This was a great year of individual performances for both
opponents and the Cardinal’s Basketball Team.
The Efficiency honor roll will be based only for the games that
Plainfield played in.
There were some epic battles that came down to the
wire. There were the well known players
such as St. Patrick’s DeAndre “Dr. Jay” Bembry who’s afro caught in the rim
dunks were phenomenal. Then there was
6’9” Kyle “Slow Mo” Anderson. The
Cardinal fanatic has been watching this young phenom since he was a 6’5” freshman
at Paterson Catholic running the point.
Kyle improved every year on the hardwood floor. His best years are ahead of him and he may
be the best prospect out of the 2012 class in Jersey to make it to the dream
level of the NBA. Now before you
discredit the Cardinal Fanatic, the Cardinal Fanatic predicted that Kyrie
Irving and Michael Gilchrist would be future NBA players. Kyrie Irving went #1 after only playing less
than a dozen games his freshman season at Duke University. Now Michael Kid-Gilchrist will be going pro
after winning the National Championship at the University of Kentucky. ESPN has already projected him to go as high
as the #2 pick in the draft. There was
Harlem’s own Melvin Johnson for St. Benedict’s whose range was anything within
binocular site. Then there was the most recruited point guard in the nation,
Canada’s Tyler Ennis of St. Benedicts.
Ennis has more than a dozen scholarship offers on the table from every
major conference in the nation. By the
way, Ennis is only a junior.
Alex Mitola may have given the best exhibition of long distance
shooting that the Cardinal Fanatic has ever seen in a game. The only other shooters I can remember that
could shoot with that type of long distance range and with accuracy was one of
our own Plainfield’s legendary shooter, Will Johnson (“79” & “80”),
Camden’s Milt Wagner (“80”), Union Catholic’s John Hempel (“82”), and Johnson
Regional’s Kevin Boyle (“81”). Milt
Wagner would literally launch shots after taking 2 steps pass half court. Will
Johnson’s outside touch use to drive opposing coaches insane when he was left
open. Johnson shots were so pure that the ball would never touch the rim and
would whip the net so loud you could hear it from the cheap seats. John Hempel once dropped 38 points against
my beloved Cardinals. The amazing thing
about Hempel’s performance was his shooting hand was in a cast! Kevin Boyle was another dagger of a shooter
if left open you would pay. His fiery
competitiveness was on display as he led Johnson Regional into Cardinal country
and defeated Plainfield by double digits.
Johnson Regional would go on to win the Union County Tournament that
year. The same can be said about Alex
Mitola. It will be interesting to see
how he does at Dartmouth next basketball season.
But the 2012 Plainfield Cardinals were the most Efficient
team as a whole in the Cardinal Fanatic history of Efficiency rating. Justin Sears holds the Efficiency highest
rating ever recorded. Sears 24 points
26 rebounds and 8 rejections in the 2011 Group 3 Section 2 State Championship
against the #1 seeded Mendham Minutemen was arguably the greatest performance
by a Cardinal. Sears earned an
Efficiency Rating (ER) of 47 and at the time became only the 2nd
player to ever score higher than 40 (Kyrie Irving was the previous record
holder at an ER of 40). As a senior,
Sears continued to show that basketball is more than shooting the ball. Sears accomplished the rear double double of
1,000 + career points along with 1,000 + rebounds. After passing Randy Young (“80”) record of total career rebounds,
Sears has caste his own vote as Plainfield’s all-time best big man. Sears completed his season by being honored
by the Star Ledger as a member of the 1st Team All-State and becomes
the first Plainfield All-State Basketball First Team member that was not a
guard.
Sekou Harris has caste his own vote as one of the best
guards of all time. Sekou became the 11th
b-baller from Plainfield to eclipse the 1,000-point plateau. Harris had a phenomenal 3 years. The Cardinal Fanatic predicted when Harris
went down, as a sophomore with a season ending injury, that the Tyrone Johnson
led Cardinals would fall short in the State Championship to Cherokee. Sekou
brings another element to the game. His
lightning quickness is second to none.
