http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/weiss/2008/05/whos-who-of-local-talent-highl.htmlWho's who of local talent highlights IS8 playoffs
I stopped by the Sweet 16 of the IS8 playoffs up on 109th St. yesterday. Eight games from 9:15 a.m. until … Pete Edwards must be exhausted.
It was, as expected, a grass-roots basketball orgy and a who’s who of local high school talent. In the game that resonated most with the crowd at the tiny gym, the Playaz Seniors (made up mostly of players from St. Anthony’s of Jersey City’s unbeaten national prep championship team) needed a 35-foot jumper from St. Anthony’s guard/McDonald’s All-American/Rutgers recruit Mike Rosario at the buzzer to come back from a seven-point deficit in the final two minutes and defeat the precocious New Heights 2010 team, 86-85; and the Panthers Juniors eliminated powerful, but not invincible Juice (no Lance Stephenson), 76-72.
Rosario scored 18 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter. Rising junior center Devon Collier, now at St. Anthony’s, led New Heights with 20. Rising junior guard Fatty McMillan of Lincoln had 18 and 6-6 rising junior forward Jayvaughn Pinkston of Loughlin added 15.
Forward Kevin Parrom and guard Omari Lawrence, who play for Oliver Antigua at St. Ray’s and are rapidly becoming two of my favorite players in the city, combined for 40 points for the Panthers’ Juniors.
Best individual performance of the day: Guard Aston Gibbs, a Seton Hall Prep star and Pitt recruit, went off for 41 in a 105-93 loss to the powerful Gauchos, making nine straight 3s at one point. Guard Kemba Walker of Rice, a UConn recruit, and guard Jordan Theodore of Paterson Catholic, who is going to the Hall, each had 30 for the Gauchos. Walker has that ‘wow’ factor that should make him an instant star in the Big East.