St. Benedicts Stuns Oak Hill
Louisville-bound forward
Samardo Samuels of St. Benedict's, who lives with his guardian in Queens, had a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds. Long Island native
Scott Machado, who transferred to the Newark school from St. Mary's of Manhasset, scored six of his eight points down the stretch as St. Ben's outscored the Warriors 23-15 in the final quarter.
St. Benedict's junior
Tamir Jackson, a native of Paterson, N.J., led all scorers with 29 points, including 20 in the second half. Jackson was 3-of-6 from beyond the arc and added 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 1 assist.
"It feels great, man," Samuels said before signing autographs for youngsters in the capacity crowd. "Those guys are competitive. We just got a long road ahead of us and we're looking forward to the next game." The loss was the first of the season for Oak Hill (11-1), while St. Benedict's, No. 6 in the nation, improved to 4-0. Oak Hill played with just eight players after 6-5 USC-bound guard Malik Story was dismissed from the team and 6-8 junior forward Chasen Campbell broke his wrist.
Arizona-bound guard
Brandon Jennings led Oak Hill with 21 points on 7-of-23 shooting. Staten Island native
Danny Jennings, a Bishop Loughlin transfer, scored two points off the bench for the Warriors.
"This is the biggest thing that ever happened to me," said Jackson, who scored 10 of St. Ben's final 13 points as the Bees outscored the Warriors 23-15 in the final period. "My recruiting is going to go up high and my ranking's going to go up higher. I'm just glad we got the win." Jackson, who is being recruited most heavily by Alabama-Birmingham, Clemson, South Carolina, Miami and Virginia Tech, according to his father, chose the right night to have the performance of his life. Memphis coach John Calipari, Creighton coach Dana Altman, LSU coach John Brady and assistants from Louisville and Kentucky were all on hand. Calipari walked up to St. Ben's coach Danny Hurley after the game and said, "Nice game by No. 11."
Samuels joked that the entire nation of Jamaica was watching at home on ESPN.
Greg Echenique, a 6-9 junior being recruited by Duke, Villanova, Maryland, Rutgers, Penn and others, added 13 points and 12 boards. "It's great because of how the kids played," said Hurley, who added that he had received 30 text messages and 10 phone calls after the game. I don't think we played particularly well offensively. It was more of a gut check character type of win where we reached down deep a little bit more than they did."
Ironically, St. Ben's was ranked No. 1 for a week last season following an Oak Hill lost to Chicago Simeon, but the Gray Bees lost to in-state rival St. Patrick that same week.
Arizona-bound point guard Brandon Jennings of Oak Hill had four assists and scored 16 of his team-high 21 points in the second half. Glen Bryant scored 12,
Pe'Shon Howard had 10 and 6-9, 300-pound
Keith "Tiny" Gallon added 10.
Jennings said the team came in focused on containing Samuels and Echenique, but Jackson and the guards ended up beating them. "Their guards had those open 3's and they knocked them down," Jennings said.
Oak Hill's last lead came 50-48 on a 3-pointer by Howard, but the Bees tied the game on a dunk by Echenique and then got a layup by Jackson and a steal and a layup by Machado to go up 54-50.
Jackson contributed to six unanswered St. Ben's points on a driving scoop layup, a drive and a dish to Echenique for a dunk that made it 61-57 with 1:30 remaining.
"I got all the butterflies out of my system and just played how I know I can play," Jackson said. "That's all I could ask for. "I'm just happy my family saw it. My mother, my father, everybody from Paterson, New Jersey saw it."
"It's great for Tamir," Samuels said. "Him coming out here and playing a good game like he did, I'm happy for him. He's a good player and he deserved it."