Some reporters wrote, “Harris is the best open court player in the state
of New Jersey.” Harris proved this with
incredible games against Linden and undefeated Teaneck. Fios 1 reported at the Linden game, “Call the
Fire Department because Sekou Harris is on Fire!” In the Teaneck game, he pulled up on a fast break to knock down a
trey. Immediately after his converted
3-pointer, the fire alarms went off.
Fans stated it was Harris that set off the alarms because his hot
shooting set off the smoke detectors!
Harris will forever be mentioned with the all time great guards out of
Plainfield. Harris completed his season
by being named to the Star Ledger 2nd team All-State.
One of the fan favorites, Jahmal Lane, put in the work
during the off-season and it surely paid off.
He added muscles to his 6’4” frame that made him a problem against other
guards. The only 4-year varsity player
and the only basketball player to wear a Cardinal uniform to win 4 State
Sectional Crowns, Lane came up big this year.
His outside touch was consistent, his penetrating moves were clutch, and
defensive efforts made him one of the most valuable players in the state. Lane’s effort did not go un-noticed, as he
was the un-official team MVP. Lane
picked up some honors from the Star Ledger as he earned first team Central
Jersey and first team all County and was named Union County Player of the Year.
Dii’Jon Allen-Jordan bka Dr. Dunkadelic or Mr. Rim-attacker
or The Dunk Master, or some times Mr. Buzzer-beater or Like the Mustard, you
understand the talent of the 6’6” power forward. Allen-Jordan alley-oop dunk against Mendham was so spectacular
there was rumor that it was going to be shown on ESPN. If you do not believe the Cardinal Fanatic,
check it out on you tube
Every other Plainfield player had a particular task, Justin – Captain
rejecter, Jahmal – Mr. Microwave – lets get this party started, Sekou “Trey
Swish” but Dii’Jon was like an outlaw with multiple aliases. Not many athletes can change the momentum of
a game with one play, but Dr. Dunkadelic was notorious for just that. Probably his most remarkable dunk was in the
Group 3 State Championship game against Neptune. The Rim-attacker took off just inside the foul line and just
extended like Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic 4 and slammed it home http://vimeo.com/38298503. The Cardinals never looked back and would go
on to win their 2nd consecutive Group 3 Crown. There are not too
many names that can be put in the same sentence with arguably Plainfield’s
greatest dunker (Kenny Field’s) but Dii’Jon Allen-Jordan will be talked of as
one of Plainfield’s greatest dunkers of the 21st century.
Here are some other skywalking action!
Here are some other skywalking action!
Previous years Efficiency honor roll was dominated by
underclassmen but those underclassmen are now seniors. It showed with the best 2011-2012 Efficiency
performances dominated by seniors. The
following is just a sample before we honor the 2011-2012 best Efficiency
performances in a Plainfield game.
December 2011 – Players of the month
Justin Sears – Plainfield
Kamall Richards – St. Benedicts
Isaiah Davis – Elizabeth
Melvin Johnson – St. Benedicts
Ahmid Williams – Plainfield
January 2012 – Players of the month
Justin Sears – Plainfield
Sekou Harris – Plainfield
Dwayne Johnson – Paul Robeson (NY)
Jahmal Lane – Plainfield
Reggie Cameron – Hudson Catholic
February 2012 – Players of the month
Justin Sears – Plainfield
Alex Mitola – Gill St. Bernard’s
Sekou Harris – Plainfield
Jahmal Lane – Plainfield
Dii’Jon Allen-Jordan – Plainfield
March 2012 – Players of the month
Jerome Frink – St. Anthony’s
Dii’Jon Allen-Jordan – Plainfield
Sekou Harris – Plainfield
Jahmal Lane – Plainfield
Justin Sears – Plainfield
Next up – The Cardinal Fanatic ER Honorable Mention
2011-2012
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