Dave's JOINT

Photo courtesy of Dave’s Joint.

This is our first entry for our series, “The City Game,” which will be chronicling moments from the summer of 2023 involving the basketball community in the New York metropolitan area.

Throughout the summer, there are plenty of events taking place in New York City. The asphalt tournaments in the five boroughs and surrounding counties have the public running to the parks to check out the action. But there is one event that stands out above the rest. That one event is NY vs. NY, which just finished its fifth year of existence and has had a monopoly on the basketball culture.

Operated by Nike, the event features all six tournaments under its umbrella (Dyckman, West 4th, Tri-State Classic, Watson Classic, Gersh Park and Lincoln Park Classic), which feature some of the premier high school players in the city and around the nation. However, there is a recurring theme taking place throughout the summer that many may not notice.

Aside from the players entering their junior or senior year in high school, there are also the players that have graduated in the month of June that may or may not have their scholarships secured. With the advent of the NCAA transfer portal, it’s tough for many high schoolers to obtain scholarships unless they are exceptional talents or they are a good fit to the systems that the prospective college coaches have in place.

Throughout the summer, there were four graduating seniors that stood the test of time in NY vs. NY:

Aaron Goldstein, Xaverian High School, 6-0, Point Guard, Dyckman, College of Staten Island

Throughout the high school season, Goldstein was wreaking havoc in the CHSAA “AA” division, averaging 16.7 points per game for the Clippers. But the opportunity to shine was nothing new for the Staten Island native. When it came to NY vs. NY, he wasn’t shy about scoring, as he was part of a lethal backcourt for Dyckman that featured Victory and Cardinal Hayes sophomore guard Jermel “Mel-Mel” Thomas. During the first stop in Harlem on June 27th against Tri-State, he scored 14 points, then in Week 3 on July 24th in East New York, Brooklyn, he scored 12 points. This upcoming season, he will be tearing it up on the Division II level for CSI for another Staten Island native, in head coach T.J. Tibbs, a graduate of the school that also played for the Dolphins and led them to an NCAA Tournament run in 2011-12 and then led them to a CUNYAC championship in 2017-18 in his first season as a head coach. Goldstein is a prime example of how there is talent in the Shaolin.

Jalyke Gaines-Wyatt, Piney Woods School, 6-0, Point Guard, West 4th Street, Alcorn State University

A Long Island native, Gaines-Wyatt first made a name for himself at St. Anthony High School in South Huntington, where he was a standout for the Friars. Last season, he made his presence felt down at Piney Woods School in Piney Woods, Mississippi as a post-grad. Once he was done with the comp down south, he came back to the New York area to take care of unfinished business. From Week 1 until West 4th’s final game in the quarterfinals at Dyckman on August 1st, he had all eyes on him with his scoring performances. In Week 1, he had 13 points & five assists against Gersh Park on June 27th. During Week 2 on July 11th at Watson, he had 12 points & five assists. In his final game at Dyckman, he had 12 points & four assists. This coming season, he will be playing on the Division I level for a Braves team that had a spectacular season, going 18-14 overall, finishing 15-3 in the SWAC and gaining a berth in the NIT. With his talent, you can bet that he will be making a name for himself moving forward.

Anthony Isaac, Thomas Jefferson High School, 6-6, Forward, Gersh Park, Blinn College

With his post play, the Brooklyn native worked wonders in the PSAL “AA” division, averaging 25.7 points and 20 rebounds per game for the Orange Wave, as he led them to the PSAL “AA” championship game in March, where they lost to their borough foe, Eagle Academy II. During the summer, he saved his best performances for last, as he came up big for Gersh when they needed him most, especially in the semifinals on August 8th at Lincoln Park in South Ozone Park against Watson, where he held his own on the boards and made clutch baskets. During the championship game on August 12th at Rucker Park in Harlem, he was the squad’s true enforcer, as he did what he had to do to help his team secure the win and their fourth championship in the event’s history. This season, he will be one of four New Yorkers playing for the JUCO powerhouse based out of Brenham, Texas. He will be playing for a squad that went 23-8 on the season and made it to the quarterfinals of the NJCAA Region XIV Tournament. If everything works itself out, he’ll probably end up on the big stage beginning in the 2025-26 season.

Darrell “D.J.” Victory, Jr., Scotland Campus Prep (PA), 5-8, Point Guard, Central Connecticut State

Any team Victory plays on, they’re sure to be guaranteed a win. Two summers ago, while entering his senior season in high school, the Harlem native led the TMT/Showstoppers squad to the college/pro-am championship at the Dyckman Basketball Tournament. During his senior season at Cardinal Hayes, he was the starting point guard on a squad that had four other Division I-caliber players in Tobe Awaka (Tennessee), Tarique Foster (UMass), Elijah Moore (Syracuse commit) and the No. 17 player in the Class of 2024 in Ian Jackson (North Carolina commit). He helped lead the Cardinals to a 26-3 record and the 2022 CHSAA “AA” championship, winning the championship game’s MVP award. From there, he went on to do a postgraduate year at Scotland Campus Prep in Scotland, Pennsylvania. But he saved his best for last for this summer. During Week 1, he had 10 assists to go along with eight points, as he led Dyckman to a victory over Tri-State. In Week 3, he had seven assists to go along with five points in the loss to Watson. Through the playoffs, he was still productive to the very end, even putting up 12 points, five rebounds and five assists in the semifinal loss to Lincoln Park on August 8th. This season, he will be a preferred walk-on at Central Connecticut State, but thus far, he has achieved his ultimate goal of playing Division I basketball.

All four of these players are proof that there’s always a chance at landing a spot at a school, even if it’s late. But now that the college basketball season is around the corner, they will all get a chance to show the fans at their respective schools what they’re made of, just like they showed the general public for the span of several weeks amongst the crowded parks of New York City.

Look out for our next entry in this series, coming later next week, as we will be talking about Long Island Lutheran junior guard Nigel James, Jr., and his amazing summer on the Nike EYBL circuit with Expressions Elite and with Lincoln Park in NY vs. NY.