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Coney Island's Finest Comes to South Dallas
December 9, 2008
Last year Dallas saw Brandon Jennings bring his high-octane offensive arsenal to Moody Coliseum as he left Uptown Dallas on fire as he led Oak Hill Academy with 34 points in a 78-77 OT win. With what many say is the toughest schedule in the country, the Duncanville Panthers host Coney Island's Abraham Lincoln Railsplitters. Many may know of Lincoln High School as the alma mater of Stephon Marbury, Sebastin Telfair, and fictional character Jesus Shuttlesworth of Spike Lee's "He Got Game".
This year Coach Dewayne "Tiny" Morton and his squad are led by the all-time leading scorer in New York High School history, Lance "Born Ready" Stephenson. If you haven't seen this kid play, Thursday night might be the cheapest you will get to watch this kid play in person for a long time. I had the pleasure of watching the Coney Island messiah this summer at the Adidas Nations event held here in Dallas. I needed to see for myself why they call this kid "Born Ready". It didn't take long for me and the couple hundred other onlookers to realize what this kid does, and does a lot of it, HE GET BUCKETS!!!! Rivals.com has the 6'5 shooting guard as the #9 overall player in the nation. Stephenson, who hasn't chosen a college destination, is rumored to be comtemplating on foregoing college and potentially taking his game overseas to pursure "euro-riches". What does this mean for the local Panthers? Nothing! The game still has to be played and it is highly unlikely that Coach McNeely and his squad cares who's on the other side, as long as when the buzzer goes off, Duncanville gets the "W". Duncanville is coming off a weekend trip that saw them go 1-1 while losing to Oak Hill Academy, and beating Marshall County in overtime. For the Panthers to win this game, they are going to need to play as a TEAM, meaning egos must be put aside for the better of the team.
Key for Lincoln to Win:
James Padget: Versatile 6'7 forward committed Maryland.
Key for Duncanville to Win:
Julian Washburn: While the three seniors get the fanfare, the key to Duncanville winning not only this game, but the state championship, is Washburn. While there is no doubt that he has the skill level and athleticism, Thursday night I would like to see a sense of toughness and the look of a pitbull in his eyes. Once, Wash gets a "kill or be killed" attitude on the court, he's really going to be a problem for a lot opposing defenders.
Glenn Smith
Metroplex Hoops
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