Banks Shots    Chris "Mr." Banks is still around and primed to report on basketball after making All-Pub for Northeast in football.    He might even cover more than one game a month (zing!)    You may reach Chris at banksshots@yahoo.com.

FEB. 23
CATHOLIC NORTH PRE-PLAYOFF
Judge 60, North Catholic 48
   Unexpectedly, on the Catholic League tip, this game was poppin’! No, there weren’t any booty shakers at halftime or “You Got Served” imitations but it was a very enjoyable experience from a different crowd. Many of both schools' alumni were in attendance (too many to name) to see this pre-playoff game that decided who would face Archbishop Wood in the first round. The gym was filled to its capacity and then some, luckily Mr. VIP managed to work his wits and pop a squat next to Mr. Silary. The star of the game was Sr. F Mike Briscella. “The Big Sleeper” displayed the meaning of clutch in his performances tonight. Mike made a duplicate showing in the win against Wood just last week. To my understanding, in the 3rd quarter of the February 18th game, Mike started with a three pointer then went on to hit two more consecutive jump shots to change the momentum and help Judge win. In this one he hit 3 straight shots down the stretch and added 2 more free throws, accounting for 8 points in a span of less than 2 minutes that had Judge leading 52-41 with 1:34 remaining on route to a 19-3 scoring drive. All game North Coach McCarron was yelling out when each Judge player got the ball, how to guard that player. When Briscella got the ball, each time coach McCarron would yell, "He’s not a scorer!." By the end of the game he was silent. Briscella’s shooting streaks turned the 4th quarter for North into brick city. Their second basket of the quarter was made with a 1:21 left in the game. For North, Jr. WG Nate Edwards finished with a team high of 18 points on 7 for 16 shooting. Judges Sr. SG Damien Palantino led all scorers with 19 points (9 for 9 at the line). Keying on Palantino has opened up opportunities for a different Judge player in most of their last winning games. They are currently on a four-game winning streak. Now Judge will face the top seed in the Northern Division in Archbishop Wood on Sunday 2/27. Wood is led by Sr. PG Matt Spadafora and Sr. WG Corey Filer. They split the season series at 1-1 but everyone knows that the playoff experience and atmosphere makes it a totally different ball game.
   Interesting Fact: Wood has never won a playoff game it its 39-year history in the CL. (It did win a pre-playoff last year).
   At halftime, Ted and I were shortly discussing North’s star junior shooting guard, Nate Edwards. Edwards is a solid player who transferred from Central High School after his freshman year. From the basketball season of 2002-2003, Central had their current team plus Edwards, Jr. Malcolm Ingram (Solebury School, in Bucks County; brother of former Carroll star Jordan Ingram) and to my understanding, 6-4 Sr. SG Tommy Young (star at Plymouth-Whitemarsh). All are amazing prospects doing their thing individually. Young, the biggest prospect of them all, is  coming of 41-point game against Chester on February 22nd and averaging close to 30 points per game. With that being said, I would like to commend the coaching staff of Central, led by Head Coach Haviland Harper, to still being able to play for a Public League Championship and compete for a state championship despite being without three players that would have made the road to the State Chip MUCH easier.

FEB. 10
PUBLIC LEAGUE ROUND OF 16
Gratz 38, Dobbins 35
   In the January 27 game vs. Central, I thought Gratz played tough and should have won, but did not because of some unfortunate mistakes late in the game. Judging by today’s performance, the Bulldogs are not ready to see the Pioneers @ Frankford in their next matchup, a quarterfinal. Gratz didn’t play sloppy but it was very low-tempoed, mellow performance. Or should I keep it real? This game was boring! The only thing that kept me awake was the big fan base of girls of both schools (smile). Those were the most interesting sights of the day. By the first quarter (Gratz 7, Dobbins 4) alone, I knew that it would be a low scoring game in the 30’s. Skipping ahead to the last quarter of play, the game did catch my attention a tad bit. Dobbins would be stage a comeback, cutting Gratz’s continuous 7/8 point leads to one. With a little under 6 minutes remaining in the game, the Mustangs' star Sr. PF Kassim Green (15 points, 5 rebounds) missed a wide-open fast break layup that would have put Dobbins up by one. Dobbins never received another chance to take a lead as key fouls shots by Malik Alvin (9 points, 4 assists) helped Gratz edge their neighborhood rivals in yet another sport. How could I forget to mention the manchild, Ameer Ali, who missed posting a double-double by one rebound while finishing with 10 points and 9 rebounds? A big factor in this game was Dobbins missing Sr. PG Dujuan "Bud” Anderson for unspecified reasons. In his place Sr. Sean Mosby played well (6 points, 4 assists) but just didn’t provide the spark that Anderson would have brought. Fellow TS.com writer Jon “Duck” Gray was in attendance and has filed a report on the game as well.
    READERS: Do not sleep on Frankford in this upcoming game. My prior report will tell you all you need to know about them. If Gratz would like to walk away from Castor and Wakeling with a win on Tuesday, 2/15, try to get Malik Alvin the ball in scoring position. This Leonard Poole offense doesn’t allow the youngster to expose his talents that everyone knows that he possesses. He is a scorer, a playmaker and needs to be used in my opinion in better scoring positions, whether it be an isolation, cutting to the basket, whatever. Not too many people if anybody in this league can stop him one on one. The game should be interesting with an itch of surprise.

