team from the nation’s capital.

I had a chance to watch 6+ games on Friday, and I’ll give a brief rundown on each of them. I began my day by watching Chestnut Hill (PA) take on Bowie (MD) in the semifinals of the American Division, and it was a hard-fought back-and-forth battle. Randall Castleberry ’10 led his Old Line State squad to championship game when it was all said and done, winning 46-42. I also caught the final few minutes of the matchup between the Peddie School (NJ) and Prep Charter (PA), which the Garden State team won 48-43. The next game I checked out was Pocono Mountain East (PA) squaring off against New Rochelle (NY), whose best player is Antoine Mason ’10, the son of former NBA player Anthony Mason. The game was never in question, as New Roc was dominant from start to finish, despite the best efforts of Kyheim Hall ’10, winning 63-44. I then took in the National Division semifinal matchup between Penn Wood (PA) and Milford Mill (MD). Led by Aaron Brown ’11 and Darian Barnes ’11, the defending PIAA Class AAAA state champions outlasted Milford Mill by a final score of 52-42. The game was closer than the final score indicates, as Anthony Goode ’10 and Isaiah McCrary ’11 kept the top-notch Maryland squad in the game.

Upon the conclusion of the PW/MM game, it was time for the first championship game, as The Pennington School (NJ) met Bowie (MD) for the American Division title. The first half was tight and neither team could really take control. Bowie was up 25-21 at the break behind nine points from Jarid Carithers ’10, while TPS’ Chandler Fraser-Pauls ’11 was the top man with 10. Bowie began to jump out ahead in the second half, but Pennington would not go away. Yet, when the NJ team’s shots stopped falling for a bit, Bowie jumped out to a 14-point lead and it was too much to overcome. Bowie ended up taking the American Division crown by a final score of 59-55. Jared Carithers had 17 points and Brandon Washington had 10. The game’s leading scorer was Kazembe Abif ’11 of Pennington who had 21 points, almost all of which were in the second half, while Chandler Fraser-Pauls chipped in 17.

St. Patrick’s (NJ) vs. Neumann-Goretti (PA) was the next affair I took in, and it was never a game. The Celtics dominated the entire game. Kyrie Irving ’10 had 17 points in the first half, including five threes. He finished with 19 points, as he did not really need to score the ball in the second 16 minutes of play. Irving also dished out a handful of assists, and was aided by Chase Plummer ’10, Kevin Boyle, Jr. ’10 (15 points), and Austin Colbert ’13 (11 points). Neumann-Goretti, which did not have Tyreek Duren ’10 and Wake Forest-pledge Tony Chenault ’10, got 12 points from Bill Shank ’12 on four treys and 10 points out of Lamin Fulton ’11, who hit two trifectas.

The last game that I watched was also the final game of camp. Gonzaga (DC) squared off with Penn Wood (PA) in the National Division title tilt. Gonzaga featured Duke-bound Tyler Thornton ’10, but it was other players who really stood out Friday. Nate Britt ’13, a 6’0 guard, completely locked up on D, and has a chance to be very, very good. Kris Jenkins ’13 is another rising freshman at Gonzaga, and the 6’5 big man has the look of a big-time baller, and he certainly showed some flashes on this day. Penn Wood was very reliant on Aaron Brown ’11, who played as well today as I’ve ever seen him, as well as William Brown ’10 and Zaahir Allen ’10, for both of whom the same can be said. Shawn Oakman ’11 was good, but not great, and Penn Wood just did not have enough firepower. Gonzaga led almost the whole game, but it never got out of hand, and Penn Wood never fell out of contention. When it was all said and done, Gonzaga had won the championship 59-51. Cedrick Lindsay accounted for 23 points, while Tyler Thornton contributed 11. Aaron Brown dropped 21 for Penn Wood, and William Brown had 11.

I also spoke to a couple of players during the course of the day too to get school lists.

Kyheim Hall ’10, Pocono Mountain East (PA): Boston University, St. Bonaventure, and Radford
                                 Offers: None
                                 Favorite: Boston University
                                 Dream School: None

Anthony Goode ’10, Milford Mill (MD): Virginia Commonwealth, South Florida, Towson, Loyola (MD), Robert Morris, Stonehill (DII), and Bowie State (DII)
                                         Offers: Bowie State
                                         Favorites: None
                                         Dream School: Virginia

Congratulations to Gonzaga (DC) and Bowie (MD) on winning championships at The Hoop Group Elite Team Camp, and representing the DC-metro area very well.

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