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.
St. Ben’s got balanced scoring, with Texas commit Tristan Thompson and Aaron Brown scoring 15 points apiece, Pittsburgh-bound forward Lamar Patterson tallying 15 points and 7 rebounds and Rice-bound guard Tamir Jackson adding 13. Thompson added 8 boards.
The Gray Bees trailed at the half for the first time all year, 40-39, but reeled off a 20-3 run to start the third quarter and take a 59-43 lead. Brown had eight and Thompson six during the spurt.
ST. PATRICK REACHES CITY OF PALMS FINAL
At the City of Palms Classic in Fort Myers, Fla., St. Patrick beat Winter Park (Fla.) 59-54 in front of North Carolina coach Roy Williams and Celtics coach Doc Rivers, according to Dylan Butler’s blog on fiveborosports.com.
St. Patrick, No. 4 in the PrepNation.com and USA Today polls, will meet No. 1 and undefeated Mater Dei in Tuesday’s title game at 5 p.m. on ESPNU.
“It’s going to be exciting, man,” said North Carolina-bound guard Dexter Strickland of St. Patrick, who sat out St. Pat’s first game in the event for disciplinary reasons. “Roy Williams was down here watching the game. The [final] game’s going to be real intense.”
Mater Dei, featuring North Carolina-bound big men David and Travis Wear, downed Wheeler (Ga.) 81-72 in the other semifinal.
Paris Bennett paced St. Patrick (2-0) with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Michael Gilchrist had 11 points and Strickland and Chase Plummer each had 10 points off the bench.
“Everybody played well,” Strickland said. “Paris played well. Mike Gilchrist played well. Chase played well.”
Florida-bound sophomore Austin Rivers , Doc’s son, led Winter Park with 18 points on 6-of-18 shooting.
