There is foul trouble and there is the scenario the New York Panthers found itself in Sunday afternoon.
After guards Tarik Phillip and Melvin Johnson fouled out late in the fourth quarter, the Panthers were down to four players in the i.S. 8/Nike Spring Classic quarterfinals at the Variety Boys & Girls Club in Long Island City. They still managed to hang with New Rens-Juniors over the final 2:27, getting even in fact on South Kent (Conn.) forward Laimonas Chatkevicius’ bank shot in the lane with 17 seconds left.
The Rens, however, prevailed when Terrence Samuel found South Shore teammate Shamiek Sheppard under the basket for a layup as time expired for an 82-80 victory. The intended play was an alley oop for Sheppard as Samuel drove to the basket, but it was cut off. Sheppard kept on cutting and Samuel found him.
“He knows where I’m going to be,” Sheppard said of his longtime teammate. “And I know when he’s gonna pass.”
Thomas Jefferson’s Thaddeus Hall, a South Carolina recruit, led the Rens with 24 points, Samuel added 16 and Sheppard 11. UNLV-bound forward Anthony Bennett of Findlay Prep (Nev.) and Miami commit Melvin Johnson each scored 21 points for the Panthers.
The Rens move on to the semifinals to face New Heights-Seniors June 2 at 1:30 p.m. This is the furthest the highly recruited Samuel and Sheppard have ever gone in iS8.
“A lot of great players have come to iS8 and won it all,” Samuel said. “I want to be the next one. I want to get a championship.”
Remarkably, it wasn’t the most dire situation the Panthers found themselves in during the acclaimed tournament. The previous weekend, foul woes cut the Panthers to three players in a win over Positive Direction. Because of other obligations for various reasons, the Panthers have spent most of the tournament with just six or seven players.
“It’s hard,” Ruddock said of being down to four players. “There’s always going to be someone open. … They were the better team. They had all their guys.”
Juice moves on to semifinals: Leroy (Truck) Fludd caught the feed from Jaquan Lynch)in transition and rose up like he has on so many other occasions. Only this time, there was a defender who can soar just like him, nationally ranked junior Kuran Iverson.
Yet Fludd still threw it down over the springy 6-foot-8 forward.
“I just jumped a little higher,” he explained.
The slam jump-started a 13-2, fourth-quarter run which sent the Juice All-Stars to a 74-65 win over Q-Five.com (made up of players from the Long Island Lightning) in the iS8 quarterfinals on Sunday. They will face Team Flight in the semifinals June 2 at 2:45 p.m.
Juice will have Lincoln sophomore Isaiah Whitehead, who was in Las Vegas for Adidas Nations, by then. They were able to get through the weekend without him.
The uncommitted Fludd of Boys & Girls had a team-high 19 points, Lynch followed with 13 points and Lincoln’s A.J. Williams had 12. Kedar Edwards scored 14 points for Q-Five and Marshall-bound guard Kareem Canty had 11.
Morton singled out Williams, a sophomore who had a breakout performance with Shaquille Davis arriving late, in addition to the entire core.
Morton used to fly in national prospects for iS8, like so many others teams have and still do. With Whitehead expected back, he doesn’t need to – Morton would rather go to war with the Brooklyn AA all-star team he has assembled.
“The PSAL is rocking right now,” he said. “This team is playing well.”
New Heights, Team Flight advance: Boys & Girls uncommitted senior Tyliek Kimbrough scored 16 points, Boys High teammate Joel Angus and Hofstra recruit Jimmy Hall each added 14 points as the New Heights-Seniors got by the New Jersey-based Playaz Club-Juniors in the first quarterfinal of the day. Xaverian’s Dillon Burns was tremendous running the show as well. St. Raymond’s Shane Rector led the Playaz with 28 points and Reggie Cameron of Hudson Catholic (N.J.) had 18.
Team Flight, comprised mostly of Our Savior New American (L.I.) players knocked off Sports University Elite, 68-61, as St. John’s commit Felix Balamou poured in 26 points.