Wayne, N.J……… In a day of hot competition, New Heights 17u team walked away with the Joe Brown Memorial Tournament “chip”, while the Sportsfest Achievers from Pennsylvania pulled off the 16u”chip”! A number of College coaches were in the gym to witness the abundance of talent on display in the Playaz sponsored certified event! Sports Achievers used a team effort in beating Upstate, a Buffalo based program who fought hard but eventually fell 59-56! New Heights held off a late challenge to beat the Panthers 70-67 in an all New York final! Jarrel Marshall led the scoring for New Heights with 16 points, while Isaiah Cousins had 14 points and Joel Angus added 13! Mike Taylor led the way for the Panthers with 23 points, while Malik Nichols had 18!

      The Playaz 16u team played in the 17u and fell one game short of the championship game, falling to the Panthers 72-67 in overtime! The 15u team played up in the 16u and finished 1-2 for the day! New Jersey players represented themselves well for the day!  Here are a few that had strong showings: 

  Mike Young- Playaz  – Played strong throughout the day! Almost got a triple double in one contest, falling 2 blocks shy!

    Reggie Cameron- Playaz – Showed the stroke that has D-1 coaches drooling! Also displayed high I.Q. and strong passing skills! 

 Geno Thorpe – Playaz – Wowed coaches with his athleticsm! Knocked midrange shot down consistently! Endline to endline speed!

 Kavon Stewart – Playaz – Showed his ability to get in lane at any time which enables him to create for others or get his own! Faster than even he realizes!

   Wes Dickinson – Gym Ratz – Wes showed his energy and big man skills while also showing an improved mid range game! Very high I.Q.

    Chris Orozco – Gym Ratz – Put it on the floor well and knocked down shots! Is very cool and hard to rattle!                                              

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!