Busy weekend behind in Hoops England

Jaylen Brantley: 20+ ppg in 3 games & MVP at the Peddie

 Weekend Wrap-Up

- In addition to the clash between Tilton and Brewster in the final of the Brewster Invitational, there was also plenty of other hot off the stove action this weekend around the Colony and beyond.  Let's start with the NERR Roundball Scholar Classic which took place both days this weekend at Babson College.  One prominent story of the weekend was the Northfield Mount Hermon Machine which excavated two lopsided wins, outscoring Brimmer&May and Kent by a combined tune of 190-102.  The Hoggers, no 8-0 overall, are playing the best team basketball of any team in New England, and when you couple that with their no-joke firepower, John Carroll's squad looks poised to make a serious bid for the Big Chips come 2012...Another team that went 2-0 at the #RSC was St Andrews, who defeated two of New England's most prestigious academic institutions with wins over Milton Academy (61-55) on Saturday and Choate (69-59) on Sunday in a game in which Cedric Kuakumensah had 13 points and 15 boards.  St A's is now 3-2 on the trail, and next weekend, they'll host a loaded St Andrews Invitational Tournament with the likes of St Marks, Tilton, Wilbraham & Monson Academy, and more...Cushing remained undefeated with a 48-42 slugfest-win on Saturday morning over Rivers in a contest that was neck and neck throughout...Also getting a win on Saturday was an impressive Philips Exeter squad that defeated Tabor by a score of 62-46. Connor Green led the way with 20 while Chris Braley had 17.  Now 2-0 on the season, Exeter certainly looks like a contender for the belt in Class A...Getting solo Sunday wins were Kimball Union and Pingree.  KUA defeated Tabor 77-62 in a game in which Dimitry Coronel led all scorers with 21 and Duby Maduegbunam led the victors with 17, while Pingree scored a 50-43 upset win over Brimmer and May behind 17 points from Johnny Spears and 16 from Kyle Lentini....Next, let's head on out to Worcester where the Blackburn Invitational took place at Worcester Academy.  In Saturday's semifinals, New Hampton blew out Proctor Academy and Vermont Academy tipped Worcester at the buzzer on a controversial buzzer-beating trey-ball by Jamel Artis.  On Sunday, after Worcester won big over Proctor in the consolation game, New Hampton defeated Vermont by a score of 51-39 in the final to take home the Blackburn Chip.  New Hampton was led on Saturday by 19 points from Noah Vonleh and on Sunday by 13 points from Zach Auguste and the standout play at the point by Evan Manning.  For the event, Vonleh was named MVP, while Jared Terrell, Rene Castro, Jamel Artis, and Daquein McNeil were named to the All-Tournament Team.  In other New England weekend action, St Marks moved to 3-0 with a lopsided win over Brimmer and May on Friday night.  The Lions will get their first real test of the season this coming weekend in Rhode Island...After defeating Tilton in last-last weekend's Hoop Mountain Prep Classic at Marianapolis and subsequently moving up to #8 in the Five-Star National High School Rankings, South Kent has now lost three ball-games in a row.  After falling to St Thomas More last Wednesday, they lost both ends of their weekend trip to Maine, falling to Lee Academy on Friday and Bridgton Academy on Saturday. (*Ricky Ledo was absent from Maine trip due to his taking the ACT test on Saturday.)...While SK was in Maine, St Thomas More stayed home and continued their stampede, moving to 7-0 with a 85-51 win over Winchendon.  STM seems intent on dining at the top of the NEPSAC AAA Hotel/Casino...While most of the New England hoops action was right at home this weekend, one team did hit the road, as Wilbraham & Monson headed down to New Jersey to compete in the 39th annual Peddie School Invitational.  In the Quarterfinals on Friday night, WMA earned an 80-70 win over Phelps Academy (PA).  Jaylen Brantley led the way with 25 points while Maodo Lo added 17.  In the Final Four on Saturday, the Titans blew out the Hun School by a score of 62-36 in a contest in which J-Brant dropped 20 and Kamali Bey had 11.  In the Championship on Sunday, Chris Sparks' ball-club claimed the Peddie Invitational Crown with a 65-46 win over the Peddie School behind a double-double from freshman Marcel Pettway (12pts+11rebs) and 17 points from Tournament MVP Jaylen Brantley.  WMA is now 5-2 and they will next take the floor next weekend in Rhode Island.