North Jersey Area Shines In 8th Grade Allstar Classic!

        Basketballspotlight.com hosted an 8th grade allstar game featuring upcoming highschool players for the coming school year and one thing was obvious, Passaic and Bergen county have major talent coming in. The game showcased an abundance of talent from all over the state. The South team made up of mostly Pennsylvania players beat the North team which featured Northern New Jersey players and a select few from New York 110-102. In a game where minutes are pretty much divided evenly the players from the area got their chance to shine in the second half  when after being down by more than 20 in the first half the North coach decided to mix things up and put in a predominantly Bergen and Passaic team that featured 3 Playaz Club A.A.U. members in Kavon Stewart(Paterson Cath.), Reggie Cameron(Paterson Cath.) and Josh Marquez(Depaul Cath.) along with Newark’s Will Joyce who’s headed to St. Patrick’s H. S. and Jordan Forehand of Bridgewater who will be playing at St. Anthony’s H.S. Stewart, from Paterson got the team going by picking up the pace and finding Marquez (Woodland Pk.) for a few layups and allowing Hackensack’s Cameron to do his thing from the perimeter. This unit, with the help of Forehand and Joyce cut the lead all the way down to 6 before having to be substituted for. This allowed the South team to regain their edge as they pushed the score back up to double digits before the same group came back in to make it respectable. Cameron showed why he is considered one of the best players and shooters in his age group as he scored 16 points,with 4 coming from beyond the arc. Marquez(6pts,5rebs,3stls) displayed his all out hustle throughout even though their were times his teammates looked him off, which can be expected in allstar games. Paterson’s Stewart (9pts,5asts,2stls) also showed why he is considered one of the best point guards in the state. His decision making is getting better every single time out and he has an uncanny ability to get in the lane. These three players are sure to make their future schools proud. While their are plenty of talented kids in the State, rest assured that this area is holding it’s own! A few other impressive players were Lake Hopatcong’s Jaren Sina, a 6’0″ point guard who will lace them up for Gill St. Bernard Prep, Dwayne Foreman,a 6’4 swingman who will be ballin at Don Bosco Prep H.S. and Hackensack’s Kody Jenkins,a 6’1″ guard who hasn’t made a final choice of highschool he will be attending. Special mention has to go out to 6’4″ swingman Jason Boswell(15 pts, 6rebs.) from New York who broke the hearts of New York basketball by attending St. Patrick’s H.S. The kid has the tools to be very special.