By Danny Wild
MaxPreps.com
NEW YORK – The MaxPreps Xcellent 25 rankings were released on Monday and Manhattan's Rice High School moved up a spot to No. 17 nationally, the only New York City school to make the cut.
Rice, 11-1 overall and 5-0 in league play, picked up another win on Sunday behind James Stukes' 24 points in a 70-60 win over Brooklyn's Bishop Loughlin. Durand Scott added 12 points to help Rice earn its eighth straight win since a loss to Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.) at the 2008 Rock Holiday Classic on Dec. 30.
Stukes scored seven of Rice's first nine points to help the Raiders open a double-digit lead in the second half; he led all scorers with 16 points. Rice was also recently ranked No. 1 in New York State by MaxPreps.
Bishop Loughlin's Jayvaughn Pinkston, who scored 39 points two nights earlier, was held to just six points while Trevon Hamlet led the way with 17 for the Lions. Bishop Loughlin, just a few blocks away from Biggie Smalls' old neighborhood in Bed-Stuy, fell to 10-6 overall and 4-3 in league play.
Scott, a Miami recruit, led the way days earlier on Jan. 20 with 26 points and 11 rebounds as the Raiders beat Pine Crest (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) at the Big Apple Classic at Baruch. The win helped Rice move up to No. 11 in the ESPN Rise Fab 50 national poll last week.
Rice enjoyed an easy 71-45 win over Long Island Lutheran on Jan. 19 at Big Apple behind 6-foor-8 junior Kadeem Jack's 11 points. He was named MVP.
Loughlin, by the way, fell to Pine Crest, 90-80, the same day despite 28 points from Pinkston.
Rice will face Holy Cross on Jan. 27 and has some great match-ups afterwards – St. Raymond of the Bronx on Jan. 30, Brooklyn's Jefferson on Jan. 31 and a date on Feb. 13 for the Nike Super 6.
Ravens fall at SNY championship
St. Raymond knocked off Boys & Girls, 60-54, in the semifinals of the SNY Invitational, but that's as far as the Ravens made it – the Bronx school fell to Section 1’s Mount Vernon in the championship, 70-54, on Jan 25.
St. Ray committed 22 turnovers in the loss.
“I think they jumped on us with their pressure defense. I don’t think our guys were anticipating how hard we would have to play,” St. Raymond’s head coach Oliver Antigua told nyhoops.com. “We turned the ball over early and they had a big lead, so it was hard for us to come back from that deficit.”
Mount Vernon led by 21 points at the half. Lincoln won the championship last year after MVP Lance Stephenson led the Railsplitters past Cardozo.
Mike Taylor hit a game-winning three-pointer at the final buzzer to help Boys & Girls edge Brooklyn AA rivals Jefferson, 58-55, in the SNY Invational's consolation game on Jan. 25. Lamount Samuell scored a team-high 20 points and grabbed seven boards for the Kanagroos.
Taylor took a pass in the corner and beat the buzzer with a clutch shot after missing his previous two attempts.
"I was thinking that I wanted the ball and when it left my hands I knew it was good," Taylor, who finished with a dozen points, told nyhoops.com. "I never lost confidence and I made it."
Keith Spellman led Jefferson with 13 points and Davontay Grace added 10. Joel Wright led the team with 17 rebounds.
Jefferson has plenty of time to think about the loss – it next faces Coney Island kings Lincoln at home on Feb. 3. That game could help decide who earns the top seed in the Brooklyn Borough Championship. Expect a full house.
Lincoln losing lately
The shine and mystique of the Railsplitters is apparently disappearing – Lincoln, hovering eerily close to .500 at 12-8 overall – lost again on Sunday, this time in an embarrassing 89-53 blowout to undefeated St. Benedict's (Newark, N.J.) at the inaugural Newark National Invitational.
A lot has been made lately about inaugurals and Abraham Lincoln, but not even Barack Obama can help the 'Splitters these days. To be fair, St. Benedict's is 22-0 and arguably the best high school basketball team in the nation... although Lincoln used to be able to say the same about themselves not so long ago.
Over 5,000 fans turned out at the Prudential Center to see Lincoln fall behind 14-2 in the first quarter. The much wooed, hyped and courted Lance Stephenson was kept locked down all game but still finished with a team-high 19 points.
"He's got an incredibly well-rounded offensive game and we just tried to make it difficult for him," St. Ben's coach Dan Hurley said of Stephenson to the Newark Star-Ledger. "When he caught it, we tried to play a sagging man [defense]. When he gave it up, we tried to be aggressive and get into more of our pressing game."
