I-3 sets Donofrio record

THE DONOFRIO CLASSIC goes back a long, long time. Many great players and many great teams played in the annual spring basketball tournament at The Fellowship House in Conshohocken that always attracted the Philadelphia area's best.

But no team ever did what I-3 did Tuesday night in the Donofrio, in beating the Rysheed Jordan-led Team Philly, 123-116, behind 42 points from Neuman-Goretti's Ja'Quan Newton.

I-3's victory marked the first time a team ever won five straight Donofrio Classics in the 53 years the tournament has been run. I-3 eclipsed some great teams, like the Sonny Hill Seniors that won four straight Donofrio Classics in 1983-86 and again from 1994-1997.

I-3 coach Bill Wilson stressed before the game that his team wasn't chasing history.

"It was a big honor to win the tournament again, and this was the second straight win for me," Newton said. "At one point, it felt like it was me and Rysheed going back and forth. I made a shot, he came back and made a shot. Any time I can go against him, it's a battle always."

Newton, a junior, helped his stock considerably in this tournament. He's getting attention from Temple, Miami and Arizona, among many schools, and plans to take a lot of visits this summer.

"I think this tournament helped me a lot," Newton said. "This tournament showed that I can shoot. I really worked on my jump shot and made a lot of [jumpers]. We didn't give Team Philly a break. We had too much size for them, and a lot of depth. They started to get tired at the end, and I was really tired. You're going up against the best and it brings out the best in you."

Chester's Rondae Jefferson chipped in with 18 points for I-3. Winning the Donofrio was a nice way to begin his summer. He took Chester's loss in the state championship to Lower Merion very hard. He's also been going nonstop. Two weeks ago, he played in the McDonald's All-American Game in Chicago; last Saturday, he played in the Jordan Classic in Brooklyn; and he's heading next to the Nike World Hoops Summit in Portland, Ore.

The game went back and forth, but I-3's size and depth was the difference. St. Benedict's Michael Young (Pitt) scored 17 points and had 13 rebounds.

Jordan led all scorers with 48 points.

"This was a tremendous honor, doing this for 10 years," Wilson said. "To work up to this point, and to win this five times in a row is a tremendous honor, considering the history of this tournament. I didn't think Rysheed Jordan can be stopped. We had to try and contain him. If he went off, in my gut, I feel we could still win, and he went off. Our size wore them down. It was a very big deal to win this. Every game I tried to reinforce how important this was. These kids have something special to have forever."