2010 National Prep Showcase – Friday Notes

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The National Prep Showcase tipped off on Friday at Albertus Magnus College. This year’s event features a few new teams that haven’t been in it before, and several played on Friday. The first three games were all single-digit games, then the last four were all decided by double digits. The last one is a bit deceptive since it was an overtime game.

With that, a look at some details and highlights from the day’s action.

Friday Scoreboard

Northfield (MA) Mount Hermon 80, Fork Union (VA) Military Academy 73

Fitchburg (MA) Notre Dame Prep 75, Waynesboro (VA) Fishburne Military School 66

Phoenix (AZ) Westwind Prep 84, North Bridgton (ME) Bridgton Academy 78

Chatham (VA) Hargrave Military Academy 115, South Kent (CT) School 105

Oakdale (CT) St. Thomas More 82, Lee (ME) Academy 57

Lanham (MD) Princeton Day Academy 67, Winchendon (MA) School 63

Newark (NJ) NIA Prep 100, Pittsfield (ME) Maine Central Institute 89 (OT)

Honor Roll

Khem Birch, Notre Dame Prep: 20 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks

Aaron Cosby, Northfield Mount Hermon: 23 points, 7 rebounds

Myles Davis, Notre Dame Prep: 19 points, 4 assists

Kiwi Gardner, Westwind Prep: 19 points, 6 assists

John Green, Westwind Prep: 30 points, 11 rebounds

P.J. Hairston, Hargrave Military Academy: 29 points, 11 rebounds

Donnie Hale, Bridgton Academy: 15 points, 14 rebounds, 3 blocks

David Joseph, NIA Prep: 15 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists

Daishon Knight, Maine Central Institute: 24 points on 7-12 shooting, 5 rebounds

Ricardo Ledo, South Kent School: 30 points, 4 rebounds

Ryan Martin, Bridgton Academy: 14 points, 10 rebounds

Khristian Smith, Maine Central Institute: 18 points, 7 rebounds

Shaquille Thomas, NIA Prep: 27 points, 5 assists

Dez Wells, Hargrave Military Academy: 22 points, 6 rebounds

K.C. Whitaker, Fishburne Military School: 24 points, 4 assists

Prince Williams, Fork Union Military Academy: 22 points, 7 steals

Fork Union Not Loaded, But Plays Everyone Tough

Fletcher Arritt’s teams at Fork Union Military Academy aren’t loaded with big-time players. In fact, in recent years he hasn’t had many high-major players, period. This year’s team doesn’t look any different, but one thing remains: his team will play even the most talented team tough. That was evident in the opening game, a tough 80-73 loss to Northfield Mount Hermon.

Fork Union plays solid, fundamental basketball at both ends of the floor. Arritt’s opposite number, Northfield Mount Hermon coach John Carroll, was impressed and knew his team would get a tough contest. He spoke of how well the team defends and how it challenged his team.

Fork Union isn’t lacking talent. Prince Williams (6’6″ Sr. SF, Raleigh (NC)) had a nice game and impressed by not being afraid to work inside despite his skinny body. Larry Brown (6’7″ Sr. PF, Sedgwick (KS)) is athletic and active with a good body. Mark Lenox (6’0″ Sr. PG, Fairfax (VA)) still has some filling out ahead and showed some promise. But no one would place this team among the most talented ones in the event.

Still, one constant is that this team will play opponents tough, no matter how talented. They will surely do so again to open Saturday against Bridgton Academy.

Birch Dominates in Spurts

Notre Dame Prep junior Khem Birch (6’9″ Jr. PF, Pierrefonds (Que.)) is more than capable of dominating games. Long and athletic, he runs the floor as well as any big man and finishes the break very well. He’s very capable of blocking a shot and finishing the break right after it. And he’s come a long way as a basketball player from a little over a year ago.

In Friday’s win over Fishburne Military School, Birch had a nice stat line. But the takeaway is that his progress continued and he dominated at times enough to leave you wanting more. His body is maturing and he remains an excellent shot-blocker by not biting on pump fakes, but he continues to show things he didn’t before. He made a nice touch pass to lead to a fast break basket one time, and another time he used a pump fake and one dribble to get closer to the basket for a field goal.

Birch still has a ways to go in a halfcourt offense, and he has to want it consistently. There’s no question he has the potential to dominate all the time, but whether he has the will to is the question.

