By Brian Crownover
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{mosImage}On Saturday, many of the top teams from the region battled it out in the Joe Brown Memorial Tournament at Seton Hall University.  Here is a look at some of the top players during this second week of the live period.

United Brooklyn

Justin Greene (2008, 6-6 PF)
Justin was the most productive player that we saw all tournament. He’s a fantastic finisher around the hoop. He also possesses good hands and a soft touch. Justin ran the floor well and scored a number of transition points. The big bodied forward is an accomplished low post player as well. He showed a beautiful short jump hook. He seals well in the low block and gets deep positioning. Justin’s most impressive play of the day was when he took the ball right at 7-2 John Riek (see below) and overpowered him for the score. He had a nice reverse lay-up in transition and very few misses throughout the two games. Justin stepped outside one time and buried a pull up mid range jumper. He also rebounded well. The only knock on him might be that he’s an undersized interior player. As he showed against Riek, he can play that way. It’s also very hard to ignore Justin’s production.

Patrick Jackson (2008, 6-6 180 SG/SF)
Patrick put together the best game we’ve seen from him. The wing forward was unconscious from the perimeter. He buried jumper after jumper and has a really smooth stroke. He hit from all over the court, including deep pull up mid range jumpers as well as from beyond the arc. Patrick also ran the floor well and scored a number of transition buckets. 

Vincent Council (2008, 6-0 PG)
Vincent is a point guard who is quick off the bounce. He’s a drive and dish penetrator who loves to setup his teammates.

Justin Newton (2008, 6-4 SG)
Justin is a good perimeter shooter with range out to three point land. He also handles the ball fairly well.

New York Elite

John Riek (2009, 7-2 C)
John is the player here with the most upside. As they say, you can’t teach size. John has the size for sure, but he also blends some pretty good developing skills with that. The big man has very good hands and a soft touch around the hoop. He displayed those on several beautiful short jump hooks. That move is impossible to defend. Not surprisingly, John is a very good rebounder who knows how to keep the ball high. His biggest problem is that he doesn’t seem like he completely understand the game yet and how dominant he can be. Too often he was slow making a move and seemed to be thinking about it. On one occasion, he did eventually jam the ball, but hesitated first. Had there been a quality defender on him they would’ve ate him up. John really needs to jam the ball more often rather laying it in. On another play, he got an offensive rebound near the hoop and for some reason faded away. He tries to score with finesse almost all of the time. John also needs to improve on the defensive end. His lateral quickness needs work. The thin big man was overpowered on one play by 6-6 Justin Greene. John did block a couple shots in the second game, but that was mostly due to his height as he doesn’t get off the ground all that well. With his great size, good hands and nice touch around the hoop, John has great upside. He’s already pretty good now, but he could really develop into an unstoppable player.

Zack Rosen (2008, 5-11 165 PG) Committed to Penn
The recent Penn commit opened up the morning game strong. He has a nice drive and finish on the break. Zack then struggled with back to back turnovers. He bounced back and started scoring. He hit on a mid range jumper and then added in a pull up three pointer. He then added in a beautiful drive which ended with an old fashioned three point play. In the second game, Zack hit a couple more pull up threes. He has a well rounded game and is an absolute steal for the Quakers.

Matt Cajuste (2008, 6-6 SF/PF)
Matt is a skilled and versatile forward. He has a nice pull up mid range jumper. After an offensive rebound, Matt scored on a nice turnaround jumper in the post. He’s has good size on his frame and rebounds the basketball very well. He has pretty good touch around the basket and a feel for how to score in there. In the second game, he did hit a deep pull up jumper to close the half, but missed on a three pointer. 

Long Island Lightning

Darius Gabriel (2008, 6-0 PG)
Darius is a very quick ball handling guard. He puts a lot of pressure on a defense because he can really get into the lane. He has a good crossover as well as a nice stop and go move. Darius can drive in either direction. He scored on a beautiful finger roll lay-up on one occasion. He is pretty good at finishing, but did have trouble away from the basket. The scoring point guard missed a pair of runners in the lane and struggled all game to convert on pull up jumpers. Darius was still among the best players of the day.

Jordan Henriquez (2008, 6-9 PF/C)
Jordan did his usual thing on the boards. After grabbing rebounds, he often makes a nice outlet pass to start the break. On the offensive side of things, Jordan was rather quiet. His touches were limited though. He did have a nice short bank shot after an offensive rebound. Jordan did have one play around the hoop where he should’ve used a power jam to finish. He also took a three point shot and missed. The shot didn’t look bad, but it probably wasn’t the best decision. Jordan did show nice touch on his free throws. He could probably develop into a decent shooting big man down the road. After a productive week at Reebok U, Jordan tells us that he’s receiving more high level interest. 

Ernest Freeman (2008, 6-6 SF/PF)
Ernest is a versatile forward. Early on he had a nice drive and dish play. Later, he stepped inside and scored on a turn around jumper in the post. He also drew a foul in the post, although he missed both free throw attempts. Ernest also added in a steal and a basket.

Metro Hawks 16s

Chaz Williams (2008, 5-8 PG) Committed to Hofstra
Chaz put together another good outing. The small, but lightning quick guard scored in a variety of ways. He’s perhaps at his best in the open court. He had a nice scoop finish in transition and scored on another scoop shot later on. Chaz is a slick ball handler who is very difficult to keep in front of you. He can drive in either direction and change directions quickly. Because of his speed and attacking mentality, he was able to draw quite a few fouls. What is really impressive about Chaz is that he plays very fast, but for the most part he’s able to do so under control. For some reason he didn’t start, but Chaz was a sparkplug off the bench and played almost the entire game after that. He also showed he can step outside and knock down the three, although he doesn’t take many of those shots. Initially, we thought Chaz was a drive and dish point guard, but he actually does look to score first. He makes some nice passes after breaking down the defense too though. He appears to do his best passing in the open court. Chaz doesn't let his small stature hurt him on the offensive end, but it could become an issue defensively against bigger guards. We just haven’t seen him defensively yet against another guard that could really hurt him. He looks to be a good early pickup for the Pride.  

Odayne Clark (2009, 6-6 220 PF/C)
Odayne is a forward who plays a power game inside. He had a nice back to the basket spin move with a left hand finish. He also frequently can be found crashing the boards.