Hoop Group Summer Classic – Day 1 Recap

New England Recruiting Report | Wednesday, July 17th, 2013

There is a strong New England presence in the greater Philadelphia area this week as several of the region’s top programs are in action at the Hoop Group Summer Classic.

After Wednesday’s opening night of action, the Mass Rivals, Expressions Elite, and Rhode Island Hawks had all advanced to the quarterfinals of the u17 bracket.  In the u16 bracket, the Rhode Island Hawks and Connecticut Basketball Club were still alive and scheduled to face each other in Thursday morning’s quarterfinals, while CBC, the Mass Rivals, and Boston Spartans were all alive heading into the u15 quarterfinals.  

The opening rounds of the u17 bracket took place primarily at Competitive Edge on Wednesday night where the walls were lined with college coaches including the likes of UConn’s Kevin Ollie, Providence’s Ed Cooley, Boston College’s Steve Donahue, West Virginia’s Bob Huggins, Indiana’s Tom Crean, Notre Dame’s Mike Brey, N.C. State’s Mark Gottfreid, and numerous other head coaches and high-major assistants.  

The Rivals survived an early scare in an opening round overtime win over House of Hoops.  With Jalen Adams out of the line-up with injury, and Goodluck Okonoboh battling nagging shoulder and ankle injuries, it was Kaleb Joseph who carried the team throughout much of regulation before dropping in a buzzer beating floater to give the Rivals a two-point win in overtime.  

Josh Sharma also looked good for the Rivals, making himself a factor in transition while making a few high level plays above the rim, both in the opening round game as well as against QC United in the second round.

Expressions Elite, playing without Abdul-Malik Abu who is in Washington D.C. for the Nike Global Challenge, opened up with a dominant win over LVBR, and returned to score a second win over Mid-Atlantic Select to set up Thursday match-up with the Jersey Shore Warriors.

Jared Terrell and Aaron Falzon were both impressive for Expressions. Falzon came out aggressive from the onset, drilling three-pointers and fade-away jumpers alike, while Terrell continued to be the team’s primary playmaker from the perimeter, mixing up physical drives and tough pull-ups alike.  

The Hawks opened with a commanding 67-51 win over Cecil Kirk at Philly U before making their way to Competitive Edge for a match-up with the New Jersey Playaz.  32 minutes later and the Hawks had scored a 58-52 win over the Playaz, advancing to Thursday’s quarterfinals in a match-up against New Heights.  

Kealan Ives continued to run the show from the point, handing out numerous assists, many of which were directed towards Jackson Donahue who had his latest hot shooting night from the perimeter.  

Team Frenji also advanced to the u17 quarterfinals thanks to the heroics of Darien guard Matt Staubi, who beat the buzzer with a three-pointer to knock off Virginia Elite in the round of 32.  

CBC fell to New Heights in the second round, after scoring a win over Team Philly in their opener.  Paschal Chukwu continued to be the main attraction while being followed by Ollie, Cooley, Donahue, Gottfreid, Brey as well as St. Joseph’s head coach Phil Martelli and Georgetown assistant Kevin Broadus.  

Stay tuned to the New England Recruiting Report tomorrow for a full recap of tomorrow’s championship rounds or for live up-to-date news follow us on twitter at @NERRHoops.