Lemme Bryton Your Day
Basketball 2007

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  Bryton Hawthorne is a sophomore at Roxborough High with a serious passion for basketball, both playing and watching. His dad, Brent "McAdoo" Hawthorne, was a dead-eye shooter for Dobbins, and his uncle, Horace "Pappy" Owens, was our City Player of the Year for Dobbins in '79. He's now an assistant at La Salle Univ.
These are salt-of-the-earth people and we thank Bryton for joining our nutty crew. He may be reached at handleshawthorne@hotmail.com.
MARCH 2
PUBLIC LEAGUE FINAL
Prep Charter 49, Gratz 48
  Well, this was the game EVERYBODY has been looking forward to since the season began. Players, coaches, and high school b-ball fans. Trust me the house was packed to the core at this one. Let me make this one short because Ted gave y'all the long version (just kidding). Gratz was down, 47-42, and I thought PC had the game. But the lack of experience got to them. PC's super sophs, Parrish Grant and Jesse "Boog" Morgan, both lost the ball at key moments. Then Gratz' senior forward, T.J Sykes, missed a one-handed flush, then a few seconds later Twin Markieff "I ball hard" Morris missed a wide-open dunk but got it back and put it in softly to get the 1 point lead with 16 seconds left. After the Gratz timeout point-captain Josh "Headband Man" Martin dribbled the ball out for about 6 or 7 seconds then drove with passion into the paint. Well, he was in for a rude awakening. His layup attempt got tipped by Markieff Morris and then junior wing Alibaba "I got the best name ever, cuz" Odd tried to put it back up, but then it got punched out of bounds by the other twin Marcus "Milk" Morris. That's it ladies and gentleman. The game is over there is no time left on the clock. But WAIT. The referees announce there is 1.3 seconds left. So they take 1 or 2 minutes calling all the fans and cheerleaders back from celebrating and cheering. So there is a timeout taken and it is Gratz' ball. Now everybody in the building is standing up anxious to see the end result of this amazing game.
   So Martin inbounds its, passes it to junior wing Charles White (sorry, I didn't mention him before) as he just came off a perfectly set pick and he releases it at the buzzer and IT IS.................... NO GOOD. It was just a pinch short. Which was all because of Markieff Morris' long, wiry arms. Now all the PC players, cheerleaders, fans and families bombard the court. I feel bad for Gratz, though. They fought hard and it is a shame to have it come down to the nitty-gritty like that and lose. If you are wondering about the game stat-wise. PC had 19 turnovers compared to the Bulldogs' 6. PC's foul shooting was 8-9 and Gratz's was 11-18. That might have/could have decided the game. Gratz' leader was T.J Sykes with 13 points and 4 boards. Their other go-to guys didn't play that well. Senior PF-C Ish McFadden had 10 points and 6 boards but just shot 4-13 FG. Charles White competed hard and had 11 points and 8 boards but shot an icy 4-19 (yikes). With my calculations that is 21% field goal shooting. For the champs, Markieff Morris collected the MVP honors with a monster 23 buckets and 18 boards. Hello Shaq. Also 8 blocks. His twin brother (both heading to Memphis) added 10 points, 10 rebounds, 5 dimes. For recognition Jesse Morgan scrapped for 9 points (2 trey rocks). Congrat to the Prep Charter Huskies, the 2007 Public League Champions. They look to defend their PIAA State Championship as well. See y'all next game. Can't say what game, but it will be very soon. Have a good week.

