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2008 City of Palms Day1 Game Recaps

By: Aaron Seybert

Our Florida editor, Aaron Seybert is covering the City of Palms Tournament this year and will be passing along recaps and breaking news from the City of Palms and here is his recap of the events that took place on Day1.

(Game 2) Word of God (NC) 63 vs. American Heritage (FL) 61

Game Recap: Word of God’s (NC) John Wall (6’4” G) is a special player. That was evident by the crowd’s reaction anytime he got into the open floor Thursday afternoon in a win against American Heritage (Fla.) and Kenny Boynton (6’2” G)63-61. Wall, who finished with a near triple double of 15 points, 9 assists and 8 rebounds, got the crowd into it early as he received an alley-oop inbounds pass from teammate C.J. Leslie (6’9” F) and flushed it through. Then, right before the half Wall converted on an amazing, 360 degree fast break layup to give Word of God a thirteen point halftime advantage, 38-25. But the third quarter belonged to Boynton and Ray Taylor (5’5”, PG, 2009, signed to Florida Atlantic University) who managed to bring the Patriots within two, 50-48 heading into the 4th quarter. Down the stretch though, Word of God and their size were just too much for the Patriots, despite Boynton and Taylor’s efforts, who just missed a buzzer beating half court shot off the front of the rim as time expired.

Key Players/Stats:

Word of God 63

*John Wall (7-13 FG, 15pts, 8reb, 9ast, 8to)

*Dezmine Wells (9-17 FG, 18pts, 10reb)

American Heritage 61

*Kenny Boynton (7-18 FG, 5-7 FT, 19pts)

*Ray Taylor (5-12 FG, 14pts, 4ast)

(Game 3 Sunshine Series) Jacksonville Andrew Jackson (FL) 76 vs. Nort Port (FL) 58

Game Recap: The third game of the day, and the first of three Sunshine Series match-ups, was between local North Port Bobcats and Jacksonville’s Andrew Jackson Tigers. From the start, it was evident that the athleticism of Jackson HS was probably going to be too much for the Bobcats of North Port to handle, and in the end it rang true as Andrew Jackson took the win 76-58. It didn’t help that North Port’s best player, Shaun Noriega (6’4” SG, signed to Univ. of South Florida), couldn’t buy a bucket from anywhere on the court thanks to the defense. Noriega, who coming into the game was averaging just over 23 per game, shot a dismal 1-7 from behind the arc in the first half and 2-9 overall to go into the halftime with just 5 points, and his team down 40-25. In the second half it was more of the same as the athleticism and quickness of the Tiger guards overwhelmed the North Port backcourt, making it nearly impossible to get any penetration or get teammates open shots. For the Tigers, it was Stacey Poole Jr. (6’5”, G, 2010) and Bernard Nugent Jr. (6’1”, PG, 2009) were able to get wherever they wanted on the court for the most part. The 6’1 Nugent even threw down a nasty baseline driving jam in the third quarter that brought the crowd to its feet. North Port managed to cut the lead to as low as 8 in the third at one point, before the Tigers athleticism and the Bobcats’ turnovers allowed Andrew Jackson to steadily pull away for an eventual final score of 76-58. Noriega did manage to show a glimpse of why he is a Big East Conference signee, hitting 3 of his 6 second half attempts from outside the arc, finishing with 17 for the game. North Port sophomore Kasey Wilson (6’6”, F, ranked #2 in class of 2011 by SWFLHoops.com) also showed flashes of why he is receiving recruiting attention from the likes of Syracuse, Auburn, USF, Davidson, and more with a couple nice blocks to go along with two authoritative dunks. One was from underneath the hoop when he turned around and put it down with force, and the other was after he stole the ball, pushed it down court and threw down a nasty uncontested one-handed jam where he cocked it way back in order to get full style points. This is the second loss for the Bobcats this week, with the other coming to district rival Manatee on Tuesday night, and on the same evening we bumped them into the #1 spot. Hopefully they can get things going back in the right direction when they return to action next week in the McDonald’s Tampa Hoops Classic.

Key Players/Stats:

Andrew Jackson 76

*Stacey Poole Jr. (7-14 FG, 6-7 FT, 20pts)

*Bernard Nugent Jr. (8-14 FG, 18pts, 4reb, 3ast)

*Marquel Wade (6-12 FG, 14pts)

North Port 58

*Kasey Wilson (8-12 FG, 17pts, 4blk, 4reb)

*Shaun Noriega (6-16 FG, 4-13 3pt, 17pts, 5reb)

*Tony Irons (1-2 FG, 4pts, 10reb)

(Game 4) Duncanville (TX) 83 vs. Fort Myers Dunbar (FL) 62

Game Recap: There is a reason Duncanville (Tx.) is ranked among the elite in the country and in Thursday evening’s contest Dunbar found out exactly why, as Dunbar fell 83-62. The Panthers (#3 overall seed in the COP, and ranked #1 currently by ESPN.COM) boast top ranked players such as Univ. of Texas signee Shawn Williams (6’7” F), Roger Franklin (6’5” F) and Perry Jones (6’11” C) and simply overpowered Dunbar who had no answer for Duncanville’s bigger bodies. The only bright spot on the night was the shooting of Monsignor Pace transfer Darius Perkins (6’2” G) who finished with 28 points on 10-20 (4-6 3PT) shooting.

Key Players/Stats:

Duncanville 83

*Roger Franklin (8-14 FG, 5-6 FT, 21pts, 11reb)

*Jamison Sterns (9-16 FG, 4-10 3PT, 24pts)

*Shawn Williams (5-13 FG, 16pts, 6reb, 5ast)

Dunbar 62

*Darius Perkins (10-20 FG, 4-6 3PT, 28pts, 7to)

*David Paulk (4-7 FG, 10pts, 5reb)

(Game 5) Los Angeles Westchester (CA) 62 vs. Fort Myers (FL) 47

Game Recap: After watching fellow local participant, Dunbar, be outmatched in the game before them, the Fort Myers Green Wave were determined to give a good showing in front on the home town crowd. However, the team they were facing, the Los Angeles Westchester Comets (Calif.), holds a 14-0 City of Palms record throughout their appearances. That didn’t stop the Wave from trying to make it at least interesting for a while, but in the end the Comets size inside and quality guard play was too much for the local boys, as Westchester (Calif.) advanced to the second round of play with a 62-47 win.

Key Players/Stats:

Westchester 62

*Jordin Mayes (7-13 FG, 3-7 3PT, 17pts)

*Dominique O' Conner (5-14 FG, 4-5 FT, 14pts, 7ast)

Fort Myers 47

*Terran McClendon (5-7 FG, 2-3 3PT, 16pts)

SWFLHoops

This article is associated with the following player(s):
Boynton, Kenny
Franklin, Roger
Leslie, CJ
Noriega, Shaun
Paulk, David
Perkins, Darius
Poole, Stacey
Taylor, Ray
Wall, John
Williams, Shawn

POSTED: 12-19-2008

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