Raffa

[Dane Pound]

Anthony Raffa starts his season tonight. Good story on him today. <a href="http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/sports/highschool/story/7021621p-6880480c.html">Get Ready for Raffa Atlantic City Press</a>

[Clickclack]

Excellent article! This is the guy coach called the point guard of the future. I'm glad that he appears to be solid on defense and that he is an athletic guard with speed and explosiveness. He also appears based on that article to have the ability to be a leader, something I think this team lack a little. Other then Conelly and sometimes Siggers the other guys don't show much emotion.

[Dane Pound]

I've liked the descriptions I've seen of Raffa so far. You never know until he gets to campus but he sounds good. The good sign for us with all three of next years recruits is that teams from higher conferences have had them on their radar. MAC teams with Allen, Several with Ambrose and CAA and A10 schools with Raffa. Should make for a bright future.

[Clickclack]

One my biggest things is that all of these guys look quick and athletic. That is one things I was hoping that coach would address by getting more athletic and quick players in. He seems to have done just that. Looks like these two guys could be the back court of the future. It just seems that the coach likes to recruit in cycles....get some big guys and then the following year concentrate on the wings and guards and then the big guys again. So at any given time either the back court is full of veterans or the front court.

[reeder]

Hermits survive Raffa's 46

 

 

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/sports/...p-6883522c.html

 

Raffa sank 17 of 35 shots. He made only one 3-pointer, which he banked in the second quarter for career point No. 1,000. Raffa began the game needing 14 points for the milestone.

 

Most of his other baskets came on acrobatic drives to the basket against the taller Hermits. Raffa created his own scoring opportunities with seven steals.

[haggyland]

Nice find with the article, Reeder.

 

I especially liked: "The crowd left talking about the 6-foot-1 Raffa, who lived up to his billing as one of the state's top players."

 

I have been waiting for them to update Billy Allen's statistics from last night (a win for his team), but they seem to be a bit slow in doing so.

[haggyland]

According to the blog Raffa had some witnesses to his nice game:

 

"*UAlbany coach Will Brown and assistant Eric Eaton drove to New Jersey on Friday to watch incoming recruit Anthony Raffa of Wildwood Catholic score 46 points in a 79-72 loss to St. Augustine Prep. Raffa, a 6-foot-1 senior point guard, went over the 1,000-point mark for his career."

 

I am loving that this blog is giving some nice inside information...

[Dane Pound]

St. Augustine is where Michael Haddix went to school. Also Pops Mensah Bonsu(?) from George Washington.

[McFan]

St. Augustine is where Michael Haddix went to school. Also Pops Mensah Bonsu(?) from George Washington.

 

"The Hermits' reserves included 6-7 Jack Crawford, 6-5 Matt Haddix, and 6-5 Pete D'Andrea. Bill Giberson, a 6-2 sophomore, also played well off the bench with five points."

 

6'5" reserve Matt Haddix, younger brother?

[Dane Pound]

Raffa scored 33 in his team's second game this weekend. That drops his scoring average down to 39 points a game

 

Anthony Raffa scores 33 in Wildwood Catholic

[SienaTony]

St. Augustine is where Michael Haddix went to school. Also Pops Mensah Bonsu(?) from George Washington.

 

"The Hermits' reserves included 6-7 Jack Crawford, 6-5 Matt Haddix, and 6-5 Pete D'Andrea. Bill Giberson, a 6-2 sophomore, also played well off the bench with five points."

 

6'5" reserve Matt Haddix, younger brother?

 

Yes that is Michael’s younger brother. His father says Matt is the best player of the 3 Darius is a walk on at Siena . Matt is a sophomore I believe

[haggyland]

The game snippets are at the end of other articles, but it looks like the production continues for Raffa:

 

GAME 3:

 

WILDWOOD CATHOLIC 72, ST. JOSEPH 43

 

Anthony Raffa scored 26 points, 20 in the first half, to lead Wildwood Catholic to a 49-20 halftime lead. Pat Kelly had 20 for the Crusaders, 10 in each half. Mark Senese had 13 points for St. Joseph.

 

St. Joseph 10 10 12 11 — 43

 

Wildwood Catholic 26 23 13 10 — 72

 

SJ — Senese 3 5-8 13, White 4 2-4 10, Farina 0 1-2 1, Todaro 1 0-1 2, Forbes 0 1-2 1, Gough 4 2-3 11, Kirchon 1 0-0 2, Slinka 1 0-0 3. Totals — 14 11-20 43.

 

WC — Raffa 10 5-5 26, Haas 1 2-2 4, DeWeese 2 0-0 4, Kelly 8 0-0 20, Hindeline 2 2-2 6, Smith 2 2-2 6, Rodgers 1 0-0 3. Totals — 26 14-15 72.

 

3-pointers — Senese (2), Gough, Slinka, SJ; Raffa, Kelly (4), Rogers WC.

 

RECORDS — WC 2-1, St. Joseph 1-2.

[haggyland]

Game 4:

 

WILDWOOD CATHOLIC 74, PLEASANTVILLE 64

 

Anthony Raffa, The Press' coverage area's leading scorer at 35 points per game, dropped 36 on the Greyhounds to lead the Crusaders, ranked seventh in the Press' Elite 11, to their third win in a row after the team lost its season opener to St. Augustine.

 

“It was a huge win for us,” Crusaders' coach Dave DeWeese said. “ To be able to go into their gym and win is huge especially since they just came off of a win of Holy Spirit.”

 

The Crusaders led by as many as 20 in the first half but Pleasantville rallied several times to narrow that margin to six points at its lowest.

 

“We came out really strong,” DeWeese said. “They fought back and it was just back and fourth after that. We were able to hold off all of their runs.”

 

Clark Hindelang scored 13 points in the win.

 

Shaheed Rex scored 23 points to lead the Greyhounds, his teammate Louis Sanchez contributed with 12.

 

 

Wildwood Catholic 18 19 16 23 — 74

 

Pleasantville 7 16 22 19 — 64

 

W — Raffa 36, Haas 13, DeWeese 4, Kelly 3, Hindelang 13, Smith 2, Garriott 5.

 

P — Gerald 5, Gould 9, Sanchez 12, Rex 23, Lyons 2, Nixon 3, Spiller 3, Ryan 8, Green 2.

 

RECORDS — Pleasantville 3-1, Wildwood Catholic 3-1.

[Dane Pound]

Raffa dropped in 31 points as his team won again.

Anthony Raffa propels Crusaders to win with 31 points - Atlantic City Press

[haggyland]

Raffa dropped in 31 points as his team won again. <a href="http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/sports/highschool/story/7046074p-6904350c.html" target="_blank">

Anthony Raffa propels Crusaders to win with 31 points - Atlantic City Press</a>

 

Am I assumming correctly that UAlbnay has never had a recruit that has averaged 30ppg in high school? Is Raffa going to fill Jamar's spot in his first game game as a freshman, or does he need some time to adjust to the college game?

 

Anyways, Free Carl Ross, and of course, that whole 'Happy Holidays' thing.