The Exceptional Seniors All Star Game is a grand opportunity to get the competitive juices flowing, with and against some of Section I's elite, for one final game on the high school level.
In additon to being a battle between the area's significant seniors, the game is a memorable sendoff. It's a last dance, before the class of 2010's ballers open up the next chapter of their lives.
For Lakeland senior Chris Fazio, a versatile scorer who copped several double-doubles this season, it was a chance to showcase his multi-tool talent before the Section I masses.
Fazio made the most of his Exceptional Seniors All Star Game appearance.
The three-year Hornets starter scored 16 points and tore down seven rebounds, helping the Blue team seniors coast to a convincing 116-102 win over the Gold Team seniors, on the campus of SUNY Purchase March 25.
Peekskill's Daequan Brickhouse was the catalyst of Team Blue's souped-up offense. The blink-quick 5-foot-8 guard erupted for a game-high 35 points, en route to taking home game MVP honors.
Brickhouse is headed to Central Connecticut State next season, where the shootist (who blurs to the rack and drops teary floaters) will play alongside Ossining product Kenny Horton under coach Howie Dickenman, a Jim Calhoun disciple.
Fazio's Team Blue also received 24 points and 10 boards from Peekskill forward Kenny Bradshaw, a low Division-I prospect.
New Rochelle's Antoine Mason, the son of former Knicks bruising forward Anthony Mason, dropped 27 points to pace Team Gold.
Fazio, the Hornets' go-to-guy, proved he could score buckets and snare boards with the best of them. With his performance in the Exceptional Seniors All Star Game (an annual game which Fazio's older brother and similar player, Tom, competed in back in 2003), the 6-foot-5 guard/forward concludes a solid career under Henry Weltman.
Albeit it ended with a first round flameout, Fazio's senior campaign contained its fair share of memorable moments.
Fazio turned in a triple-double, scoring 16 points, snatching 11 rebounds, and dishing out 10 dimes to propel the Hornets to a 77-60 drubbing of Mahopac.
He put his stamp on the conference with a 30-point, 19-board outburst during a mid-season mauling of league foe Carmel. The Faz decimated the Rams' defense in the driving lanes, drained shots from behind-the-arc and flushed home an extravagant two-handed dunk in the game's waning minutes.
Fazio will also be remembered for his pressure-slicing heroics during the split gym skirmish against longtime rival Walter Panas.
In the blood feud renewed, it was Fazio's clutch free throw with 1.1 ticks remaining that lifted the Hornets past Panas in a dizzying, down-to-the-wire battle back in early January.