1st Annual Mary Kline Classic

"Famous" Amos Leak & Alex "the Great" Kline

Jalen Gaffney
Columbus, NJ
4th Grade

Khem Birch (Notre Dame Prep/Pitt)

Dunk Contest Winner
Jabril Trawick (Abington Friends/Georgetown)

ALL STAR GAME MVPs

Jerrell Wright (Dobbins/LaSalle)
14 pts. 9 rbs. 5 asst. 3 blks

Jabril Trawick (Abington Friends/Georgetown)
17 pts. 8 rbs. 4 asst. 4 stls.

3 Pt. Contest Winner
Isaiah Williams(Robinson/Marshall)

On May 28th, at 6pm...Pennington, NJ would be taken over by Alex "the Great" Kline. Alex had been emotional for years about the passing of his mother and what better what to do something in memory of her, than using his powers to put together something that would be remembered for ever. Alex would then begin to organize the Mary Kline Classic. An event that would feature over 20 D1 Players who have committed to a range of different schools such as Pitt, Georgetown, LaSalle, St. John's, Rutgers, Marshall, N.C. State, Clemson, Louisville & many others, who are from the Mid-Atlantic Region of the country.

Alex has one particular characteristic that people are so interested in...which is his age. At the age of 16, Alex has excelled in writing for not only his own website http://www.therecruitscoop.com/ but for Rivals and other mega sources around the country. Alex has been a huge force behind the recruiting and scouting circuit and for him to organize such an event, there seem to be nothing he couldn't do. This game would be in the memory of his mother Mary Kline, who had departed this world but remained in his heart. She was diagnosed with malignant brain tumor, and was given 18 months to live but remained with the Kline family for 5 years until her departure. Alex would organize this classic to raise money to fight cancer for the American Cancer Society and the National Brain Tumor Society.

This game would feature huge play by some great talent that would and could be future NBA prospects. One of the biggest names on hand would be Khem Birch (Notre Dame Prep/Pitt), who was recently a McDonald's/Jordan Brand All American and is rated the #1 Center in the country. Khem would contribute 12 pts. 13 rbs. 4 asst. & 2 blks. He showed the ability to finish threw aggressive play, play great help defense & just keep smiling the entire game. Jabril Trawick (Abington Friends/Georgetown) would be the show stopper being able to take 2 trophies home as the Dunk Contest Winner (which can be viewed above us) and MVP for his team having 17 pts. 8 rbs. 4 stls. Devin Coleman (Friends Central/Clemson) would come out hot in the first half leading his team in scoring as they broke through with a huge lead after the first, He would finish with 15 pts. & 4 asst. Tyler Harris (St. Benedict/NC State), would play big with 22 pts. & 6 rbs. as he made all the necessary moves and prominent decisions to help his team. Angel Nunez (Notre Dame Prep/Louisville) would play big with 11 pts. 5 rbs. & 3 asst. and show some great athletic ability and game time intensity. But this game would be dominated and have a great showing by Jerrell Wright (Dobbins/LaSalle) who played tremendously well shooting the ball, inside defense, running the floor & even passing the ball. He won MVP of the winning team with 14 pts. 9 rbs. 5 asst. & 3 blks. He showed the play that scouts had been missing and excluded, but after the game, many recognized him as one of the best players that they have seen around playing tremendously out the gate against whoever would play him.


In the end, the game is listed as a success. There is no doubt in my mind that Alex's mother is proud of his ability to do such a great thing for society and make a huge contribution to the future of many different basketball players. This event would raise $7,000 dollars and bring upon many different potential future ideas and concepts of this event. It was a great turnout and huge fan base would get to see the future of basketball before their eyes. Alex mentioned to the media, "I am truly grateful and humbled by the experience of the players attending, when they didn't have to and they are from all over, they played tremendously well and had a great attitude towards the entire event, which I loved, I can't thank everyone enough for making one of my dreams come true and I will continue to do so, every year so that we can continue to see the future of basketball and even bigger, contribute to a great cause for the world"

On a side note: Jalen Gaffney from Columbus, NJ who is in 4th grade put on a show for the crowd at halftime. He would make tremendous play with his vision and show his incredible ball handling skills. He played wonderful defense and shows his great IQ of the game on the floor. Congratulations to the NJABC basketball program for having such great children play and develop their skills towards their future.

