Scholar Roundball Classic: Day 1 Recap

Patrick Reilly | Saturday, December 10th, 2011

The college coaching turnout at day one of the Scholar Roundball Classic spoke volumes about the type of talent that was on hand. 

Coaches from a wide-range of levels were on hand, beginning with high-major programs like Stanford, Boston College, and Maryland and running the gamut to high academic division III programs like Middlebury, Trinity, Washington & Lee. 

The cameo appearance of the day belong to former UConn star and current Boston Celtic All-Star Ray Allen, who stopped by later in the day. 

Here’s a look back at the action: 

Cushing Academy 48 vs. Rivers School 42

Cushing got off to a quick 12-6 lead which was ignited by the interior play of Andrew Chrabascz and Kaleb Joseph’s play up top. Alex Furness also was very effective showing off his outside touch, as well as his aggressive moves inside. Carlin Haymon set the pace early on for the Rivers School pushing the ball when given the chance, but also slashing through the Cushing defense in their set offense. Kyle Reardon had a good first half, showing his trademark three ball along with some creative drives of his own.  The second half started off tied 21-21, but Charbacz came out of the locker room on a mission, consistently setting up deep in the post and converting on numerous baby hook shots.  Rivers was sparked by back to back threes from Andrew Kaufman, but a Chrabascz and-one lay-up seemed to turn the momentum in Cushing’s favor with a little under two minutes remaining.   Chrabascz scored a team high 15 points for Cushing while it was Rivers who scored the moral victory, by battling one of AA’s best to the brink.  

Champlain St. Lambert 45 vs. Cheshire Academy 39

The two teams started off slow as they were getting a feel for each other’s style of play. Jason Hall-Sergenton and Zach Askew led the way for Cheshire in the first half with 7 points respectively. Hall- Sergenton got his points in a variety of ways including a dunk in transition as well as spin moves and up-and-unders in the lane, while Askew worked the offensive glass before throwing down a big alley-oop. Youseff Ouahrig was the bright spot for Champlain St. Lambert of Canada, constantly looking to push the ball ahead which led to numerous fast break opportunities for Champlain. Christopher Alphonse-Joseph led the way for Champlain St. Lambert with 6 points in the 1st half. The second half began with Cheshire Academy leading 24-19, but Champlain quickly tied it up by battling on the inside and getting to the stripe. Askew kept up his play on the inside, cleaning up the boards with put-backs, but Cheshire was short-handed with Hall-Sergenton battling foul trouble and Connor Macomber suffering a gash on his eye that wouldn’t stay closed. The game stayed close until the 3 minute mark when Champlain St. Lambert pulled away. Gabriel Riche and Christopher Alphonse-Joseph led the way with 11 points each.

Northfield Mount Hermon 109 vs. Brimmer & May 47

It was clear from the onset that NMH’s size would be a daunting challenge for Brimmer to overcome as Evan Cummins and Ethan ODay set the tone early, being all over the offensive glass and pushing NMH out to a quick 10 point lead.  Sam Donahue was also extremely productive early on, hitting four threes, to give NMH a 50-22 lead heading into halftime. K.J. Baptiste was an early spark plug for Brimmer, scoring 11 points and holding his own on the glass.  The second half began much like it ended in the first, Cummins and NMH crashed the glass for easy put-backs and quickly pushed the lead to 36 just seven minutes into the half.  The game got out of hand not too long after that as the lead was extended to 50 soon. Skyler White had 21 to lead Northfield while Baptiste put in 13 to lead Brimmer.

St. Andrews 61 vs. Milton Academy 55

St. Andrews jumped out to a quick 10 point lead six minutes in. Cedric Kuakumensah was the spark that ignited the early burst, showcasing his quick feet and spin move to the tune of 9 first half points, while Bonzie Colson was controlling the defensive boards by grabbing anything that came near him. Max Motroni set the pace for Milton with 8 first half points, with a nice combination of long jumpers and penetrating drives, but it wasn’t enough as St. Andrew’s took a 29-15 lead into the half.  Kuakumensah continued to be a spark in the second half, scoring over top of his defender, earning trips to the free-throw line and keeping Milton’s Alec Brennan in foul trouble.  The backcourt tandem of Motroni and Jesse Pagliuca hit multiple threes to lead a Milton run that would close the gap in the final minutes of the game.  However it was not enough as St. Andrews won 61 to 55.

Blair Academy 79 vs. Phillips Academy Andover 38

University of Virginia commit Mike Tobey was the biggest name in this game. He got off to a slow star but eventually got it going with both his pull-up and jump hook.  Kevin Seymour was also effective with his pull-up for Blair, pushing the visitors from New Jersey to a 38-14 halftime lead while Jermaine Myers ran the show to perfection.  The second half was more of the same as Blair continued to pound the ball inside, forcing Andover’s Thomas Palleschi to the bench with foul trouble and leaving Ryan Hartung as the team’s primary offensive threat with back to back threes.  Blair got additional second half contributions from Mike Silverthorn, who hit consecutive threes, and Sean Lubreski, who added for second half three-pointers of his own.  Tobey put the punctuation mark on the victory with consecutive dunks, to finish with a game high 18 points.  

Phillips Exeter Academy 62 vs. Tabor Academy 46

Chris Braley and Connor Green got off to a quick start, sparking a 7-0 run out of the game for Exeter.  Braley was in the lane getting floaters over the Tabor defenders, while Green was 3 for 4 early on three-point shooting. Tabor point guard Chris Mendes creates tempo and easy scoring opportunities for himself and backcourt mate A.J. Maestas.  Jarred Reuter was up to his usual tricks, asserting himself on the block to crash the glass and draw fouls.  Exeter ended the half with a short run to push their advantage to 32-19.  Green picked up right where he left off in the first half, aggressively looking to score the ball while Reuter did the same for Tabor.  Dimitry Coronel began asserting himself more on the offensive end for Tabor, making several strong drives to the hoop, but it was Braley who took over down the stretch, hitting back to back threes to push the lead to double figures at the four minute mark.  Ultimately, Braley finished with 17 while Green led all scorers with 20.  

Cambridge Rindge & Latin 79 vs. Catholic Central 43

A young and aggressive Cambridge squad jumped all over the visitors from New York.  They battled early on the inside as Michael Bradley got them started with two early lay-ups and Gary Edwards Jr. crashed the offensive boards for numerous put-backs to push the halftime lead to 44-17.  Central Catholic was led by the sharpshooting of Anthony Mack with two threes early on.  Kevin Levaincy led the way in the 2nd half for Cambridge, owning the paint with hook shots and put-back lay-ups to push the lead to 40 and help Cambridge to a convincing 79-43 win.

Needham 53 vs. Lexington 46

Lexington jumped out to a strong start by getting the ball deep in the paint early and often. Myles Penniman and Patrick Burns from Lexington, dominated the inside with a series of post moves and offensive put-backs. Needham closed the first quarter with a small run, culminating with an and-one in transition, to cut the deficit to 9-8 at the end of the quarter.  Chris OKeefe and Kevin Farley both got hot from behind the three-point line, trading deep three-pointers back and forth.   Penniman continued his great play in the second half, slashing his way to the rim finishing in a variety of ways around the rim. O’Keefe and Farley attacked the rim from the perimeter drawing fouls in this tightly called game. Down the stretch, Needham’s Shy Davis stole the show. He had  11 points and 5 steals in the second half, and changed the complexity of the game. He connected on  two free throws making the score 44-40 with three minutes remaining. Davis iced the game down the stretch by knocking down  three free-throws to put the Needham Rockets over the top  53 - 46 in the night cap game.