Wayne,N.J…….. The Playaz Basketball Club will host the Joe Brown Memorial Tournament Friday in a one day event that is N.C.A.A. certified for division 1,2&3 coaches! The tournament is named after Paterson native Joe”Unc” Brown who was a main stay and Patriarch of the Playaz organization for many years before passing away a few years ago! He was a friend and mentor to many of the past and present Playaz! He has been sorely missed and this is a way to keep his legacy going! The games will feature 17u and 16u games with the Playaz organization having both their 16u(above right) and 15u)bottom right) teams play up in the event! Come see other New Jersey AAU organizations play like the New Jersey Gym Ratz, New Jersey Pirates and New Jersey Demons! Not to mention some of New York’s finest like New Heights, New York Panthers and Positive Direction! Games start at 9am and continue throughout the day and evening!

Paterson……..Nia Prep(right) forced overtime on a tip in, then won in overtime on a layup with .2 seconds on the clock as they beat Hudson Catholic 70-69 in the championship of the Playaz sponsored “Just June” Tournament in a hotly contested game! With Hudson Catholic leading by 2, Nia Prep got three shots off until a tip in by Jordan Washington at the buzzer tied the game and sent it into overtime! Then down one, Nia took a missed free throw and raced up the court to win it on Tyquan Goodlet’s layup! Hudson trailed at the half 36-30 but took control by the end of the contest behind the play of Kavon Stewart, Mike Young and Reggie Cameron! Goodlet led the Prep squad with 22 points while Josh Treadwell added 12! Young finished with 18, Cameron 17 and Stewart 15 for Hudson Catholic! Nia reached the championship game by beating Newark Eastside 47-43 in the semifinals as Washington led the scoring with 21 points and 12 rebounds and Tariq Bridgeman added 9! Eastside was led by Jamal Reed with 21 points! Hudson catholic reached the finals by beating Columbia 56-43 as Cameron led the way with 15 points, Grant Ellis added 11 points and Young finished with 10! Maxim Michel led Columbia with 18 points!

JUST JUNE ALL-LEAGUE TEAM:  Goodlet and Washington -NIA PREP,    Stewart, Cameron and Young –  Hudson Catholic,  Jamal Reed – Newark Eastside , Evans Osuji – Columbia! 

TOURNAMENT NOTES:  The month long tournament gave a glimpse of the up coming season as Teaneck, Hudson Catholic, Paterson Eastside and Hackensack already showed they should be around at the end! Chris Jones, Joel Hernandez and Shakir Lindsey all seem ready to give Teaneck another special year! Hudson Catholic, with the addition of Young look to be ready for a great year! In coming freshman Nassir Barrino more than held his own for Hudson and has made a statement for significant minutes already! DeAndre Noble looks like he’s ready to take on the leadership role for Eastside and will get help from Quadir Smith, who is no longer a secret! Chris Myers and Rashard Figures look to take Hackensack even further despite a little lack of size! They make up for it with their tenacity! Newark Eastside will look to Reed(right) to overcome the loss of guards Kassim Chandler and Tariq Carey and also expect big things from Aaron Boddie! Nia Prep keeps bringing them in and they seemed prepared to give any Prep school a run for their money!

Paterson……………..The hard nosed play of DePaul’s Davon Jacobs has resulted in a scholarship to Rutgers for football! Jacobs, who’s known for his non stop play on the basketball court took that trait to the football field and his all-state play gave him the opportunity to verbal to the State University! Jacobs still has a year left of highschool football! Hoops Journal would like to congratulate Davon and his family for a job well done!