FEB. 27
PUBLIC LEAGUE SEMIFINAL
Prep Charter 49, Franklin LC 40

   Now this was the game to see between two elite Public School basketball teams (sorry, guys, Amauro didn't really enjoy this one). FLC, located on N. 15th Street, and Prep Charter, located in South Philly. The teams came out a little sloppy, but that was to be expected because this was a very important semifinal game and everybody was pretty nervous. FLC's franchise player (St. Bonnies signee) Malcolm "Gym Rat" Eleby, didn't really play up to his potential and that was forced by PC's lock-up 3-2 defense. One thing that caught my eye was that PC coach Dan Brinkley consistently starts a three-guard offense. That usually works because of PC's size, but they were evenly matched tonight. FLC's junior point-captain, Kyle Sawyer, pushed the rock well and had a Kyle Korver night with 4 threeballs and 4 swipes. In the 2nd quarter the players started warming up. For PC senior PF-SF Marcus "Milk" Morris sorta carried the team and had 8 points in the quarter. Let me tell you, the officials didn't really have a good game either. They had the FLC and PC fans riled up all night about their questionable calls. A note to add was Sawyer traveled on a wide open layup to get the PC lead down to 7 to end the 3rd. The other Morris twin Markieff (If I didn't add: both are Memphis signees) had a good night and hustled for 10 points, 11 boards, 2 blocks and 1 dunk. He hushed some of FLC's fans, one of which had a poster saying TWINS WHO. FLC did all they could, but PC just kept on the bullying and great defense. I say great defense because they shut down maybe one of the best players in the city, Malcom Eleby. He shot a horrible 3-19 FG and 6-10 FT (12 points, 8 boards, 5 swipes). I feel bad not just for Eleby, but the whole Bobcat squad. They worked and practiced hard throughout the season just to see their hope crushed by the PC Huskies. For recognition PC super soph point-captain Parrish Grant dished out 6 dimes and FLC's big man, Dante Wooten, played an Alonzo Mourning-type game and had himself 7 rejections. So it is official, Prep Charter vs Simon Gratz in the Public League championship on Friday Night at the Liacouras Center. This is NOT my last article so keep reading guys. Have a great week.

FEB. 27
PUBLIC LEAGUE SEMIFINAL
Gratz 69, Freire Charter 35

  Sorry, guys, this was not a prime-time battle at Saint Joe's University at 5:30 p.m. Freire Charter, located somewhere downtown, was trying to compete against a North Philly dynasty, the Gratz Bulldogs. The game started off with Gratz coming out with a fastbreak frenzy. Their beasts inside were senior forward Tommie "T.J" Sykes and senior C Ish McFadden. Sykes can run the floor nicely in transition, and he helped himself to 17 points and 6 rip-aways. McFadden is finesse 6'6 big man, and shocked the crowd with a threeball of his own. He hustled for 12 points and 8 boards. Freire's headliner, junior SG Jarrod "It's pronouced Jared though, cuz" Denard was coming into the game averaging 20.4 points. Well, that didn't happen tonight, trust me. Gratz junior guard Charles White did a PERFECT job defending Denard and forced him into a 6-20 FG (16 points overall) night. The guy for Gratz that set up everybody was point-captain Josh "Scrap/Headband Man" Martin. He had a superb floor game, setting up his teammates, and getting to the basket himself. He had 8 points 6 dimes, and 2 swipes. The game didn't really get too exciting and the Gratz bulldogs are in the Public League Championship. The game will be played at the historic Liacouras Center (Temple University-Broad Street) on Friday.
   Notes: I don't know how Freire Charter got into this game and no disrespect to them. But league officials could have gotten a little more experienced and better team in that semifinal. Maybe teams like Imhotep, Frankford, Northeast or somebody else. It is a shame how this A, AA, AAA and AAAA stuff has gotten lesser teams in these high profile games. I mean we know Gratz is championship worthy, but Freire beat a team called Paul Robeson by two points. So, that meant we could have been seeing Paul Robeson vs. Simon Gratz in the Public league Semifinals. Now tell me if I'm crazy or not, but that doesn't sound like a great game to me. Back in the day, gyms were packed to the core for games like this. Teams like Overbrook, West Phila., Gratz, and Dobbins were in those games and people from all over the city would come to watch those exciting games. Now the Pub is sorta decreasing in talent and increasing in schools. I mean, come on, 53 basketball teams/schools in the Pub and I bet like 10 or 15 of those you never even heard of. I'm with Ted on the problems on what happened to the pub.
  Faces in the Crowd: Aaron "AO" Owens, former Gratz point guard and now running the show for the And1 Streetball Tour we all love to watch; former Franklin coach Ken Hamilton; and Bodine star junior Jasmine "Showtime" Elum, who averages 31/32 points a game. She was a little disappointed because they lost in the semifinals to E&S despite her 24-point performance. That's all from here, thank you for reading.

