Senior Mike Young who played and starred at Hudson Catholic and will finish his Highschool career at St. Benedicts this season has made his biggest decision! The 6’9 forward has decided to play his college ball at the University of Pittsburgh! Young chose Pittsburgh over Florida! A native of Pittsburgh, Young also was a key member of the Playaz Basketball Club and had a strong summer on the AAU circuit! In Mike’s words” Pitt was the best choice for me. Assistant Coach Brandin Knight is way more than a Coach to me. We have a relationship outside of basketball.Me and Head coach Jamie Dixon had great conversations and he calls my mom the most!” Playaz director Jimmy Salmon added” It was a good choice for him. Pitt is where he should have went from the start. We’re comfortable when we know the staff and we know this staff”. Young will join Teaneck H.S. and ex-Playaz  Chris Jones as a member of the Panthers! On a personal note Hoop Journal would like to congratulate Mike and his mom Lanette Braxton on his decision and huge accomplishment and wish nothing but the best in the future!!

                                                There were many top Players in the Live In A.C. event! Here are some:

                                                                                               
Players: (left to right)    Tyler Ennis, Xavier Rathan-Mayes, Rondae Jefferson,Stanford Robinson, BeeJay Anya, Davon Reed, Austin Colbert

Richard Stockton College, New Jersey…….Some of the best highschool players in the country showed up down at Stockton College for the “Live At AC” Tournament! The event pitted some of the best AAU programs in the country such as the Playaz Basketball Club, Team Final, Team Takeover,Sports U, Philly Pride, Juice Crew to name a few plus Peach Jam runnerup CIA Bounce out of Canada! The only letdown to the event was the fact that 2014 #1 player Andrew Wiggins of Bounce did not attend! In the end Team Takeover came away with two “Chips” in the 17u Gold and 16u! Plus Team Final won the 15u and Juice Crew won the 17u Silver!

                                                                              17u  CHIP:      Team Takeover   63              Sports U   50

             Team Takeover used a balanced attack to beat Sports U in the final of the 17u Gold game! Josh Hart led the attack with 14 points, Lennard Freeman added 13 and 6’7  BeeJay Anya added 12 and dominated the post! Indiana recruit Stanford Robinson chipped in 8! Hallice Cooke led Sports U with 14, including 4 “triples”! Team Takeover reached the chip by defeating CIA Bounce while Sports U defeated the Playaz Basketball Club!

                                                                              16u CHIP:    Team Takeover 58          Expressions  Elite  51            

Dion Wiley scored 19 points, including 5 “triples” to lead Takeover to the 16u “chip”! Phil Booth added 11! Expressions has a future stud in 6’8 Abu Abdul-Malik who finished with 14 points and showed an abundance of talent! Damion Smith added 13!

                                                                                       15u Chip:  Team Final 46         Playaz  36

     Lemar Kimble scored 13 points, Levan Alston scored 11 and Trevaughn Wilkinson scored 8 and  was a huge factor on the boards as Team Final outlasted the Playaz 15u 46-36! Nick Brooks led the Playaz with 17 points!

 Playaz Results:      The Playaz 17 Gold team had a good tournament, reaching the semifinals before getting manhandled by Sports U after beating them earlier in the tournament! The 16u team also reached the semifinals before losing to Team Takeover, the eventual champs! As mentioned earlier, the Playaz 15u team lost in the “chip”! The Playaz 14u team also participated and won a few games in the 15u tournament!