BOSTON CITY GIRLS CHAMPIONSHIP

It's playoff time. After both teams came off of blowout wins in the semifinals in addition to winning their respective division regular season titles, the championship was up next. The reigning champions of the city, the Lady Tigers of O'Bryant would play host to the opponent they beat last year, the Lady Panthers of Fenway High School. Both teams pretty much had no trouble beating their opponents in the semis. They both did so by double digits.

Here we go, Fenway right from the start had their chemistry together. In addition to their excellent rotation of the ball, they used their new center 6'2 Jalissa Ross to completely dominate the paint. The other 4 girls would straight press forcing shots from the perimeter and easy turnovers in the post. Due to the short height in the post under a towering Ross, they got into early foul trouble. the quarter ended with a breakout 15-4 lead from the Lady Panthers.

It got ugly real quick with O'Bryant fouling into the double bonus with amazingly 6:08 left in the half. Then the pressure really turned up as they missed open shots and didn't crash the boards hard enough. To add insult to injury, Tajanay Veiga-Lee would hit a couple long balls to close the half. Fenway was sitting pretty 27-11 at halftime.

But, not so fast, O'Bryant came out with a hard half court press that translated into a 6-0 run that spanned from the start of the 3rd until the 3:25 mark of the 3rd. That's where Veiga-Lee would score and go back to the line. 4 of the starting 5 for O'Bryant (Daley 4, Kelsey 4, Bradshaw 3, and Green 3)would now be in personal foul trouble. This would lead to the double bonus by the 2.2 sec mark of the 3rd. Much of this was caused by Veiga-Lee who took over scoring 8 of the team's 11 3rd quarter points. So into the 4th after an unintimidating run to start the half, Fenway led 38-22.

A couple clutch shots by Veiga-Lee and C. Matthews would seal the game and foul out Kiana Daley who finished with O'Bryant's team high 11. It was all over and the revenge that was sought for last year's defeat at the hand of O'Bryant was achieved. Even with the coaching change of John Rice to the Fenway team, the city title was accomplished. It helps that title MVP Tajanay Veiga-Lee and most of her squad returned from last year's game, so Rice (13 previous girls city titles) had no problem coaching them to victory. Both Coach Rice and the MVP had these words to say after the win.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
Fenway 15 12 11 20 58
OBryant 4 7 11 12 34

Fenway- T. Veiga-Lee 23, C. Matthews 16, K. Cox 10, J. Ross 8, L. Chandlor 1

OBryant- K. Daley 11, R. Kelsey 9, A. Bradshaw 5, S. Kaba 4, A. Green 3, L. Dorsinville 2

Blue vs Red

This is a little projection of what I would like to see in the city's annual all star game. Right now, this is my current fantasy roster of top 5 players at each position. There are alot of honorable mentions, but for now this is just the list of best by position.

Point Guards

1. Jahkari Christopher (Burke)*
2. Greg Bridges (New Mission)
3. Pat Santos (East Boston)-
4. Malik James (Brighton)
5. Ray Edwards (Madison Park)

Shooting Guards

1. Jeduan Langston (Dorchester)*
2. Rony Fernandez (Charlestown)-
3. Paul Maurice (Snowden)
4. Kwame Townsend (English)
5. Daivon Edwards (Brighton)

Small Forwards

1. Tyrese Hoxter (Charlestown)-
2. Nick Simpson (Brighton)*
3. LeRoy Hamilton (New Mission)
4. Marcus Neal (West Roxbury)
5. DeVaughn Riley (Boston Latin Academy)

Power Forwards

1. David Stewart (Madison Park)-
2. Isshiah Coleman (New Mission)*
3. Kenny Ramos (East Boston)
4. Jerard Mayes (Brighton)
5. Joseph Farrell (OBryant)

Centers

1. Jared Butler (OBryant)*
2. Tyrik Jackson (Charlestown)-
3. Dakim Murray (Madison Park)
4. Nathaniel Anderson (New Mission)
5. Frederick Oliviera (West Roxbury)


* means I want them to start for the South all stars
- means I want them to start for the North all stars

I am sure there are different opinions and I am sure I might have overlooked some but here are just a few of the honorable mentions...

F Omar Orriols (Charlestown)
G Sterling Brown (West Roxbury)
F Alexander Brown (South Boston)
G Travon Moore (East Boston)
F Will March (East Boston)
F Dane Lawladonnie (Madison Park)
G Wiley Shipman (English)
F Anselm Engebe (Dorchester)
F Javaughn Kittrell (Snowden)
G Nick Thomas (Boston Latin Academy)
F Euclides Semedo (South Boston)
G Curtis Alger (Fenway)
F Justin Phillips (Fenway)

...there are a couple of captains for the CASH Chargers who I think are good but I don't have their current roster. There are alot of athletes in the city under the radar...looking forward to the playoffs(city and state) and the all star game.

Have a goodnight!

city action update

What's up folks? Playin a lil bit of catchup here. It's really heating up. A couple of big games just finished in this past week in the Boston North.

Charlestown 73 East Boston 66
East Boston 68 Madison Park 42

For those of you that dont know... all 3 teams are fighting for 2 playoff spots representing the north division of the city playoffs at the end of this month. Right now Eastie has finished the biggest threats this season in the division by finishing 3-1 in the 4 games they have against those 2. So barring any upsets from teams lower than 3rd in the conference they have won the North and will be a city contender.

