SPRINGFIELD – Most Division I college basketball recruits have a similar set of goals when they make the transition from high school to the NCAA: conference titles, NCAA tournament wins, maybe a selection in the NBA Draft.
Abraham Lincoln High School senior and Seton Hall commit Isaiah Whitehead has all those goals, but he said he's playing for something more.
"I always preach that New York City basketball is still at its peak, like it was before" Whitehead said Saturday after his team's victory at the Hoophall Classic over Yates High School in Houston.
"Just by going to college not too far from New York, where everybody from New York can see me play, I want to show that New York is still alive,"Whitehead said.
The 6'4" Lincoln guard will head to Seton Hall next year along with three other players from New York City, including teammate Desi Rodriguez.
The duo combined for 37 points Saturday night at Blake Arena in Springfield in Lincoln's 90-66 rout over Yates.
Players like Whitehead and Rodriguez have continued a strong basketball tradition at Lincoln, one of the premier programs in New York City that has produced NBA players like Stephon Marbury, Sebastian Telfair and Lance Stephenson.
"Growing up and coming down (to the games), watching those guys succeed, becoming what they did, like McDonald's All-Americans, going to the NBA and to the top of the country, I strive for that," Whitehead said.
Whitehead, ranked 14th overall in Rivals.com's top 150 players in the class of 2014, struggled with his shot in the first half Saturday, as he faced double-teams from Yates defenders no matter where he caught the ball. The shooting guard ended the game with 14 points, hitting five of 14 shots from the floor.
It was Rodriguez who stole the show Saturday, scoring 25 points on 10 for 16 from the floor, peppered with a number of highlight-reel dunks on drives to the rim. His flush off a lob from Rakym Felder in the third quarter came in the midst of a run that opened up a five-point ballgame into a blowout.
The win pushes the Railsplitters' record to 8-2, on the strength of their two Pirates commits. They will be joined next season in New Jersey by Angel Delgado, a Bronx native who attends the Patrick School in New Jersey, and Khadeen Carrington, a guard from Brooklyn’s Bishop Loughlin School.
Rodriguez said the group is looking forward to the opportunity to bring their brand of basketball to South Orange.
"We've got a great bond together and I think we can do something together at Seton Hall," Rodriguez said.
Whitehead had offers from Pittsburgh, Indiana and St. John's, among other schools, the table before he made his decision to go to Seton Hall. He said the opportunity to bring Seton Hall success after seven straight years out of the NCAA tournament was one he did not want to pass up.
"I always said I was going to a school that needed me, not (one that) wanted me," Whitehead said. "I would be the face of the program as a freshman, you can't get no better than that."