***Read the Rice-Paterson Catholic game story here.
**Read the Lincoln-St. Patrick game story and learn about the Nike sneaker controvesy here.
NEW YORK – I’m here at Fordham University’s Rose Hill Gym and Game 1 between Paterson Catholic and Rice has tipped off. I’ll be blogging here all night.
COACHES I’VE SEEN: Chuckie Martin (Marist); Pat Sellers (UConn); Craig Carter (Rutgers); Derm Player and Scott Adubato (Seton Hall); Jorge Fernandez (Miami); Jared Grasso (Fordham); Phil Martelli Jr. (Niagara).
MEDIA TYPES: Tom Konchalski, Clark Francis, Dylan Butler, Robert White, Keith Idec.
GAME 2: Lincoln – St. Patrick (ESPN2)
8:40 – It’s all over. Lincoln is now 0-3 against New Jersey teams this year with this 63-58 loss on ESPN2. The Railsplitters have lost to St. Patrick, St. Benedict’s and Paterson Catholic.
8:37 – Lance just scored on an aggressive drive to the bucket off an offensive rebound to cut it to 60-56, but Irving hit two free throws to push it to 62-56 with 18.7 seconds left.
8:35 – Lincoln cut it to 56-51 on a 3-point play by James Padgett, but Kyrie Irving scored on a nifty underspin layup in transition and then scored again on a breakway layup to push the St. Pat’s lead back to 60-51.
8:22 – St. Pat’s is maintaining a double-digit lead at 52-41 despite an 8-0 run by Lincoln.
8:11 – Mike Gilchrist just jammed home a one-handed dunk in transition to give St. Pat’s a 48-32 lead. The Celtics are on a 10-0 run after Lincoln closed to within 38-32.
8:00 — Derrick Gordon just scored on a breakaway layup to put St. Pat’s up 36-29. STrickland leads all scorers with 14 points for the Celtics.
7:39 – It’s 31-23 St. Pat’s at the break after Darwin “Buddha” Ellis just hit a 3-pointer and then scored on a layup at the buzzer to cut into Lincoln’s 13-point lead.
7:36 – Dexter Strickland just hit back-to-back 3-pointers to extend St. pat’s lead to 31-18 late in the first half.
7:29 – St. Pat’s is up 25-17 after Kyrie Irving, whom Celtics coach Kevin Boyle is touting as potentially the best guard ever to come out of New Jersey, just scored four straight points. Stephenson has 4 points for Lincoln.
7:18 – End of first quarter and St. Pat’s is up 19-13. Strickland has 8 points and Mike Gilchrist has 4 for the Celtics. Stephenson has 2 for Lincoln.
7:13 – UNC-bound guard Dexter STrickland just scored on back-to-back alley oop dunks from Paris Bennett to put the Celtics up 15-5.
7:11 – St. Pat’s raced out to an early 9-3 lead and is now up 11-5.
END OF GAME 1
6:35 – It’s Over. Rice 67, PC 63. Crazy inbounds pass by Jayon James with 3.2 seconds left led to a PC turnover. Kadeem Jack is the hero for Rice with the putback and then two foul shots with 1.4 seconds left.
6:32 – Kadeem Jack just hit a putback under the rim for a 65-63 Rice lead with 3.2 seconds left. He grabbed the rebound off a Scott Arias missed 3-pointer and put it back up for the lead. Jayon James then turned it over off an incredibly long inbounds pass to Lance Brown but threw it out of bounds. Jack was fouled with 1.4 seconds left.
6:30 – We are now tied at 63 thanks to a putback by Edwin off a steal by Jayon James in the backcourt. Rice has blown a 14-point second-half lead and was up 61-56 with a minute or so to go. Myles Mack hit a huge 3 from the right wing to cut it to 63-61.
6:23 – Rice leads 59-56 with 1:48 remaining on a putback and foul shot by Derrick Randall lof PC. Scott is 6-of-6 from the line in the fourth quarter. Edwin leads all scorers with 21 points.
6:19 – PC is on an 10-0 run thanks to several steals in the backcourt and Rice’s lead is now 55-51 with 2:47 remaining.
6:15 – Rice has broken it open here thanks to a 3-pointer from the right side from Jonathan Williams that put the Raiders 55-41 with 4:02 remaining.
6:08 – Rice opened up it to a 12-point lead at 47-35 on a floater by Southwell in the lane and the Raiders now lead 48-38 with 5:30 remaining.
6:02 – After three periods, Rice is up 43-35 and has balanced scoring with Jermaine SAnders at 15 points, Kadeem Jack at 10 and Durand Scott at 7. Fuquan Edwin continues to pace the Cougars with 15 points. Lance Brown has 6 points and only 2 in the second half.
5:59 – Rice opened up a 10-point lead at 41-31 on a basket by junior center Kadeem Jack, who now has 8 points. Rice is getting balanced scoring while Edwin is the only one scoring for PC with 15 points.
5:50 – Rice leads 34-27 and Sanders now has 12 for the Raiders. Edwin ledas PC with 13. St. Patrick just showed up for its game with Lincoln and sat in the bleachers. John Saunders of ESPN was chatting with St. Pat’s coach Kevin Boyle.
5:32 – It’s halftime with Rice up 26-21 after outscoring the Cougars 14-8 in the second period. Sanders leads Rice with 8 points and Edwin leading PC with 11.
5:28 – With 2:27 left in the half, Rice has taken a 22-19 lead thanks to a 6-0 run. SAnders has eight points and Shane Southwell has six.
5:18 – End of the first quarter with PC up 13-12 behind seven points from Edwin. Jermaine Sanders has 4 for Rice and Durand Scott has 3.
5:05 p.m.- It’s 7-3 PC early behind four early points from Fordham-bound forward Lance Brown and three from junior Fuquan Edwin.