JAN. 28
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Frankford 64, Northeast 52
   Okay, okay, okay! Maybe I’m buggin’ or going out on a limb but all year I have been keeping this inside. “I like the Frankford Pioneers to win the Public League championship." Not solely on this game but mainly because of their on court demeanor. This is pretty much the exact same team that was defeated by a much better Simon Gratz team last year in the championship. They have the most experience, the most levelheaded players and probably the most heart compared to any other team in the Pub. They play hard-nosed Frankford basketball, not caring about anything as long as the job is done. They are also deep in numbers with a solid 8-man rotation. Today, their leading scorers were (all seniors) SG Maurice Miller with 11 points and PG Ryan Smith, PF/C Lorenzo Byrd and SF Lewis Leonard with 9 points a piece. They also received their steady, quality efforts from PF Lamont Brown and combo guard Alfred Thomas off the bench. The score doesn’t show how the game really went. It was never really close. Frankford’s biggest lead was at halftime with Northeast trailing, 33-13. For Northeast, the only players that showed that they weren’t scared and had heart were the usual suspects, Rockeed McCarter and Kyle Sample. McCarter played big in today’s contest. He finished with a strong stat-line of 14 points, 18 rebounds, 5 blocks and 2 steals along with Tyrone Blassingame with 11 points, 6 boards and 3 blocks. Samp was his usual self, having fun, running around dishin’ the rock. He managed to finish with 8 assist and counterpart Cordia Mosley ended with 13 points.
   This loss officially makes it a wrap for Northeast’s postseason hopes. Their 3-year streak of not participating in playoff action will sadly continue. And we all know whom to blame mostly, right? Readers please note: The players did all they can do. The skills were mostly there, if they were not conditioned or "knowledged" enough . . . I am also sorry for my man Kyle Sample who comes from a top-notch program in Cardinal Dougherty to a below- average program in Northeast basketball. It must be a big disappointment coming from a team of 4 Division 1 recruits, playing against the likes of Darius Washington (starting PG, Memphis University), Sean Singletary (starting PG, Virginia), Josh Smith (Atlanta Hawks), Sebastian Telfair (Portland Trail Blazers), to a team like Northeast. I would have loved to have won the championship for him in football but I guess everything happens for a reason. I relate to Kyle so much as his story is so similar to mine, coming from Father Judge to Northeast. We both missed out on big opportunities and hope to recover by going to good colleges.  Hopefully this a learning experience that many can benefit from.

JAN. 20
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Northeast 68, Mastbaum 41
           A good win and confidence booster for the Vikes. Sr. PG Kyle Sample started and finished the show in this won while pouring in a solid 9-point, 7-assist effort. Today, “Samp” once again proved to be the leader without having to put up big numbers as the general of this young, inexperienced team. He made it necessary to put his impact on every offensive play along with putting the clamps on Mastbaum’s Sr. PG Zelmay Hernandez (5 points, 4 turnovers) on defense. This was the first time that I had a chance to see Mastbaum’s 6’7 Sr. SF Tariek Belcher. Belcher posted a game-high 23 points and 8 rebounds but really didn’t make a difference according to the scoreboard. I can see him being a problem for a lot of teams in the Pub due to his size and ball handling and scoring abilities. On the other side for Northeast Jr. PF Rockeed McCarter bullied his way to an 18-point, 11-rebound performance. As the season goes on, McCarter is beginning to show more ability every game as he has this BEAST mentality that all successful big men have. He also had a couple of dunks. Other than that, there was nothing flashy or spectacular about this win, truthfully I lost interest in the game after the first half. Cordia Mosley finished with 14 points. Keep your eyes open for next year, Northeast has a solid sophomore tandem in PG Clive Marriott and PF Sean Evans. Both should be elite prospects for Northeast or someone good in the next year or so.

