Woodall, St. Anthony Win HBC; Eastside Makes Surprising Run; HBC Recruiting Notebook

It was a big weekend for Paterson at the Hoop Group Metro HBC Basketball Championship at Seton Hall.

Silk City natives Travon Woodall (left) and Jio Fontan helped lead St. Anthony to a 63-55 victory over St. Raymond's of New York in the championship game of the 60-team event. It was the second straight title for St. Anthony assistant coach Ben Gamble and fourth since 2000; St. Anthony also won a summer national championship during that span.

The 6-foot Woodall, who has committed to Pittsburgh, finished with 10 points and nine assists in the title game and was named tournament MVP. Fontan, who will play at Fordham, scored 13 points. And Rutgers-bound guard Mike Rosario arrived in time for the final to add 13 points. He and teammate Dominic Cheek (11 points) had been competing in the NBA Top 100 Camp in Virginia.

"It was a great experience because we won it last year but we still had to come back," said Woodall, who scored 31 points in the quarterfinals and 24 in the semis.

In other news from the weekend at Seton Hall:

*EASTSIDE FINISHES 3RD

The Ghosts were the surprise of the tournament, making a run to the semis by beating CBA in the quarters before falling to St. Anthony, 60-30, in the semis. Eastside took 3rd place when Science declined to play the 3rd-place game.

Eastside sophomore G Antoine Alexander was lighting it up from beyond the arc, and attracted the attention of recruiting expert Tom Konchalski.

"I'm just happy with Eastside being in the HBC the first time and making it as far as we did," Eastside coach Tommie Patterson said. "Of course, it puts us in the right direction because we got to the Final Four."

Added Woodall: "I was proud of them. They have a lot of tough kids."

*WOODALL ON GIBBS

Woodall said the Pittsburgh coaches spoke to him prior to accepting a commitment from Seton Hall Prep junior G Ashton Gibbs (left), and Woodall supported it wholeheartedly. The two have played together in various All-Star games and with the Playaz Basketball Club.

"They called me three weeks before he committed and asked me what I thought about them recruiting Ashton Gibbs," Woodall said. "Me and him have a great relationship. We have chemistry. The only thing that would have been more perfect would have been if they signed Mike Rosario.

"(Gibbs) is a shooter. He's not going to come over and play the point guard position. He's going to be more of a two guard. I think it's a good fit for me."

*TYSHAWN TAYLOR & DOMINIC CHEEK UPDATE

Gamble, the St. Anthony assistant, gave a recruiting update on junior G Tyshawn Taylor and sophomore G Dominic Cheek (left).

He said Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and West Virginia were pursuing the 6-3 Taylor.

"Each time they take a look at him, they become more interested in him because he's so athletic and he gets after it defensively," Gamble said. "He will probably play the two in college, but he needs to improve his perimeter shot."

As for Cheek, Gamble said Ohio State, Texas and North Carolina were among those involved.

"He's being heavily recruited," he said. "I think he's probably the most heavily recruited kid that we've had since Elijah Ingram in 2000. He's getting such national interest right now that it's hard to see what direction he's going to lean to."

*RJ HALL HAS OFFERS

Bloomfield Tech coach Nick Mariniello, he of the defending Group 1 state champs and Tournament of Champions runner-up, said rising senior 5-10 PG RJ Hall has offers from Wagner and Robert Morris, and that Boston University and College of Charleston are also interested.

Tech lost Wesley Jenkins to St. Peter's and Rashon Dwight (left) to Iona, but with Hall, 6-4 senior wing Todd Fleming and 6-4 senior F Troy Webster, the coach feels his team can compete again.

"If we work on getting better, we'll put ourselves in position," he said.

Mariniello added that Dwight is looking forward to being coached by new Iona head man Kevin Willard, a former Rick Pitino assistant at Louisville, and by assistant Shaheen Holloway, who moved over from Seton Hall during the offseason.

*FREE THROWS

Paterson Catholic has an impressive non-conference schedule set up, including matchups with Newark Science at the annual Freedom Fighters Classic in January; Plainfield at the Cougar Classic on Jan 26; and against Tyreke Evans and American Christian on Feb. 10 in the Primetime Shootout.....Javier Gonzalez, a 6-1, 175-pound PG who previously played at St. Patrick, committed to N.C. State. Gonzalez is finishing up at Miami Dr. Krop...Former Bob Hurley assistant Damel Ling has taken over as the head coach at Hudson Catholic.

(Photos courtesy Rivals, Scout, Metrohoops, USA Today)