On Saturday, September 28, 36 teams from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut converged upon Princeton University for the 27th Princeton High School Academic Tournament. Here's a recap of how some of our teams did!
New Jersey Teams:
Millburn A:
Led by the indomitable Dean Ah Now, Millburn put up the highest power numbers out of any team at PHSAT, with 89 powers over 11 games. Dean himself had 72 powers, the most out of any individual player by far, and 123.64 PPG, proving that he is undoubtedly one of the game’s elite players. Throughout prelims, they hit almost 26 PPB, and dominated the playoffs before an unfortunate loss to Hunter A brought them into third place, where they handily beat East Brunswick A. Ben Hu and Charlie Baker provided capable support; Ben in particular scales very well, and compensates for Dean’s main weakness, science, while Charlie proved critical support in pop culture and geography.
High Tech A:
Despite graduating the entirety of the A team that finished 5th at NSC last year, High Tech has retooled incredibly well. Junior Deepak Gopalakrishnan has improved by leaps and bounds, leading High Tech to a well-deserved finals appearance with his 74.55 PPG. Additionally, Max Brodsky put up an incredible 24/3/5 statline, picking up in the fine arts where Michael Li left off. Combined with the efforts of Frank Grabowski and Karen Li, this team had excellent wins over teams like Livingston, Penn Manor, and East Brunswick, before ultimately dropping a hard-fought final match against Hunter.
East Brunswick A:
East Brunswick has flown under the radar during the preseason, but that didn’t stop them from going 4-1 in playoffs and with a 4th place finish. They were a true four-player team, with lead scorer Jackson Lee scoring under 40 PPG, but fourth scorer Dylan Ye providing a solid 22.27 PPG. After shaking off a loss to Hunter B in prelims, they recovered to beat them in playoffs, losing only to High Tech A. In the third-place game, they played very well but ultimately lost to Millburn A. This performance has established East Brunswick as a solid second-tier team within New Jersey as well as the New York metro circuit at large.
Robert Harp/Livingston A:
Although they graduated top scorer and captain Jonathan Ackerman, and after they finished a disappointing 5-5 at HSNCT last year, they appear to have picked up more or less where they left off, finishing a solid 6th this tournament, and many of his teammates seemed to have picked up the slack (especially Carolyn Meng, finishing with a 53.18 PPG and 18 powers, and Rosa Xia, with 32.37 PPG and 16 powers). However, the loss of Jonathan looks like it has sapped away some of their moxie and improved their consistency, as while they didn’t neg themselves into losing several winning games (as they did at Prison Bowl XII last year, for example, losing to a Stuyvesant team that then lost every other game in prelims), they also didn’t pull any upsets (for example, beating Hunter A at Bardbowl last year), and their power numbers were relatively low, as was their PPB. Overall, expect Livingston to be a solid, but not exceptional, team at this year’s nationals.
High Tech B:
High Tech B did surprisingly well for a team that had been, on the whole, plying their trade as High Tech D just last year. After almost all of the A team and all of the B team graduated, however, this new High Tech B seems well-placed to fill the void left by Adrian, Cole, Eric, and Ivy. They lost several close games, which otherwise might have gone in their favor, including a narrow 330-355 loss to Henderson A and a 290-375 one to their own A team, proving that they have a higher ceiling than this tournament alone suggests.
Although they missed playoffs last Saturday, Ridgewood, Middlesex County Academies, West Windsor Plainsboro North, Tenafly and Edison all put up respectable performances in the consolation brackets. In particular, Aum Mundhe was the third top individual scorer in his first ever NAQT tournament on Ridgewood HS!
Here are some highlight performances from non-NJ teams:
Congratulations to New York's Hunter College High School A, who won the tournament with an impressive record of 10 wins 1 loss. Hunter B also performed incredibly well, making playoffs despite the youth of their players (3 of which were freshmen!).
Pennsylvania's Mannheim Township A and Penn Manor both also made playoffs, as did Kellenberg and Wilton from New York and Connecticut respectively.
The conclusion of the first big tournament of the circuit of the year has filled all of us with a great deal of excitement for this upcoming season! Best of luck to all teams (both in state and out of state but especially in state) in upcoming tournaments! <3
By Dean Ah Now, Millburn High School