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Paris Carter sends the game to OT

Picture courtesy Mike Kosman- websportschicago.com

The playoffs are now underway in the Full Package exposure league brought to you by Illinoishsbasketball.com, and round 1 brought us some big time performances a number of exciting games.

Round one kicked off with the Kings taking on the Suns in the Western Conference, and the Heat taking on the Pistons in the East. The winners of these games would take on the two #1 seeds later in the day.

6-3 senior wing Sean Croegart-Key (Evanston) dominated his first round game against the Suns, as he scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds en route to a 69-63 win. 6-5 senior C Dan Farr (Evanston) scored 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Suns, but 6-4 senior F Brian Peel (Glenbrook North) offset Farr’s output as he scored 14 of his own for the Kings. Junior G Adrian Hampton (Proviso East) continued his string of high scoring games for the Kings, as he put up 16 points. 6-4 senior wing Evan Policap (Evanston) led the Suns with 15.

The most exciting game of the day, and the top individual performance came in the Pistons-Heat Eastern Conference showdown. Both teams wanted to keep their championship hopes alive, and despite being down by a sizeable amount in the final minutes, the Pistons did not give up hope. A three-pointer by senior PG TJ Malone (Notre Dame) put the Pistons down three with under 30 seconds to go, and when they got the ball back with 5 seconds left the plan was to get it back into the sweet-shooting playmaker’s hands. However Malone was left locked up, and with the final second’s ticking off the clock the only man who had an open shot was Paris Carter (TF South). The 6-6 senior power forward took his first three point attempt of the game, and it went through the nylon with under one second left to send the game into overtime. Carter finished with 33 points and 17 rebounds. Overtime was dominated by the Pistons and 6-3 junior wing Rajsaun “Rossi” Thompson (TF South), as they outscored the Heat 8-0 in the one minute period to win the game 82-74. Rossi finished with 15 points, and junior G David Smith (Lake Forest Academy) led the Heat with 17. 6-9 junior F Todd Zifirovski (Lake Forest Academy) chipped in with a double-double for the Heat.

In the Rockets-Mavericks game, two high school teammates shined bright despite losing their title hopes. Lockport teammates 6-7 senior F Justin Jarosz (29) and senior G Brian Bradley (23) combined for 52 of their team’s 61 points as they fell to the Rockets 68-61. 6-9 Dayton commit Luke Fabrizius (Hersey) was hot from outside, as he led the Rockets with 17 points. 6-4 senior PF Travis Clark (Evanston) added 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Rockets, and also showed off his passing skills by adding 8 assists.

The Pacers were hoping to make an attempt to win their first game of the season, but the Magic had other plans as they cruised to a 74-56 win. 6-5 senior F Derryan Hunt (Evanston) led the Magic with 20 points and 10 rebounds, including some “posterizing” dunks. 6-8 sophomore PF Philip Jackson (Providence St Mel) showed off a nice turn around jumper in the post, and is looking more and more like one of the top post prospects in the class of 2010. He and junior PG Nolan Brown (Nequa Valley) led the Pacers with 16 points each. Senior G Marcus Acree (Oak Park River Forest) has yet another stellar performance for the Magic, as he scored 18 points. Junior Brandon Pommells (Evanston) added 12 for the Pacers.

Despite coming off a big win earlier in the day, Sean Croegart-Key and the Kings just didn’t have enough to overcome the mighty Timberwolves. Junior G John Taylor (North Lawndale) is making a strong case for being the league MVP, as he contributed 31 points to the T-wolves 81-59 win. 6-10 sophomore C Paul Bunch (North Lawndale) scored 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Wolves, and is looking more and more like the top post player in his class every week. Croegart-Key led the Kings with 24 points.

6-8 senior PF Jawan Nelson (Bloom) recently pledged his verbal commitment to Texas A&M Corpus Christi, and he was hoping to lead the Bulls to a win over the Spurs in his first game after committing to be an Islander. Nelson achieved his goal, as he scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds on his way to leading the Bulls to a lopsided 92-57 win. Senior PG Deshawn Dockery (Hillcrest) led the Bulls balanced attack to victory with 19 points and 9 assists. Senior wing Nate Bateman (Lake Forest Academy) and Sophomore F Michal Banczer (Lake Forest Academy) led the Spurs with 15 points each, and sophomore G Ryan Frazier-Chambers (Evanston) added 16 for the Bulls.

In the Pistons second game of the day they just didn’t have enough gas remaining from their OT battle to come away with a win, as they fell to the Celtics 77-71. Junior SF Dahni Wilson (Maine East) had another big time performance for the Celtics, as he was the games leading scorer with 22 points and 8 rebounds. Three point-specialist junior SG Shariq Kahn (Maine East) came up with 15 big points in the win. Paris Carter had another good game as he finished with 20 and 12, and “Rossi” added 14 for the Pistons.

Carl Richard (Richards) continued making a strong case for being the league’s MVP, as the 6-5 Indiana State commit scored 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Lakers in a 75-65 win over the Cavaliers. Senior G Alan Clark (Mount Carmel) had a big game for the Lakers, scoring points on the perimeter and dropping dimes in the lane. Clark finished with 18 points. Senior G Lewis Brown (Glenbrook South) came up with another big time offensive performance for the Cavs, as he scored 19 points. 6-9 Eastern Michigan commit Kamil Janton (Bartlett) scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the losing effort.