I’m watching the City of Palms Classic final featuring St. Patrick and Mater Dei on ESPNU and will give some periodic updates for those of you who don’t have the channel….Sophomore Austin Rivers poured in a tournament-record 46 points on 15-of-22 shooting, including 8-of-13 from 3, to lead Winter Park (Fla.) to a 91-87 victory over Marietta (Ga.) Wheeler in the 3rd-place game. Austin is the son of Celtics coach Doc Rivers and has committed to Florida.
5:19 – Mater Dei took a 15-14 lead after one quarter on a 3-pointer from USC-bound point guard Gary Franklin Jr. at the buzzer. He has 11 first-quarter points. North Carolina coach Roy Williams and George Mason coach Jim Larranaga are in the stands. UNC’s entire recruiting class for next season are in this event, including 6-10 twins David and Travis Wear of Mater Dei. St. Pat’s forward Paris Bennett is headed to George Mason.
5:27 – Franklin just scored on a change-of-pace layup to give Mater Dei a 21-14 lead with 5:03 left in the half.
5:37 – David Wear hit a 3-pointer to push Mater Dei’s lead to 26-20 after Bennett made a layup.
5:38 – FRanklin hit another 3 and it’s now 29-20 Mater Dei.
5:41 – Mater Dei has taken a 29-22 halftime lead behind 16 points from Franklin. Strickland missed an off-balance 3-point attempt at the buzzer and has 3 fouls at the half.
Halftime Stats: Mater Dei is 11 of 25 from the field, 4 of 6 from 3
St. Patrick is 8 of 13 from the field, 1 of 4 from 3
6:04 – Mater Dei now leads 36-30 with 2:50 left in the third quarter.
6:11 – Mater Dei is up 41-34 with 7:54 left in the game.
6:19 – Bennett just scored on a runout and it’s now Mater Dei up 44-37.
6:20 – Bennett made two foul shots to cut the lead to 44-39 with 4:07 remaining.
6:22 – STrickland made an athletic foray to the hoop for St. Pat’s, but Mater Dei is up 46-41 heading into a break.
6:25 – Franklin was just named the Old Spice Player of the Game with 23 points and 5 rebounds. The junior is bound for USC.
6:26 – Strickland scored again and it’s only a 46-43 Mater Dei lead with 2:57 remaining.
6:27 – Franklin hit a jumper for Mater Dei and it’s now 48-43 with 1:24 remaining.
6:31 – Andy Brown canned two foul shots for a 50-43 Mater Dei lead with under a minute.
6:33 – Bennett hit a lay-in for the Celtics but it’s just about over, 52-45, MD with 9.8 seconds left. It’s over, Mater Dei was just too big inside with the Wear twins for St. Patrick, who really could’ve used a guy like Markus Kennedy in this game. The 6-8 Kennedy transferred to Apex before the season, but St. Pat’s is still one of the top teams in the nation and my pick to win the New Jersey Tournament of Champions.
ESPNU will cover more games Jan. 15 and Jan. 19.
