By Jim Stout
MaxPreps.com
Winning isn't everything at the annual STOP-DWI Holiday Classic in Binghamton. It's only part of the package.
Style, team temperament and comportment count for something, too.
It just so happened that Boys & Girls High of Brooklyn had them all.
Not only did Boys & Girls edge nationally-ranked Towson (Md.) Catholic, 73-71, to win the 2006 National Division championship last week, the Kangaroos proved to be a popular, dignified and highly representative off-court attraction as well.
The credit, in part, goes to its coach, Ruth Lovelace, the only female coach in the history of the STOP-DWI Classic.
The tournament, on central New York's South Tier, attracted formidable out-of-state teams from Maryland, Kentucky, South Carolina, Florida and California, as well as local favorite Binghamton High, plus New York City schools Boys & Girls and All Hallows of the Bronx.
Of her team's dignified off-court manner, Lovelace told the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, "You've got to teach that too, just like the game."
Coaches raved about the conduct of the tournament as well. Carl Hutchinson, coach of Paul Laurence Dunbar High in Lexington, Ky., previously participated in the tournament as a Franklin, Ky., assistant.
"I said if I ever became a head coach, I was coming back to Binghamton," Hutchinson said. "The hospitality is good, Mr. (tournament director Rick) Westfall does a great job. He's a stickler for being where you're supposed to be, which you can respect as a coach. But if you have any problems, he'll take care of you. People around here are very hospitable."
Said Lovelace: "I think it's been a great tournament. It's been well-organized, everything you could imagine in a tournament."
To win the championship on the court, Boys & Girls survived a 26-point fourth quarter by Towson Catholic in the final to come away with the two-point win at Broome County Arena.
Tournament MVP Zamal Nixon of Boys & Girls, a transfer from Xaverian, had 13 points as one of four double-digit scorers for the Kangaroos, who squandered nearly all of an 11-point advantage in the final 90 seconds of the game.
Most responsible for Towson's comeback was Donte Greene, the 6-9 Syracuse recruit who scored 26 points, 15 in the final period. Showing his versatility, Greene went to the perimeter to hit three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
Other top recruits in the tournament field included Chris De la Rosa of All Hallows (Siena), Malcolm Delaney of Towson (Virginia Tech) and St. Thomas Aquinas' Martavis Kee (Temple) and Jack Eggleston (Penn).
"I think this win is big because, we've won a lot of games but I don't think we get the credit that we deserve," said Nixon, who team has also beaten Rice, Lincoln and Archbishop Malloy this season.
"Towson, with such good players like Donte Greene and Malcolm Delaney, and a nationally-ranked team, for us to beat them I think will put us on the map now."
Kilpatrick Makes a Name For Himself
When the annual and star-studded Slam Dunk holiday tournament began at the County Center in White Plains last week, the debate was predictable. Who was the best player: Peekskill's Mookie Jones or Stepinac's Melquan Bolding?
By the end of the tournament, however, Sean Kilpatrick of White Plains had taken the debate in a new direction.
Behind 20 points of the tournament MVP Kilpatrick, White Plains won the 2006 title, defeating Xaverian, 61-55.
How good and how deep was this tournament? New York State championship contenders Peekskill and Uniondale of Long Island played in the fifth-place game.
Stepinac, which features the Louisville recruit Bolding, wound up playing Woodlands in the third-place game.
White Plains (8-0) had played well in the Slam Dunk tournament a year ago, losing a close game in the semifinals to Wings Academy.
Kilpatrick made sure that it didn't happen again - in any round. He also scored 27 points in the Tigers' semifinal win over Woodlands.
"It's nice because it's a hometown tournament and a big-time atmosphere," White Plains coach Spencer Mayfield told the Journal News. "We played well against a good opponent that caused a lot of match-up problems. That's a quality win."
In regard to the debate and comparisons with Bolding and Jones, Kilpatrick said: "Coach told me to just keep focused. They're both great players, but in the end, everything fell into place."
CBA Rolls to Another Columbia Title
Christian Brothers Academy, 9-0 and ranked No. 7 in the state Class AA poll, captured its fourth-consecutive Columbia Tournament championship as 6-8 Greg Holle scored 19 points and had nine rebounds in a 73-41 rout of Columbia in East Greenbush.
Holle became the first player in tourney history to capture back-to-back most valuable player awards.
"They (CBA) just take you out of anything you want to do," Columbia coach Jim Obermayer told the Albany Times Union. "They are so physically strong, wide and long."
"Usually when we get the ball moving around, it is very hard to stop us because we have so many weapons," CBA senior point guard Joe Zappone said. "Our athleticism makes up for our mistakes. When we cut down on the mistakes, we are very hard to stop."
Fredette Catches Fire Just in Time
After going 1-for-10 from the floor to open the game, BYU recruit Jimmy Fredette scored 27 of his game-high 31 points in the second and third quarters as Glens Falls cruised to an 83-66 victory over Saratoga Springs in the finals of the Arthur Hilliard Memorial Tournament at Schenectady High.
Fredette, whose 31 points per game leads Section 2, shot 10-for-18 after his nightmarish start, including a 5-for-8 run in the third quarter, when he made a 3-pointer and five free throws, good for 16 points.
"The basket got a lot bigger as the game went on," Fredette said. "I never had to worry about my shooting because my teammates were knocking everything down. I was off, and we were still up 15 at the half. It showed how everyone on our team can score."
Glens Falls (8-1) is ranked No. 4 in Class A. Saratoga Springs dropped to 7-2.
"I tell our guys that the game and the season is one of hills and valleys," Saratoga Springs coach Mitch Snyder said.
"Tonight we got stuck in a valley and never got out. When you're dealing with young men you have good nights and poor nights. Tonight was a poor night. Obviously, a lot of that is because of Glens Falls. They're a great team."
Rush-Henrietta Warms Up for Tough Stretch
Rush-Henrietta stayed unbeaten by beating Section 5 rival East, 67-58, to capture the Jeff Webber Memorial Holiday Tournament. The state's 14th-ranked team also outlasted a solid Hutch Tech team from Buffalo by seven points.
"Tonight we raised our level and we'll need to raise it again," R-H coach Chris Reed told the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, referring to upcoming games against Syracuse Henninger and Fairport, as well as Gates Chili and McQuaid.
"I'm proud of the guys, but it's just one game."
Sophomore Dane Miller was named tournament MVP for R-H (7-0), but the Comets also showed they have others who can contribute, namely the all-senior backcourt of Ozell Franklin, Ricky Reed and Lester Carter.
Franklin had 16 points, including a pair of 3-pointers in a 10-2 run that helped R-H build a 29-20 lead in the second quarter. Ricky Reed had 15 points, 10 assists and played about as adamantly as anyone could on defense while still allowing their opponent, East guard Bobby Bell, scored 27 points on seven 3-pointers.
Jim Stout is the MaxPreps.com master photographer for the Massachusetts/Rhode Island area and a Northeast region columnist. He may be reached at j.stout@jmstout.org