JAN. 13
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Central 60, Univ. City 45
   This was my first time seeing both teams play this year. I also received my highly anticipated viewing of Central sr. Star Guard Scott Rodgers. He had a so-so game, shooting 6 for 18 from the floor for 20 points and grabbing 8 boards (while hitting the 1,000 point mark of his career) overall. Though this was an average performance for Rodgers, I’ve seen enough of his game to say that he is arguably the second best offensive player in the Pub. The first will be shown in a couple of weeks when Central arrives at 17th and  Hunting Park for the biggest game of the season, thus far. Anyway, Rodgers’ game is definitely tough as he is an active player on both sides of the ball, not to mention, he is a MAN in the post. Often, he would shoot and grab his own rebound to put it back up. Down low, against much bigger players, it looks like he does the dirty work instead of showing the expected finesse game. The surprising star of today’s game was 6’3 Guard Kenny St. George, who had a game high 21 points along with six rebounds and four assists. His steady double-figure scoring efforts begin to show that Rodgers isn’t the Lancers' only player as a lot of people might have thought. The game stayed intense but was never too close due to the ball handling and passing miscues of University City. Turnover after turnover led to point after point. For Central, Jr. PG Rashiid Coleman was in the mix of most of those turnovers; he grabbed five steals en route to forcing the Jaguars' young junior playmaker, Aaron Stephens to 4 points. U. City had no standouts in this contest but seniors Anthony Morrison (16 points, 6 boards) and Evin Jordan (14 points, 6 boards) showed that they could make plays, offensively. Teddy S. was in da buildin’ along with Nick. Both should have reports posted.

JAN. 6
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Germantown 54, King 46
   I came at halftime, due to being barred from the Mansion/Olney game due to the “ghetto school rule” of having no spectators. If you haven’t experienced it, don’t worry about it, it only happens in da hood. Fellow TS.com writer Jon “Duck” Gray was in attendance and also filed a more in depth report of this game. For the two quarters that I watched, it was a competitive, (as always in every sport when these two teams meet) up and down game. The game was back and forth with both teams scoring continuously but with King always playing catch up. The end result brought about the classic saying, “Too little, too late." For Germantown, it showed today they lacked a true scorer and ball handler without Corey James being on the squad due to school infractions (he's now at Delaware Valley Charter). But the play of Jr. Tyrell Coleman (13 points, 5 assists) did enough for the Bears on this day. They also received a hard-nosed effort from the undersized Jr. PF Elijah Clark, who managed to gristle his 14-point, 14-rebound performance. For King, Darnell Moore led all scorers with his consistent 20-point performance. Next to him in scoring was Sr. G Brandon “B-Roc” Connelly with 10 points. B-Roc missed 2 fouls shots with 1:02 remaining that would have cut G’Town’s lead to within a bucket. Zane Oxley, an out-of-position Jr. combo G, has a solid game and seems to know the game well but only finished with a lightweight 6 points and 3 assist. Finding a true point guard on either team would help both teams drastically and likely make for better spots to score from for teammates. G’Town has a solid PG in Jr. Kyree Hanford, but for some unknown reason he's mostly sitting on the bench. I can imagine that most players on both teams are familiar with one another’s game as King and Germantown are neighborhood schools that are fairly close to each other. Most likely, players from the 2 teams see their counterparts play all summer and are likely to see them at a local Rec center everyday. That can bring out both good friendships and as this game is forever known as, a "good rivalry."