FEB. 20
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Prep Charter 52, Imhotep 50

   Well, this was surely a battle between two of the best charter school teams in the city. Came straight form school to Finley Rec which was about 2 blocks from my house. When I came in it was, well, I can't even say packed, so I will say filled to the capacity. At first they were saying no more people until halftime ,but I used my connections to get me in (smile). Was in the gym with about 5:56 to go in the 1st quarter and it was still scoreless. Then one of the two super sophs for PC, Jesse "Boog" Morgan, banged a corner three-ball to get the early lead. I give a hand clap to both squads and their coaches because throughout the game they both play aggressive defense. I didn't think Prep Charter played to their full potential in the first half especially becuase of their guards. The other super soph, Parrish Grant, committed maybe about 7 turnovers and maybe about 4 of those were in the first half. I still give him a lot of credit because to start as a soph on that team is a lot of work.  At the half the score was 26-16, Imhotep in the lead. This was a key moment in my mind. Imhotep got a little too happy at halftime. They were bumping chests and celebrating a little too hard and there was still a lot of basketball to be played. So as the third quarter progressed the big men of both teams really brought out their games. Imhotep's Kashief "I dunk everything close to the bucket" Edwards played hard and as you can see had four crowd-raising dunks. He is heading to Niagara. Prep Charter headliners, 6'9 Markeiff Morris and 6'8 Marcus "Milk" Morris, stepped their game up after halftime and sort of settled the crowd with some of their own plays. Now the real game was in the 4th quarter. Parrish Grant made a nice defensive play and stole the the ball from a Panther and whipped it out to I think Marcus Morris (He took off his headband in the second quarter, said it was too hot) and he slammed that to tie it up with 4:43 left. Both teams now are playing full-court man to man so you know the points don't come easy. Imhotep's Tamir Johnson went right at the twins every time he touched it so that really impressed me. He had 8 points and 10 boards. Then a few minutes later Kashief Edwards got a dunk to get a 1-point Imhotep lead at 1:44 to go. Then I don't know how Jesse Morgan got a breakaway layup and the great hustle of Edwards caught up with him and fouled him. Maybe a mistake. The refs called an intentional foul. So Morgan knocked those free throws down. Imhotep guard Jermaine Washington tried a three to tie it up and Prep got the ball with 0:05 after Hanif Nixon's basket off an inbound pass from Washington. A little discussion with the clock, score, or timeouts, but it got handled. Morgan got fouled again and made one out of two free throws. Imhotep's last chance at the buzzer ......... No GOOD. Imhotep loses to Prep.

