Fishburne’s offense too much for NIA prep

Nationally-acclaimed NIA Prep of Newark, N.J., traveled south on Wednesday to face the Fishburne post-grad basketball team, bringing with them their reputation as one of the premiere preparatory programs in the country. The Caissons did not appear to be impressed, as they rolled to a 104-83 victory, on a night that they did not come close to playing at their peak.

“We played hard and with a lot of effort tonight, like my guys always do,” coach Ed Huckaby said. “We just did not play with the mental toughness that I stress to these guys. There are a lot of things to fix, but at the same time there are a lot of things that I am happy with.”

The Caissons got off to a quick start thanks to the play of 6-foot-10 center Keon Palmer who scored early on a jump hook and a big two-handed slam that gave Fishburne a 9-5 lead two minutes in. The lead grew to nine at 20-11, after Donte Morales knocked in a three ball and moments later Joel Brokenbrough thundered home a baseline slam that put the Caissons up 24-13 with nine minutes to play in the first half.

The Eagles were able to climb back in the game thanks to some stellar guard play by Devon Gibson, who scored 11 points in the half and anchored his team’s three-quarter court press that gave Coach Ed Huckaby’s squad some problems.

“Our decision-making was not there tonight,” Huckaby said. “We have seen that type of pressure before this year, but for whatever reason we were just not mentally prepared to handle it.”

Despite the Caissons’ struggles to take care of the basketball, Fishburne went to the locker room ahead 44-35, thanks in large part to the play of Brokenbrough, who led all scorers with 18 at the break.

“I just have to give credit to my teammates for putting me in good positions to score,” Brokenbrough said. “NIA Prep is a real good team and I am just happy to help my team win.”

Brokenbrough got the Caisson offense started in the second half with six straight points and after a Morales 3-pointer the lead grew to 15 at 59-45 four minutes in. Two more 3’s from Morales and one from Palmer stretched the lead to 18 at 74-56 with nine minutes.

A coast-to-coast lay in by Quincy Taylor and baby hook by Palmer pushed the lead to 21 for the Caissons with five minutes to play and with two minutes to go Palmer brought down the house with a two-handed jam off a missed shot that put a big punctuation point on the Caissons victory

The Caissons were led by 26 from Brokenbrough, while Morales and Palmer each added 22. The Eagles were led by Gibson’s 25.