Shooting Touch Shootout – Event Recap

New England Recruiting Report | Friday, December 28th, 2012

The second annual Shooting Touch Holiday Shootout got underway Thursday afternoon with four games at Emmanuel College.  

Mansfield High School defended the home turf in the opener, scoring a dramatic overtime win over Amityville (New York) 65-58.  It was a game of runs as Mansfield saw themselves down for most of the first half only to come back in the second before giving up a five point advantage in the final minute of regulation.  Greg Romanko was the story in overtime, scoring ten points in the extra period, to lead Mansfield to the win.  

After Wings Academy (New York) knocked off the Iolani School (Hawaii) in the second, St. Anthony (New Jersey) improved to a perfect 3-0 at this event as Bob Hurley’s squad defeated Brighton 78-42.  While St. Anthony’s high-major backcourt duo of Josh Brown (Temple) and Hallice Cooke (Oregon State) earn most of the headlines for this team is was two other seniors who led the way on Thursday as Kody Jenkins and Tim Coleman scored 20 and 14 respectively.  Nick Simpson led the way for Brighton with 21 points, including 16 in the second half.  

Christ the King scored a convincing 80-54 win over a talented New Mission team.  With both big men, Adonis Delarosa and Nate Anderson, essentially neutralizing each other, the game was decided by the guards.  Christ the King’s Jon Severe led the way by scoring 20 of his 23 points in the first half while Malik Harmon chipped in with 13.  Chima Ebele led the way for New Mission with 12 points and 6 rebounds.  

Friday’s action began with a New York flavor as Wings Academy and Amityville squared off followed by a big win for Christ the King over Iolani.  Next up was a local battle between two of the MIAA’s best as New Mission held off Mansfield in a hard fought contest.  Brendan Hill would pace Mansfield, making a number of straight line drives to the basket and finishing everything around the rim, while  Juwan Gooding would lead the way for New Mission, making a couple of tough jumpers from long range and showing his playmaking and floor vision off the dribble.  

The final game of the 2012 Shooting Touch Holiday Shootout would go down as a classic as Central Catholic would take national powerhouse St. Anthony all the way down to the wire before ultimately falling 54-50.  

Nick Cambio would set the tone for C.C. in the first half, scoring a tremendously efficient nine points while showing his total inside-out game.  St. Anthony’s would take a two-point advantage into halftime, only to see Central Catholic open with a 7-0 run to take a 30-25 lead.  That pattern would repeat itself as both teams would exchange spurts throughout the rest of the half.  Tyler Nelson beat the third quarter buzzer with a deep three-pointer and then scored a three-point play the old fashioned way late in the fourth quarter to keep Central Catholic within striking distance.  

Ultimately, the game wouldn’t be decided until Oregon State signee Hallice Cooke iced it at the free-throw line, and while St. Anthony escaped with a victory, the outing was nothing less than a moral victory for Central Catholic, who fought the national powerhouse tooth and nail for all 32 minutes.