DEC. 14
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Washington 64, Northeast 58
   As you could guess, a lot of emotions were stirred up in this one because of the past rivalries between the two schools, starting with the football teams. Speaking of which: There has been a so-called “beef” or “displacement” between some athletes of both teams and if something were to go down, this would be the day. All in all, a couple of words were thrown but no punches. In fact, the game was shortly delayed and almost halted as a minor incident between a couple of fans almost got major. I was in the midst of the scuffle trying to be the mediator of the situation before the scene got ugly for a certain Washington football player. This occurred early in the third quarter and took a lot of momentum out of the players and the game itself. At that point Washington had touched their biggest lead of the day, leading by 12. Going back to the start of the game, Sr. SF Dominique Curry got the game poppin’ for GW with a few father-like dunks. From what I hear, Curry’s father, Dominique Stephens, was a frontcourt sub for Dobbins in ’84 known for his human highlight film (Dominique Wilkins) dunks. Fellow TS.com writer Amar Austin was in attendance and tallied 5 dunks for the two-sport star. That wasn’t all he did as he also hit 2 treys, plucked 5 steals and grabbed 8 boards on route to his 23 points. He had an all-around great game. Cohesive with Dom in points was Sr. G Corey White, who was another standout in the contest with 23 points (15 coming from beyond the arc). The Vikings had no answer for Curry, who received most of their defensive attention which, in turn, led to open jumpers for White. Northeast’s only lead was 9-8 in the first quarter. Sr. PG Kyle Sample (18 points, 8 assists) and G Cordia “Chops” Mosley (21 points) led the offensive attack for the Vikes. Several times during the game it seemed as though it was 5 on 2 as the two smallest people on Northeast’s team were the only ones who wanted to win. Truthfully, the two of them were the reason why the game was lost by 6 and not 26 as they had the mentality to play hard for 32 minutes. Maybe I’m wrong but at this point in the season I think that Northeast is Mosley’s team though Sample, a Cardinal Dougherty transfer, is likely the more athletic and better player of the two. “Chops” has improved in all areas of his game and shows that he can have good shooting streaks if he keeps his composure by letting the game come to him and by not fishing to score. It looks like Sample’s Secrets of Success have rubbed off on Mosley and most likely have made him a wiser player.

DEC. 10
NON-LEAGUE
Roman 63, Judge 36
   A game that people hoped would be competitive, featuring what are usually two of the top teams in Catholic North and South,  turned out to be the complete opposite, and the game wound up being a no-contest in the late stages. The first quarter was fairly neutral, starting slowly as both teams got a feel for each other and mostly passed the ball looking for seams in the defenses. The same was true until the halfway point in the second quarter, when Roman starting opening things up thanks to its small guard tandem of Raymond “Doodles” Sims and Bobby Jordan who opened up shots for other players and finished with 6 assists apiece. One of the other key players was Jr. F/C Mike Ringgold, who showed talent as he hustled all game to finish with 11 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks along with cohort Malik Perry (15 points, 7 boards). Perry was the more interesting of the two as he showed several explosive, low-post moves. He resembles the likes of Roman’s last-year star PF/C Charron Fisher ( think he might have patented a move or two before Fisher left?) as he was getting nasty to the lack of defensive presence by Judge in the second half. Jr. F/C Arthur “Hard Work” Livingston did what he could to contain Ringgold and Perry but needed more help; Roman might own one of the best big-man combos around the Catholic League. “Hard Work” still managed to end the game with 10 points and 6 rebounds, yet he did miss several open shots. He somewhat blew his chance of being the difference-maker for Judge tonight. This only being his junior year, he is listed as being “ Da Man” for Judge as they lost Steve Wolf to graduation. Those are big shoes to fill but not too much as Art sports a size 13 Nike Shox (smile!). Jr. PG James “ JJ” Franklin and Sr. SG Damien Palantino both left the game with only 8 points apiece, a very uncharacteristic showing for both considering their skill levels. Franklin, a slashing play-maker and Palantino, a 3-point threat, didn’t get a chance to showcase their skills as Roman limited open shots at the perimeter and open drives to the paint. A game like this causes me to question if the legendary Bill Fox-oriented offense is built for everyone that wears the patented red, white and blue knee socks. I say no to myself, as it was ineffective to the most extreme point I have ever seen from the Crusaders. It has always been pretty dull, but often pretty effective. Tonight, time after time, Judge would waste the clock passing around the perimeter for 20-30 seconds only to end up with a turnover that in the end seemed pointless. True indeed, Judge is missing Sr. PG Tim McCauley (a likely starter who is a senior leader in skills and experience) for possibly the whole season, but with Judge’s depth of players with varsity experience from last year, the offense by now should be like second nature to them and should be mastered. This is their first and only loss so hopefully someone steps it up more sooner than later as Judge is expected to still be playing in late February, early March.