New York, New Jersey players filling up Basketball Hall of Fame watch lists

By ADAM ZAGORIA

A slew of players from New York and New Jersey were honored on Preseason Watch Lists.

The Basketball Hall of Fame has been putting out 20-player “watch lists” for its five positional awards this week, and when the final one was issued Friday, four players from New York and New Jersey made the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award watch list of top centers.

Moses Brown, who played at Archbishop Molloy and is now a UCLA freshman; Jessie Govan, who played at Wings Academy (N.Y.) and is now a senior at Georgetown; Naz Reid, who played at Roselle (N.J.) Catholic and is now an LSU freshman; and Nick Richards, who competed at The Patrick School (N.J.) and is now a sophomore at Kentucky, all made the Kareem list.

The Bob Cousy Point Guard list included former Iona Prep standout Ty Jerome, now a junior at Virginia; former Thomas Jefferson (N.Y.) star Shamorie Ponds, now a junior at St. John’s; and former Hudson (N.J.) Catholic standout Jahvon Quinerly, a freshman at Villanova. Connecticut native Tremont Waters, a sophomore at LSU, also made the list.

The Jerry West Shooting Guard list featured former St. Joe’s-Metuchen and Gill St. Bernard’s standout Tyus Battle, now a sophomore at Syracuse; former Seton Hall Prep standout T.J. Gibbs, now a junior at Notre Dame; and former Queens (N.Y.) High School of Construction standout Justin Wright-Foreman, now a senior at Hofstra. Connecticut native Mustapha Heron of St. John’s also made the list, giving the Red Storm two players on watch lists.

Somehow Seton Hall’s Myles Powell was left off the Shooting Guard list after averaging 15.5 points and 2.8 assists last season.

“It just adds more fuel to the fire,” he said. “I’m not surprised by it though, it’s been like this my whole life.”

The Julius Erving Small Forward list featured Louis King, the former Hudson Catholic standout now a freshman at Oregon.

The Karl Malone Power Forward list featured former Roselle Catholic standout Chris Silva, now a senior at South Carolina and Eric Paschall, the Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. native now a junior at reigning NCAA champion Villanova.