JAN. 28
NON-LEAGUE
Roman 82, Gratz 67

  Well, you can't tell by the lopsided score, but this actually was a good game. Also a marquee' matchup between two historic (smile) coaches, Dennis Seddon and Leonard Poole.
  When it first started, it was just a bunch of fastbreaks and turnovers. Gratz's senior leader, Josh "Scrap" Martin, started off hot with some nice layups in transition and ended up with 16 points in the first half. Roman's main guy was 6'1super soph Maalik Wayns. He not only found shots for himself but connected with his open teammates for open shots. Roman plays together, meaning that they're probably best friends off the court.  Besides Martin, for the Bulldogs nobody really stepped up and at halftime the score was 44-32 Roman ahead. In the second half Roman kept on the bullying. Brian "No he's my brother, I'M BRIAN" Wanamaker impressed me with his knack of going into the contact and getting the foul and had himself 21 points. Gratz didn't show that they just won a championship a year ago and this year there are some good Public League contenders. Gratz's Charles White had 13 points but too many turnovers, which were forced by Courtney Stanley's man-to-man D on him. The big surprise of the night was Roman's Brad" Yeah, I'm Brad not him" Wanamaker. This guy really is really showing fans why he got that scholarship to Pitt. He showed some Lebron-like athlecitism and showed great court savvy. He had an MVP night, and he did win MVP with 24 points and 8 boards. For Gratz, Josh Martin captured MVP for his losing squad and finished with 22 points and 6 rebounds. Watch out for this kid. He is 6-2, 200 lbs, and can run the show for that squad. He has Toledo and Cleveland State sniffing him. Maalik Wayns continued his strong game and ended up with 16 points and 8-8 from the charity stripe. Keep a close eye on him, too. I went to middle school with this kid and he was 210 then. He's now a chiseled 185 lbs. Well, Roman proved that they want to win that Catholic championship and I think it might happen, so Neumann-Goretti better watch their backs.
   Notes: Roman doesn't really have anymore extra tough games ahead but they do play Bonner on Feb. 2 (Friday) and they gave Neumann-Goretti a tough one a couple weeks ago. Gratz plays playoff-bound FLC, which has a nice record of 15-4. I like that these games are kinda-sorta far away. You don't have to worry about fights or anything at these places and it makes the game more peaceful. Again please support my main man Duck in his protest against Public League games being at 3:15. I know a lot of you fans would like to have some of those good games be at 7:30. E-mail him for more info . . . Faces in the crowd: my uncle Horace "Pappy" Owens, assistant for La Salle University who was at O'Hara looking at some players (sorry I can't name them -- smile); head coach for Delaware Monte Ross, who was looking at his latest recruit who played in the previous game -- Prep Charter/Harrisburg (psst Alphonso Dawson-Harrisburg) and former Gratz coach Bill Ellerbee, who was there checking out his old squad. I think he was a little disappointed because, well, just look at the score.  Well that's all from me, have a good week.

JAN. 15
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
N-G 63, Bonner 56

  Man, what a matchup between two great Catholic South teams. The two headliners for Neumann are Antonio "My Name Is SCOOP, Cuz" Jardine and his best friend and future Syracuse teammate, Rick Jackson. Scoop even dazzled Bonner's tough crowd with a couple plays of his own like oops to his teammates and his South Philly crossovers. Rick Jackson on the other hand had a monster game with 16 points and 14 boards. He can really move good on his feet to set up nice post moves. Bonner's go-to guy is Jeff "I've Been Scoring Since I Was a Baby" Jones, and he played hard to keep them in the game. He started off slow but got his motor running with a ferocious and-1 dunk. At the half it was 33-26 Neumann in the lead. There was a mini-scuffle and I thought it was going to be a repeat of that fight that happened at Cardinal Dougherty a while ago, but it just was an argument between a man and a woman. Man, I was glad because I didn't want to leave this game for anything. As the game progressed Neumann's lead got bigger because some role players step up for them. 6'5 SF Jamal Wilson caught some alley-oops and played great D on Jones. Also, Rashad "Shad" Savage got some great offensive rebounds and ended up with 8 points. In the 4th quarter Bonner started to make a run and with 55 seconds left Jeff Jones hit a NBA-range three to make it a 5 point game. But it wasn't enough to stop nationally ranked Neumann and they got away with the W. For recognition's sake, Bonner's Nagbe "Black Magic" Saylee hustled for 10. My two players of the game:  Scoop Jardine had 21 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 dimes and Jeff Jones, who really put his ranking up as one of the top players in Philly, had a game-high 27 points.
   Notes: Neumann got away with a win against Bonner, but will definitely will have to bring their A game against Roman in a couple weeks . . . Faces in the crowd: Louis "I Need More Time" Wiliams from the Sixers and former Lamberton scorer Nafis Ricks, who plays currently for Maine Central Institute . . . PLEASE support my man Duck and his protest to move some Public League games to nighttime so a good crowd can be a the games and the players' parents can see their kids play . . . Thanks for reading and have a good week.