Joe Reid...Where the Lone-Stars are born!

Ask 6'7" Joe Reid, where will you be attending college at next year, 3 weeks ago...You might get an easy answer..."Where I best fit". Now, for some, that might not be a good answer, for his family and others...it's just right. After talking to Joe, he seemed to only be concerned with going somewhere, where he would be comfortable and they would treat him like a family.

Joe was a really good player dating back to his days at Gratz High School, where he would learn to fit in a system that was actually built for his success in the first place. With Joe's performance in high school and highly creditable athletic ability. Joe would soon find out, how much of a better player he could be. Joe would start to receive interest from different colleges about his interest in departing Barton CCC and going into a four year school and being able to make the best of his career somewhere.

In his abilities and development, Texas A&M International would jump on the scene and see something in him that most people wouldn't see...THE POTENTIAL. His Potential would be what he needed to have to make people realize how much of a player he truly could be compared to his great skill now. Joe consistently worked out and focused on his grades and now has found a home in the "Lone-Star" State. The state where everything is big and he will have the opportunity to join the same guys writing on his facebook wall that, they are so eluded to have him join the program next season. Joe also goes into discussion about how his coaches told him what type of player he is and will become with the program and they need him to take it to the next level, seeing that this team had made it to the national tournament this season. Watch out for Joe Reid...He'll be a "Lone-Star" with this family and system of his.

E. Copes...Following in Line!

Following the leader is not always easy, but when things happen for a reason, they tend to be set up in the best interest for the success portion of a person's future career.

It seemed as though, Erik Copes, 6'9" Big from Imhotep Charter was caught in a pretty difficult situation. What's the situation?...

Basically you want the best for yourself but you also don't know where you might fit. With him & his Uncle (Coach Houston), looking upon the different situations going on & there being a need at George Mason, where their head coach would leave and go to Miami University, here comes the dynamic duo. Even though, Erik's Uncle was probably a huge concern and a thought about what would happen because of the departure of Coach Hobbs, there was a great situation that had opened at George Mason in the hiring of Coach Paul Hewitt, who is known for his huge stint at Georgia Tech University.

After texting back and forth with Erik after his commitment, I asked him about what he felt in terms of his commitment. Copes tells me, "It's great for me & I'm ready to get started". I would then go on to tell him, "I remember being on the bench at my alum (IUP) and we took Georgia Tech into overtime and playing against those tremendous bigs he developed". He then would remind me, "don't forget, Chris Bosh was under him". So with Chris Bosh first, then Derrick Favors next, the question is who's the next big talent that will come from under the Hewitt tree...I guess it will be Copes.

He plays with the intensity and as all the natural ability and mentality of a great big. With the system that Hewitt runs, there will be plenty of opportunities for him to be successful, and it does help that his Uncle is going to join him there. Great to see that he sees the bigger picture in all of this, where people might not understand.

Congratz & I wish you the best of luck. Fairfax is going to enjoy this one.

See how Brown gets Down!

Earl Brown who stands at 6'6" from Imhotep Charter jumped on the scene very early when he was freshmen in high school.  As a freshmen and sophomore, he was very productive at Freire Charter. He would find many different ways to help his team reach the fullest potential possible. Something just wasn't right for Brown at Freire and he transfered over to Imhotep, where he would excell early scoring 269 pts. in his junior year. He would then understand what victory tasted like on and off the court. He would show his ability to be athletic and get people to notice how good a player he was. He took his game to another level when he decided to take a back seat in order to help the better production of the team. Earl would not crack the starting line up but would be a huge piece in the success of his team winning a state title this past season. Not only, did he earn the opportunity to win a state & city title but he would also earn a scholarship offer to St. Francis (PA). 

If you talk to Brown about why St. Francis, he would tell you, "OPPORTUNITY". He explain "imagine getting the opportunity to play, get a great education, work hard and people from home would be able to see me play". Even though Brown didn't get the biggest looks and could have easily prepped and went bigger, he found a home in St. Francis (Pa).

After the visits and great experience and help from his team, he would show that he can be as productive as anybody else, by coming up big for his team when they needed him, including his big game in the state championship. He realized his time would come and now the guy who came off the bench with great upside, has now found a place to play Division 1 basketball and make a huge impact from the beginning to the end of his career. 

I wish Earl the best in his next four years.