Brighton and New Mission will be facing off next Wednesday and this time...freshman phenom Greg Bridges will be active. Will it be the same outcome? The bengals could sweep the season series this year which is great for seeding in the playoffs as well as rankings in the state...in addition to the fact that they havent beaten Mission in the last 5 games before that including the tough loss in the state playoffs all the way in neutral turf on the campus of UMass Lowell.

I'm beyond ready for the playoffs. Cities and states..and the all star game.

Upcoming big games

New Mission at Brighton Feb 8
Madison Park at Charlestown Feb 14

See you soon!

Big matchups as playoffs approach...video preview of a couple matches. Let me know what you think. Testing out the commentator skills.

Brighton vs Dorchester

81-59...and a break from the stats and story. Got some nice dominant clips.

@:24 Jerard Mayes with a steal and dunk @:50 Theo Oribhabor with a tre-ball

@4:00 Jeduan Langston crosses over Daivon Edwards

@2:50 Daivon Edwards for 3 after another steal

@4:25 Malik James 3 to end the 3rd quarter

@2:40 Malik James to Jerard Mayes alley-oop

Nick Simpson highlights

Interview with Jerard Mayes

BRIGHTON AT NEW MISSION

Gametime...this is for sole position of Boston South Division. Brighton Bengals and New Mission Titans at the Tobin Gym in Roxbury Crossing (heart of the city, I love it!). Bengals with a record of 7-1 having only lost to Brockton at the Rotary Classic Holiday tourney and New Mission with a record of 6-2 only loss to St. John's Prep and St. Anthony's (NJ) both come into this game undefeated in the city. So to the game we go...the first quarter was interesting as Mission shared the ball like crazy. They were at one point up 16-5. 7 players scored in the 1st. They kept it high pace and the Bengals defense couldn't contain sprints in the full court press they had. Since their 3-2 zone was using an inside focus, they couldn't stop the long ball in the first quarter. But the tempo switched in the 2nd quarter real quick, junior Nick Simpson would lead his squad with 8 of the teams 20 point 2nd qtr points. They walked into the half only trailing by 5 which is better than the 11 they tried to make up after the 1st. New Mission still didn't need much 2nd chance opportunities as their long ball was deadly to run through the half.

But onto the 3rd qtr we go...Brighton's hustle picked up and this time, it involved more players. Junior captain Daivon Edwards stepped up dropping 9 of his 12. Simpson added another 7. He finished with a team high 23. (It helps when the opponent you are playing has the coach you play AAU for.) Therefore, even if your team doesn't come up, no one will stop you from dominating. The slow climb in 2nd become a 3rd quarter ending 1 point deficit. It's on now!

This quarter was all about crucial turnovers in which New Mission would show weakness. The shots stop dropping and the inside focus from the height Brighton brought earlier in their zone started working. And then quick stops from the half court press that walked into a zone would bring the Titans to their knees. They couldn't hardly breathe except for the clutch 4 straight free throws at the 1:30 mark by Dashawn Fennel (only points of the game) and a couple baskets from Isshiah Coleman. With him playin post and being double and triple teamed most of the game through the ugly zone Brighton's bigs gave him he only dropped 10. After trailing the whole game, Malik James got the go ahead bucket at 1:33. He put up 10. With the rotation of James, Edwards and Theo Oribhabor who added another crucial go ahead basket around the minute mark. It was all over.

With this 60-58 win, Brighton did a few things. They move to a mark of 8-1. They end the 2 year home winning streak of New Mission and they take sole posession of first place atop the Boston City South Division. I spoke with Daivon Edwards, Malik James and Head Coach Hugh Coleman of the now leading Bengals. They had this to say after the game.

Brighton Bengals (8-1)- N. Simpson 23, D. Edwards 12, M. James 10, J. Mayes 9, T. Oribhabor 4, T. Dowman 2

New Mission Titans (6-3)- L. Hamilton 11, P. Gomez 11, I. Coleman 10, S. Murray 8, T. Watson 6, J. Deane 4, D. Fennel 4, F. Rivers 4

Ready to see what happens Feb. 8 for the rematch...SEE YOU THERE!

HAPPY NEW YEAR UPDATE

Happy New Year folks, My blog has been running a little bit slow to finish the year. I have gotten interviews after most of these games, but no story to really break down how it happened. Stay tuned for the interviews, my computer was having technical difficulties getting the videos uploaded. I will be back in full swing in the next couple of weeks. As the 2nd half of this season gets started, the divisions will pick up the intensity and I might have a little surprise for you this coming weekend. The only way to find out is to stay tuned. Thank you for your support in advance and I hope you all had a Happy New Year in addition to a Merry Christmas. For now, here are some of the scores from games I did catch in the past few weeks.


New Mission 60, St. John's Prep 69- BABC Class A 1st Round Match
West Roxbury 48, New Bedford 55-BABC Invitational Holiday Bracket
Madison Park 59, East Boston 61-Boston North Current 1st Place Game
Dorchester 58, New Mission 72

Brighton 89, Burke 47
Interview with Nick Simpson and Coach Kurtis Grant

Snowden 76, South Boston 71

Interview with Coach Megan Waterbury and Paul Maurice

New Mission 64, Cambridge Rindge and Latin 53- BABC Holiday Classic Class A 3rd Place

Interview with Coach Cory McCarthy and Leroy Hamilton

Madison Park 85, O'Bryant 62-School Rivalry

Interview with Coach Dennis Wilson and David Stewart