DEC. 27
SCHOOL DISTRICT TOURNAMENT
Freire 60, King 40

   Well, this report will be rather short, which you can understand by the score. I think the closest was when King hustled to get the large lead down to 10 in the 3rd quarter. Freire was all over King with its very sticky defense. A guy that really impressed me was 11th grader Jerrod Denard. He is a nice lefty swingman who can run the break and shoot the midrange jumper, and he bombed for game high 20 points. I knew King didn't have a chance because they have don't a TRUE point-guard. Marcus McQueen tried to push the point and had 8 points, but he is not really a point guard. Also Ramon "Monie" Galloway from Freire is a good and solid point. He found open teammates with his court vision and created shots for himself with his slick handles and had 17 himself. The funny thing about this game was everybody came for the Northeast-Roxborough game and when that was over the gym wasn't that packed anymore. King big man Dwain "Wayne" Winkfield hustled for 9 points. So that was the game and Freire Charter has a pretty good squad and it will be interesting to see how they fare up in the C divison with Prep Charter and Imhotep.
   Notes: Somebody told me a woman was coaching West Phila., but i didn't believe them, so I checked it out and it was true. I knew there was a female coach for Northeast, but now that makes 2 woman coaches in da tough Pub . . . Some faces in crowd: Corey James, former Del Val Charter player now at prep school; and Mike Ringgold, former Roman Catholic big man and teammate of point guard legend Ray "Doodles Is My REAL Name" Sims. . . . See you next game.

DEC. 21
NON-LEAGUE
Academy of the New Church 53, Penn Charter 40
   Whoa!! What game it was INDEED. To start off when I got there I was surprised to see such a young lineup for Academy of the New Church. They only had two seniors in the starting lineup. The two main go-to guys are sparky point guard  Sam "Make It From Anywhere" Zeglinski from Penn Charter and ironically the other Sam, ANC's Sammy "Lamar Odom" Givens. Zeglinski only had 13 but he has a zippy handle and can create shots for himself. It was 23-20 Penn Charter in the lead. Then the coach, Kevin Givens (yes, the pop of Sam and 10th grader Shannon) must have given Martin Luther King's speech because ANC came out fired up. Sammy Givens continued his scoring stretch with his ability to blow by defenders with his quick first step; and he is a small forward. Also senior and (D-2 recruit) Khalif Foster had a few plays of his own. Included was a fancy-schmancy, behind-da-back pass to his buddy Sam for the and-1. PC center Rob Kurz played hard and got some good boards and ended up with 8, but ANC just put on a pounding. So obviously, the player of the game would be Sam Givens, who ended up with 22 points. Zeglinski still is impressive and I think will prove that he earned that scholarship to VA. That's it. See you next game. Merry Christmas!!

