Playaz 15’s And 17’s Shine Brightest In Spring Fling!

Neptune, N.J………….. The 12th annual Spring Fling hosted by the Playaz Basketball Club featured some of the best talent from Washington D.C. to Massachusetts as the 15 year old and 17 year old age groups got a chance to display their ability at the Hoop Group Headquarters in Neptune. When the dust was settled the Playaz 15 year old team and Playaz 17 year olds stood head and shoulders above the rest for this weekend!

                                                             Playaz 17’s Take Off On Team Takeover 74-54!

 The day started with the Spring Fling 17’s semi-finals featuring  The Playaz vs. The Long Island Lightning and Team Takeover(Wash. D.C.) vs. City Rock. The Playaz looked impressive from the start as they took it to the Lightning beating them 86 – 60! Lakewood H.S. swingman Jerrard Davis led a balanced attack with 17 points. 5’9 guard Myles Mack (Paterson Catholic) had 16 points, while 6’9 Desmond Hubert’s(New Egypt H.S.) 15 points, 6’7 Kyle Anderson’s (Paterson Catholic) 13 points and 6’0 Miles Davis (St. Peter’s Prep) 11 points also reached double figures. The Lightning were paced by Derrick Gordon (St.Patrick’s) with 19 points and St. John’s recruit Davontae Grace with 8. Team Takeover had a little more trouble, but eventually pulled away with a 72 – 58 win. Julian Debose led Takeover with 23 points while Mykael Hopkins added 16 points and A.J. English 10. City Rock got 23 points from 6’0 guard Derek Millinghaus.

The stage was set for the most impressive teams of the weekend to meet. The Playaz team effort proved to be the difference as they got major contributions from their entire squad enroute to a 74-54 win. The Playaz made 8 treys in the contest and got 17 team assists. They were led by Mack with 23 points and 3 assists and Anderson with 15 points, 7 rebounds and 5 dimes. Miles Davis scored 15, including 3 treys and also dished out 6 assists. That did not tell the story as the Playaz forced numerous turnovers and got excellent play from Hubert, Jerrard Davis, Vaughn Gray (Don Dosco Prep), Keith Lumpkin (St. Peters Prep), Derrick Randall (Paterson Catholic) and Kevin Walker (St. Peters Prep). Takeover was led by Duke recruit Michael Gbinijie with 25 points and Hopkins with 8 points and 10 rebounds. Guard James Robinson from DeMatha Highschool was also impressive for the Takeover. Kyle Anderson and Desmond Hubert were voted co- MVPs while Miles Davis and Myles Mack (pictured together) were voted to the All tournament team. 

                                                                             Playaz 15’s  Defeats N.Y. Gauchos 54 -44!

     The Playaz 15’s took care of business by first putting it to Sports University(Izod) in the semi finals with a 66 -43 blowout! The Playaz took an 8 point lead at the end of the 1st half and turned it up in the 2nd. 6’3 Shacore Edwards (Irvington) led the Playaz with 15 points, while 5’11  Kavon Stewart (Paterson Catholic) had 13 and 6’6 Reggie Cameron (Paterson Catholic) added 12.Connor Cuccinelli (St. Mary’s) knocked down a couple of  big treys and guard Stephon McNair (St. Benedicts) made a few impressive moves for the Playaz during the 2nd half run. Spencer Weiz (Seton Hall Prep) led Sports U. with 15 points. The Gauchos made the finals by defeating New Heights 68 -56. Dacari Johnson’s 15 points and Jaquan Johnson’s 14 led the Gauchos. Isaiah Lewis led New Heights with 23 points. The Playaz and Gauchos had played a tough contest in pool play and this game would be no different. They played to a 15 -14 1st half as the Playaz held the ball a total of 8:00 minutes trying to pull the Gauchos out of their zone defense. The 2nd half was more normal as the Playaz pulled out a 54 -44 hard fought win. Cameron led the Playaz with 18 points and 5 rebounds and Edwards added 13 points and 8 boards. 6’7 Amir Maddred (St. Patrick’s) added 8 points and 5 rebounds. Stewart ran the team brilliantly in the 2nd half and 6’1 Joshua Marquez (DePaul H.S.) provided the defensive chaos and added 5 assists. 6’8 Jordan Arthur (St. Peters Prep) added 6 boards while 6’0 DeAndre Noble (Paterson Catholic) knocked down a clutch jumper late in the contest. The Gauchos were led by Deshaun Smith with 15 points. Cameron and Edwards were named co- MVP’s while Maddred and Marquez,along with the Gauchos Tyler Wilson and Johnson were named to the All tournament team.(Marquez,Maddred,Cameron,Edwards pictured bottom)