December 2008 | Page 6 of 20

New Jersey’s two top high school programs, St. Benedict’s and St. Patrick, continue to play well during their respective trips to Florida.

Dan Hurley’s St. Benedict’s team, ranked No. 3 in the USA Today Super 25, advanced to the finals of the Kreul Classic in Fort Lauderdale with an 86-57 victory Monday over Miramar (Fla.).

The Gray Bees will face Dillard in Tuesday’s 9 p.m. final after the Panthers beat Broward rival Deerfield Beach 78-59.

I believe the game will be on the Internet at this link.

Lance Stephenson, Lincoln High School, Villanova

Lance, Lincoln Down Roman Catholic

December 22, 2008

author: Adam Zagoria

Lance Stephenson and the Lincoln Railsplitters downed

Seton Hall, Transfers

SHU's Lawrence Withdraws Waiver Request; James Madison Beat Pirates

December 22, 2008

author: Adam Zagoria

**James Madison knocked off Seton Hall, 70-64, tonight. See below for a running account of the game.

Keon Lawrence has withdrawn his request for an NCAA waiver and will not suit up for Seton Hall this year, according to his adviser, Alif Muhammad.

Muhammad said the NCAA notified Lawrence that it would not decide on his waiver until Jan. 5, meaning Lawrence could not suit up until at least the Jan. 6 home game against Villanova.

“We withdrew the request,” Muhammad, the head of the Alif Muhammad NIA School in Newark, said Monday by phone. “The NCAA did not want to make a decision until Jan. 5, 2009. The rule was that the NCAA has three weeks to make the decision from the date [the waiver request] was filed on Dec. 18 and they wanted all of it.”

Cincinnati, Marquette, Oklahoma State, Rutgers, Transfers, Villanova

Hamga Considering Rutgers; Thomas Gets Release, Considering Big East Schools

December 22, 2008

author: Adam Zagoria

A couple of tall African basketball players — Beas Hamga and Ibrahima Thomas — are back on the market.

Hamga, a 7-foot, 225-pound native of Cameroon, is considering transferring from UNLV to Ole Miss, South Carolina or Rutgers. He secured his release from UNLV.

“I know he’s going to visit Ole Miss and South Carolina and he’s looking at one more to visit and make up his mind,” Mark Adams, Hamga’s guardian, said by phone from Indiana. “He’s going to visit a third school and there’s a good chance it will be Rutgers.” Adams said no date had been set on the Rutgers visit.

Kansas, Lance Stephenson, Lincoln High School, North Carolina, St. John's

Big Day at City of Palms

December 22, 2008

author: Adam Zagoria

(Photo courtesy fiveborosports.com)

Today’s crunch time at the City of Palms Classic in Fort Myers, Fla. The semifinals take place tonight and Lance Stephenson and Lincoln play a fifth-place game against Villanova-bound commit Maalik Wayns and Philly Roman Catholic this afternoon. Kansas assistants Danny Manning and Kurtis Townsend have been on hand to check out Stephenson, who is being most highly recruited by Kansas and St. John’s.