Less is sometimes more — this weekend it certainly was for the New Rens-Memminger AAU team.
Kentan Facey was limited to just two of the tournament’s eight games with an injured ankle. Shamiek Sheppard didn’t even make the trip because of a bad wrist.
Sunday afternoon, however, the Rens were celebrating their first title since April after taking down the Raritan Roundballers, 64-50, in The Hoop Group’s Summer Jam Fest in King Of Prussia, Pa.
The absence of Facey, a 6-foot-9 forward who has seen his recruitment take off, and to a lesser extend Sheppard, forced the Rens to speed up their style of play. Memminger went to a predominantly guard-oriented lineup, with just one true big man in South Shore’s Wayne Martin. It worked wonders for the local AAU team, which went 7-1 over three days at the Summer Jam Fest after a disappointing 1-2 performance in Summer Classic East to begin the week.
After going 2-1 in pool play, the Rens topped East Coast Fusion-Dalton, Keystone Blazers, Mass Rivals and East Coast Fusion en route to the championship game.
“Guard play was phenomenal and Wayne Martin was great,” Rens coach Kareem Memminger said. “We got our swagger back, we got our mojo back.”
Martin, South Shore teammate Terrence Samuel, Holy Cross guard Marquise Moore, Long Island Lutheran’s Anthony Pate, and Christ the King small forward Jordan Fuchs all had their moments. Memminger said college coaches told him the highly recruited Samuel was the best guard in the tournament. Yet he didn’t feel like the Rens even had a best player. There were times Martin, Samuel, Moore, Pate and Fuchs all took over, at different moments in different games.
“We spread it out and we just killed [other teams] with guard play,” Memminger said. “We let the guards get in gaps and create havoc. I’ve seen it over and over with a bunch of guys. When the stakes are high, they’re gamers. Everybody played well. It was an overall team effort.”
The Rens were the lone city team to win a title during the second live recruiting period, though there were many near championships. Team SCAN’s 16s fell by two points in the Peach Jam semifinals; the New York Lightning 17’s dropped a hard-fought contest in the Nike Invitational finals and their 16’s lost in the semis. SCAN’s 15’s reached the Nike Invitational finals, but fell by a point. At the Summer Jam Fest, New Heights lost to the Raritan Roundballers in the final four.
The Rens will look to end July with a bang when they travel to Las Vegas for the Fab 48, one of the year’s most prestigious events.
“We got our momentum going into Vegas,” Memminger said.