St. Ben's was ranked No. 3 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 on Monday.
Texas commits Myck Kabongo and Tristan Thompson led the Gray Bees – Kabongo netted 23 points and Thompson poured in 19. Darwin Ellis finished with 15 for Lincoln while James Padgett and Shaq Stokes combined for just nine in the loss.
Lincoln fell to Jamesville-DeWitt, 73-63 on Jan. 17 at the Big Apple Shootout. LeFlore (Mobile, Ala) cruised to a 67-54 win over Lincoln at the ESPNU Spalding Hoophall Classic on Jan. 19, and the Railsplitters lost, again, on Jan. 23 to Paterson Catholic (Paterson, NJ), 57-54. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle's John Torenli looked into the Stephenson news last week as well, while SNY's Adam Zagoria noted in his blog that Lance isn't considering a career in Europe.
Lance, who told MSG Network he "just wants to go to college and experience new things,” is reportedly looking at St. John’s, Kansas, Memphis and USC, although it's becoming apparent there is a lot of mutual interest with St. John's.
The aforementioned Brooklyn showdown with Jefferson on Feb. 3 is up next; Lincoln will face Boys & Girls on Feb. 5, Canarsie on Feb. 7 and could get whipped again on Feb. 13 when they face St. Patrick (Elizabeth, N.J.) at the Prime Time Shootout at Fordham.
Walker says he supports Oliva
Former Christ the King star and current University of Florida freshman Erving Walker told the Palm Beach Post this week that he supports his former coach, Bob Oliva, a legendary Queens Catholic coach accused of sexually abusing a former player.
MaxPreps reported on the Oliva news last week, citing several sources including a lengthy New York Daily News investigation into the shocking lawsuit.
“I highly doubt that’s true,” Walker said of the accusations. “I just know that’s not in his nature.Unless I had hardcore facts, I won’t take anything from it.”
Oliva, who claimed he suddenly developed a heart ailment and resigned after 27 years, denies all charges.
Around the Apple
- Boys & Girls, playing for the third time in three days, earned a 61-56 win over Bishop Maginn (Albany) at the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament at the Times Union Center in Albany on Sunday.
- St. Dominic’s (Oyster Bay) defeated Queens' Benjamin Cardozo, 57-44, at the Tom Crotty Classic on Sunday. Dwayne Brunson led Cordozo with 13 points and Reybaldo Walters added eight.
- Park Slope's Bishop Ford High School fell to Long Island Lutheran, 70-55, at Tom Crotty. Chaz Williams led Bishop Ford with a game-high 31 points.
- Keith Brooks scored 23 points, Brandon Rivera added 22 and Dominic Murray chipped in 11 to lead Monsignor McClancy (Flushing) past St. Mary’s (Long Island), 70-67, in overtime.
Rank em'
Rice was ranked No. 2 in the state by the New York State Sportswriters Association poll on Jan. 22. Jefferson (6), Kennedy of the Bronx (9) and Cordozo (10) made the top 10. Christ the King was ranked No. 11, Wadleigh came in at No. 13 and Loughlin earned a spot at No. 14.
Christ the King was ranked No. 20 nationally in the ESPN Rise Fab 50 poll this week after four recent wins over St. Dominic, Archbishop Molloy (Briarwood), 79-61; All Hallows (Bronx), 71-33; and Holy Cross (Flushing), 68-61. Of note, Lincoln was ranked No. 47 nationally.
No NYC schools cracked USA Today's latest Super 25, although Rice was ranked No. 4 in the East Regional Top 10.
Rice may be ranked high in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 and No. 45 in the computer-generated MaxPreps National Rankings released Monday.
Nike Super 6
Rice, Paterson Catholic, St. Patrick, Lincoln, Jefferson and Hopkins (Minnetonka, Minn.) will compete at the annual Nike Super 6 on Feb. 13 at Fordham. The event was held at Madison Square Garden last year. Paterson will face Rice, St. Pat's will tackle Lincoln and Hopkins will take on Jefferson.
The PrimeTime Shootout in Trenton, on Feb. 14-15, will also feature Lincoln (vs. Westchester, Calif) and St. Raymond (vs. Timber Creek, N.J.), Christ the King (vs. Elizabeth, N.J.) and JFK (girls) at Sovereign Bank Arena.
Danny Wild, a reporter for Major League Baseball, is a writer and photographer for MaxPreps. He may be reached at danny@danny-wild.com.