DEC. 16
MAKE-A-WISH SHOWCASE
North Catholic 70, Gtn. Academy 63
   This game interested me a lot because I hadn’t seen North Catholic play and Germantown Academy is a pretty good Inter-Ac team. In the first half the game was really controlled by Germantown Academy. La Salle-bound Kyle Griffin gave North Catholic problems with his ability to shoot the three ball. He might be one the best pure strokers in the city. The two guys that North Catholic relied on were seniors Andrew Pomager and Chris Edwards. Pomager had 21 points and really showed some ability of going to the basket and stopping and popping. Edwards really came alive in the second half with his rebounds (also a explosive dunk in the 3rd quarter to start their run) and helped North Catholic stay in the game with 13. I actually thought North Catholic wasn't going to comeback like they did because it was 40-31 at the half. I know people are wondering what happened with former Gratz guard Velton Jones and let me tell you, nothing happened. He was held in check by foul trouble and by two freshmen, Ed DiRugeris and Cameron Ayers, the son of the Orlando Magic assistant coach. They held Jones to 7 points and a lot of frustration. Some say he was hurt because he didn't play in their game yesterday against Kennedy-Kenrick, but you could see that DiRugeris and Ayers played great D on him. The game got really exciting with 2 minutes to go. Pomager came down a couple times with great speed to get to the rim with back-to-back layups. Academy of the New Church transfer Lenny Young is a good asset to North Catholic with his great ballhandling ability, which helps him set up shots for himself. He ended up with 11 points. Kyle Griffin did all he could to keep GA in it with an impressive 17 points, but the game was so fast when you looked up North Catholic was up 5 with 30 seconds to go. So coach Jim Fenerty called a brilliant timeout to set up something. But DiRugeris makes a freshman mistake and jumps up in the air to make a pass and it gets tipped by Chris Edwards' long arms and falls into Lenny Young's arms and then the game is officially over. I understand DiRugeris is a nice and steady point guard, but you have to find a way to get the ball to Kyle Griffin, who is their go-to-guy. Junior big man Shahid Paulhill added 13 and GA senior lefty Steve Roma hustled for 10. I think GA was fortunate to hold the talented Velton Jones to 7 because on his hot day he could easily score 30. Look for each of these teams make down-the-road noise.
   Notes: Both teams have to play better defensively, and especially North Catholic because they play Abington Friends on Dec. 21, go to the Wildwood tourney on the 27th, and then play talented Cardinal Dougherty on Jan. 8th. Personally, I don't think North Catholic is the best Catholic team. I like the champs to be Neumann-Goretti, which has two future Syracuse players in Scoop Jardine and Rick Jackson. The season is just getting started so you can't really tell . . . Germantown Academy plays Academy of the New Church on Dec. 23, then plays a big game against Cardinal Dougherty on the 27th at Widener University. Both teams have some big games coming, so they should step up. For you high school basketball fans some great games for this week: Tuesday, FLC at Roxborough; Thursday, Academy of the New Church vs. Penn Charter at Arcadia; Friday, Penn Charter at Cardinal Dougherty; Saturday, ANC at GA. See you next game.

DEC. 12
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Gratz 68, Roxborough 44

  Well, though this game may seem like it should have been a dandy, it was the complete opposite. I was a little excited to see this because I hear so much of PG Josh "Scrap" Martin these days. He didn't play that well in the first half, but in the second half found his stroke and ended up with 11 points. The game was a little sloppy, too. Roxborough was just coming down firing shots and not really playing a team game with was was really forced by coach Leonard Poole's zone. A player that really impressed me was WG Alibaba Odd, who had 10. He has a really good knack of going to the basket with his left had and finishing strong. I thought it would be a good matchup between Odd and Roxborough's own WG, Clayton Brothers, because they are probably two of the best 11th graders in the Pub. Clayton had 10 also but I thought he could have had 25 or 30. Another guy on Gratz to look out for is PF Ishmawiyl McFadden. He had numerous strong post moves to setup layups and since Roxborough doesn't really have a true big man, he really did whatever he wanted. He ended up with the team high 14 points. This game wasn't a game to remember because of the score, but it had it perks with some almost-dunks and a couple dazzling passes by Josh Martin and of course Roxborough's hilarious crowd. To add to that, seniors Derrick Segers and Strawberry Mansion transfer Doug Mathis had 9 points each.
   Notes: Current Temple star Mark Tyndale was in attendance, so for all you Temple fans he will playing the next game against Towson . . . For Gratz fans: You team needs to step up a little bit. They look good, but they will have to step up against better teams. That means soon because they play St. Joe's Prep on Dec. 16 at Saint Joe's University  . . . For Roxborough fans: Just PRAY. See you next game.