If there
is anyone, who has been a prized pupil of Mike "SHOTMAN"
Lanza, and his basketball camps and clinics, it is Jeff Tannenbaum.
A guard at Pingry High School, Jeff became the school's all time leading
scorer with over 1,400 points for his career. During his sophomore
year at Pingry, he led the Big Blue to a 19-6
overall record including a 13-4
mark in the Hills Division of the Colonial Hills Conference, which
produced a second place finish in the league behind 2006
North Jersey Section 2 Group I finalist, Science Park of Newark.
In 2005-06, the Big Blue, which was coached by former Bridgewater-Raritan
and NBA standout, Eric Murdock, averaged 59.4 points per game while
giving up just 50.6 points per game.
Tannenbaum
helped the Martinsville, New Jersey based school qualify for the NJSIAA
Non-Public A North State Tournament as the fourth seed that season,
where Pingry eventually lost to Paramus Catholic by a score of 49-45
in the Quarterfinals. Other accomplishments that season included a
holiday tournament championship at the David
Brearley Bear Tournament in Kenilworth in December 2005 with a
come from behind victory over Governor Livingston (58-56) in the first
round, and then a win over Highland Park (68-57) in the Championship.
Following that season, Murdock left the school, and the Big Blue sufferred
the following season with a 4-17
overall record including a 1-12 mark in league
play.
During
the course of the off-season, the Big Blue, with the help of Mike
Lanza, got themselves into the 2007
Bound Brook Summer League, which was being resurrected by Crusaders
head coach, Anthony Melesurgo. In that league, Tannenbaum was the
leading scorer with a scoring
average of 20.7 points per contest. Following the completion of
the summer league, Jason Murdock, the cousin of Eric Murdock, took
over the Pingry boys basketball program as the head coach after being
at New Brunswick for a season in 2006-07. The result was significant
improvement for the Big Blue in 2007-08. The Somerset County school
finished up at .500 with a 13-13
overall record including a 7-7 mark in league
play, which put them in a tie for third place with Montclair Kimberley.
In 2007-08,
Pingry's Big Blue started the season with 9 wins in their first 13
games, and averaged 50.4 points per game while yielding an average
of exactly 50.0 points per game. The team won a preliminary round
game in the Somerset County Tournament with a 59-54
victory over Gill St. Bernards of Pepack-Gladstone before losing
to Bernards in the next round by a 60-45 score. In the victory over
Gill St. Bernards, Tannenbaum scored only 8 points, but grabbed 7
rebounds, and collected 2 assists, a steal, and a block. Pingry also
qualified for the Non-Public
A North State Tournament, where it lost
to Delbarton of Morris County in the opening round, 47-37. In
that game, Tannenbaum had a team high 13 points along with 4 rebounds
an an assist.
Earlier
in the season, the Big Blue competed again in the Brearley
Bear Tournament in Kenilworth, where it lost to Governor Livingston
in the opening round by a score of 61-58, and then trounced
Highland Park in the consolation game, 69-45. In the victory over
the Owls, Tannenbaum chipped
in with 14 points on 5 of 10 shooting overall from the floor including
a 3 of 4 showing from three point range. Moreover, the senior guard
collected 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Tannenbaum's best peformance of
the season came on January 31st against
Morristown-Beard when he scored a season high 25 points on 8 of
10 shooting overall from the floor including a 5 of 6 showing from
long distance, and 4 of 6 from the line. Moreover, the senior also
picked up 5 rebounds and a steal.
For the
2007-08
season, Tannenbaum led the team in scoring with 389 total points,
or an average of 15.6 points per game. He made 138 of 324 attempts
from the floor for approximately 43 percent. The 6'0" and 188
pound guard actually shot better from three point range with a 36
of 80 showing for 45 percent. He also was third in rebounding with
a total of 90 for the season, or an average of 3.6 per game. Tannenbaum
led the team in assists with 69, or 2.8 per contest, tied for first
with 14 blocked shots, or 0.6 swats per game, and was second in steals
with 42 or 1.7 swipes per game. He even drew one of the five team
charges drawn all year. Tannenbaum's scoring and shooting, particularly
from beyond the arc, are trademarks of his hard work and tutiledge
under Lanza. The Pingry senior, who is a "very humble young man,"
according to Lanza, excels in the classroom with an A/A- GPA, several
AP courses to his credit, and an SAT score that ranges for 1400 under
the old, or classic system to 2100 in the new system with the essay
test.
Read
more about this special basketball player and person in this article
courtesy of Greg Machos of GMC Hoops.
