Lance Stephenson and James Padgett got off to an ideal start in their quest for a second straight New York Public Schools Athletic League championship.

The Terps' shooting guard target and power forward commitment combined for 60 points and 25 rebounds in Lincoln High’s 101-72 win over Thurgood Marshall Academy.

Lance Stephenson had a triple-double of 39 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists and James Padgett followed with 21 points and 13 rebounds for No. 1 Lincoln (18-10), which faces No. 9 Transit Tech in the PSAL Class AA quarterfinals Saturday afternoon at St. John’s University at 5 p.m.

Earlier in the week, SNY.tv’s Adam Zagoria took a closer look at Stephenson and the sneaker wars.

Stephenson, the No. 1 senior in the nation according to the Hoop Scoop and No. 9 by Rivals, is one of the few elite seniors who has yet to pick a college and will likely choose from among St. John's (a Nike school), Kansas (adidas) and Maryland (Under Armour).

Yet the young man they call "Born Ready" has repeatedly said that the style of play (he prefers an up-tempo approach), the talent level of his future teammates and his relationship with the coach will be the determining factors. The sneaker affiliation of the school, he said, will have no bearing on his choice.

• Jordan Williams’ monster game last night wasn’t enough in Torrington’s 77-72 loss to Crosby for the Naugatuck Valley League championship.

“It came down to two championship players -- (Torrington center) Jordan Williams and (Crosby point guard) Anthony Ireland -- living up to their billing,” said Torrington coach Tony Turina, whose team took its first lead of the game (68-67) with two minutes left on a pair of Desmond Williams (8 points, 7 assists, 8 rebounds) foul shots, then got trades from their leaders as Jordan (52 points, 21 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals) and Ireland (29 points) made athletic layups at opposite ends of the court to wrestle the lead back and forth.

Torrington enters Connecticut’s Class L playoffs this week as heavy favorites in their first-round game.

Kennedy-Waterbury likely will go 0-3 for the season against Torrington Tuesday night. Torrington only has Jordan Williams, who plays at Maryland next season.

• The junior season of Terps shooting guard target Taran Buie ended Tuesday with Bishop Maginn’s 60-59 overtime loss to Albany Academy in the New York state playoffs.

Taran Buie nailed six threes and totaled 30 points for Bishop Maginn, which hadn’t lost to a Section II opponent (CBA) since midway through the 2006-07 season.

Penn State’s student newspaper, The Daily Collegian, profiled Buie this week. Buie’s older brother Talor Battle is a junior guard for the Nittany Lions.

[Bishop Maginn coach Rich] Hurley felt the brothers playing in the same backcourt again would be "neat," but was worried Battle's senior-year priorities might shift if he had Buie's collegiate adjustment to worry about.

Battle said it would be fun recreating the high school days with his brother on the Bryce Jordan Center hardwood, but the point guard won't count on it for the time being.

• Terps targets and Miller School teammates Mychal Parker and Hippolyte Tsafack (10 points, 11 rebounds) contributed to the Mavericks’ 82-68 win over Walsingham (Va.) Academy in the VIS Division II quarterfinals.

Mychal Parker and Brice Kofane rounded out the offensive effort with 14 and 13 points each, and the two were both efficient and effective as shot blockers. Parker had three blocks and a pair of steals and Kofane finished with five rejections.

• TerpCenter.com has a free video highlight package and interview with Seneca Valley sophomore power forward Jordan Goodman.

• UM-bound point guard Dara Taylor (22 points, nine steals) led Caravel Academy to a 68-27 win over St. Georges in the first round of the Delaware high school girls basketball tournament.

"We struggled a little bit this season," said Dara Taylor, the Caravel senior point guard and Maryland signee who terrorized St. Georges offensively and defensively.

"This is to show everybody we're serious about making a championship run, and it's ours to take. It didn't matter who we were playing. We still had to play defense, play with energy, make shots, and come out sharp."

• Maryland power forward recruit Tianna Hawkins and sister Tierra have Riverdale Baptist in position for its third consecutive National Association of Christian Athletes girls' basketball championship..

The Hawkins twins will be playing their final prep games together at the NACA championship; 6-foot-3 Tianna will play for Maryland next year, and 6-0 Tierra has one more year at Riverdale (though she said she'd love to join her sister in College Park in 2010). They said they'll miss playing side by side in the low post, something they've done on common teams since seventh grade.

"I'm going to miss those bullet passes," said Tianna, the team's leading scorer (16.5 ppg). She said one of her best memories was in December at a tournament in Phoenix, where Tierra scored 37 points in four difficult games. "Arizona, that was the best. Every time we got the ball we looked for each other -- and it was her turn to shine."

• Terps women’s center signee Essence Townsend is mentioned as a player to watch in the New Jersey non-public B playoffs.

At 6-6, Essence Townsend of Paterson Catholic is enough of a deterrent to make penetrating point guards think twice about driving the lane. When they determine it's safer to attack off the wing and to gain a better perceived angle to the basket, they discover quickly how fast Townsend covers ground to get in position to challenge any interior shots. She had 10 blocks and cleared a dozen rebounds in a 52-33 victory over Teaneck on Jan. 4.

• Terps junior forward commitment Alyssa Thomas leads Central Dauphin to a first-round matchup with Great Valley tonight in the Pennsylvania Class AAAA girls basketball playoffs.

Great Valley (25-4) vs. Central Dauphin (28-1). The Patriots are pitted against the defending state champions. Alyssa Thomas, a Maryland recruit, averages 19.5 points and 13 rebounds a game.

Pick: Central Dauphin, 62-43.

Football recruiting

• Maryland was the first of 10 schools to offer Thomas Johnson linebacker Nick Forbes, according to Scout.com.

Although it wasn’t for a junior day, Forbes has been to Maryland several times. “I like that they are closest to Baltimore and Washington, DC,” he said. “It’s one of those places where you’ll never get bored.

“Plus they also have good academics,” he said. “I plan to major in mechanical engineering and coach Ralph Friedgen says that Maryland has good connections to get an internship and that he knows people at Clark Construction. Getting an internship at a company like that would definitely help my career.”

• Lynchburg, Va., defensive end Zack McCray, a Rivals 250 member, took a recent trip to College Park.

“Maryland was fun,” he said. “I went up there and got a little visit in. Basically I got a whole tour of the campus and got to see the student center. The whole team was in there bowling. I chilled with them a bit.

“I really like the business school up there and the opportunities when you graduate. I little more than 90% of the kids graduate and get jobs in D.C. or Baltimore.”

• West Springfield, Va., offensive tackle Michael Justice has received some early interest from the Terps.

“I’m getting letters from Maryland and I’ve called one of their coaches,” he said. “I’ve gotten a handwritten letter from UCLA and a few others.

“I plan to go up to Maryland to see some practices once they start up next month.”