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It was a showcase matchup between the two players who will likely vie for New York State Player of the Year honors.

A showdown between two elite players whose recruitments intersected in fascinating fashion.

Yet even after Harris and Half Hollow Hills West prevailed, 75-72, over Bishop Loughlin in overtime in the final game of the Big Apple Basketball Invitational at Baruch College, Pinkston proclaimed himself the best high school player in the state.

"Yes, hands down. Nobody's better than me," the 6-foot-6, 235-pound Villanova commit said after dominating for a game-high 34 points and 14 rebounds, including a thrilling 3-pointer at the regulation buzzer that forced the extra period.

Asked if Harris was as good as him, Pinkston said: "No, no way. I proved it tonight, who was the better player. He's alright. But I see myself as being the best player."

The 6-foot-8, 220-pound Tennessee-bound Harris scored 19 points and grabbed 7 rebounds before fouling out in the overtime.

"I'm not going to be cocky about my performance but I know my team won and that's all that matters," Harris said.

Without him in the OT, junior guard Tavon Sledge scored his team's last five points as the Long Island school outscored the Brooklyn program, 7-4, in the extra period. Sledge finished with 21 points and Tyler Harris, a 6-8 junior who is Tobias' younger brother, poured in 24 points to go with 8 rebounds.

Informed of Pinkston's comments, Tyler defended his older brother.

"Honestly, I think Tobias proved that he is one of the best players because with all the fouls he had, he was still going hard. He didn't care who he was playing against. He didn't care what JayVaughn has done or what he's going to do. He just came out and played hard," Tyler said.

Added Tobias: "I'm not thinking about no rankings or me vs. JayVaughn, JayVaughn vs. me. It's about winning. It's a team thing. I could care less about that."

Harris went on to praise Sledge, a speedy 5-9 guard who jetted in for a layup in transition to put Hills up 74-72 and then closed the scoring by hitting 1 of 2 free throws with 7.8 seconds left. Loughlin missed a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer.

"Tavon Sledge is crazy big," Tobias said. "He helped us out a lot. You know at the end when I wasn't in there, he got the buckets for us. That's why he's our point guard and he's our leader on this team, too."

Pinkston and Harris were the two highest-rated senior recruits in New York State.

Rivals.com rates Harris as the No. 1 power forward in the Class of 2010, and ranks Pinkston at No. 15.

Tennessee heavily recruited both players, with head coach Bruce Pearl following both on the summer circuit and even taking a charter to New York to watch Pinkston for one day at an event at St. John's in August.

Pinkston was leaning toward committing to Tennessee, but held off at the last moment.

The day after he was to announce, Nov. 19, Harris committed to Tennessee live on ESPNU, choosing the Volunteers over Syracuse, West Virginia, Kentucky and Louisville.

Harris said his decision had nothing to do with what Pinkston was doing.

"No, I just picked my school. My date to pick a school was on the 16th [of November] the whole time and picked my school on the 16th," Harris said, apparently indicating he chose his school three days before announcing.

Pinkston then waited until early December before announcing for Villanova, long thought to have had the inside track with the powerful Brooklyn player.

Asked if he chose the Wildcats because Harris had taken his spot at Tennessee, Pinkston said, "I'm not going to answer that."

Pinkston said he will bring "Toughness and getting after it" to the Wildcats, currently unbeaten in the Big East and ranked No. 4 nationally.

While Villanova has enjoyed a remarkable year thusfar under head coach Jay Wright, Tennessee has endured a number of embarrassing hits since Harris committed.

In November, three members of the school's football team were arrested in Knoxville on charges of attempted armed robbery.

The New York Times in December reported that the NCAA was looking into the football program's use of recruiting hostesses who visited out-of-state players to help bring them to Tennessee.

On New Year's Day, four members of the basketball team were arrested on misdemeanor gun, drug and alcohol charges during a traffic stop in Knoxville. The team's star player, Tyler Smith, was kicked off the team.

Two other players, Melvin Goins and Cameron Tatum, have since been reinstated by Pearl, while Brian Williams remains on indefinite suspension.

Back home on Long Island, Tobias Harris and his father, Torrel, kept a close eye on all of these developments.

"We just [saw] how coach Bruce Pearl was going to handle the situation and he handled it the most professionally that you could possibly handle it. Coaches can't be responsible for kids' actions 24/7, especially when you're 24 years old. So you can't really blame him," Torrel said.

"Like my kids, I hope I trained them to be the best so when they go out in public that they know right from wrong."

Torrel says there is no doubt that the family has opted to stand by its commitment to the school.

"We're content on Tennessee," Torrel said. "The thing is, Tobias is going to bring a different character and is going to draw other great kids. And they already got some good kids.

"Unfortunately, these kids did the wrong thing. That wasn't the right thing. But we're happy with Tennessee."

And after Pinkston's dominating performance, Villanova must be happy with him, too.

RECRUITING NOTES: Tyler Harris holds offers from UConn, West Virginia, Seton Hall, Hofstra, Fordham and Delaware and has interest from Syracuse, Georgia Tech, Maryland and South Florida.

"I am trying to make a name for myself. I'm coming right behind Tobias, filling in his footsteps. I'm trying to go to a high D-1 school just like him," Tyler said.

Sledge says the following schools are recruiting him: West Virginia, UConn, Providence, Hofstra, Oregon State and St. John's. "They've been calling me, calling my coaches and stuff," he said.

Maurice Harkless, a junior wing from Forest Hills High School who has orally committed to UConn, received a DNP-Coach's Decision when his team lost to Long Island Lutheran, 60-49. His coach did not return a text message seeking comment. Achraf Yacoubou, a 6-4 junior guard wwho has committed to Villanova, put up 19 points and 13 rebounds for Long Island Lutheran.

Rutgers assistant Craig Carter and St. John's assistants Glenn Braica and Oswald Cross were on hand. St. John's is recruiting Ryan Rhoomes of Cardozo, Khem Birch of Winchendon and Devin Brooks, Daniel Dingle and Nkeruwem Okoro of St. Raymond's, which lost to Plymouth Whitemarsh, 63-54.