Good West Coast Talent Comes to Town

Westwind Prep entered as a large unknown to many on the east coast. They have some good talent, and it was on display in a game that was better than some were giving it credit for as they held off Bridgton Academy for the win.

The talent starts with point guard Kiwi Gardner (5’7″ Jr. PG, Mante Manteca (CA)), who has actually moved back into the class of 2012. Though small, his motor is always going, he’s quick and tough, and isn’t lacking skills. He showed a touch from long range en route to 19 points to go with his passing.

Gardner’s big help came from UC Santa Barbara commit John Green (6’6″ Sr. SF, Oakland (CA)), who had 30 points and 11 boards, and Utah commit George Matthews (6’5″ Sr. SF, Phoenix (AZ)), who had 15 and seven boards and has a good body. They also have an intriguing prospect in Keannau Post (6’10″ Sr. C, Victoria (BC)), who has a good frame and a body that doesn’t have all good weight, but moves well. He showed some post moves and one time showed a fairly quick turn to score an inside basket.

Westwind Prep’s matchup with Notre Dame Prep on Saturday night figures to be a good one. Notre Dame Prep is very deep and has plenty of talent, but Westwind has some good talent as well. It will give the event newcomers a chance to prove themselves against one of the best teams in New England.

Plenty of Offense

Defense appeared to be optional in what many thought was the best matchup of the day. Hargrave Military Academy and South Kent set quite a pace and largely kept it up in Hargrave’s 115-105 win.

11 players scored in double figures, including four who scored at least 20. The oddity is that the losing team, South Kent, had more double-digit scorers with six. Besides Ricardo Ledo’s big day, Maurice Harkless (6’7″ Sr. SF, Jamaica (NY)) had 16 points and Namanja Djurisic (6’8″ Sr. PF, Podgorica (Montenegro)) added 15 and nine boards.

Hargrave shot 60.6 percent from the field for the game and 50 percent from long range. South Kent shot 46.2 percent, but was just 10-28 from deep.

Still, it was South Kent’s inability to make stops that kept them from making a run to get within striking distance. They looked like they might have a rally in them, but they couldn’t get the necessary stops and Hargrave kept the lead up all along.

Damion Lee’s Coming Out Party

St. Thomas More typically has a lot of guards on its roster, and this year’s team is no different. Hence, it can be easy to get lost in the sea of perimeter players the Chancellors have. Damion Lee (6’6″ Sr. SF, Owings Mills (MD)) impressed at an open gym, but was one of several who showed some promise. On Friday, he stood out at a good time as college coaches were in the building.

In the Chancellors’ 82-57 win over Lee Academy, Lee scored 19 points on 7-9 shooting in 24 efficient minutes. He aggressively drove to the basket and also finished in transition, showing off his athleticism a little better than before. But that wasn’t all, as he went 3-5 from deep in leading his team to the win.

He got good help from another wing who came off the bench, as Jarell Byrd (6’5″ Sr. SF, Lynn (MA)) added 12 points on 5-5 shooting and six rebounds. Together, they form a nice support cast for stud post player Andre Drummond (6’10″ Jr. C, Middletown (CT)), who had a fairly non-descript game on Friday with eight points, four boards, three assists and three blocked shots.

Day’s End Waits Longer

The last game of the day went back and forth, and neither team had a decided edge at any point. So when NIA Prep’s Shaquille Thomas (6’8″ Sr. SF-PF, Montclair (NJ)) hit a three-pointer as time expired to send the game into overtime, it wasn’t really surprising. His team had a decided edge in the extra session as they went on to score a 100-89 win over Maine Central Institute.

The win marked the second straight year that NIA has won an overtime game in the event. But this time, they didn’t have to rally from a significant deficit to do it like they did last year.

Cincinnati-bound Thomas closed out a big game, and he had good help from guard David Joseph (6’0″ Sr. PG, Queens (NY)), who did a little of everything. The lefty point guard shot it from mid-range and long range while making some nice passes. The sleeper talent on the team is athletic wing Deon Maddox (6’6″ Sr. SF, Frederick (MD)), who had a nice alley-oop dunk on an inbounds pass. Maddox is thin and could stand to improve his ball skills some, but a nice prospect.

Maine Central Institute wasn’t without its own top performers, led by Khristian Smith (6’6″ Sr. SF-PF, Indianapolis (IN)). Smith has a good frame and got better as the game went along. Omari Greer (6’3″ Sr. SG, Erial (NJ)) went 5-9 from long range en route to 21 points, while Daishon Knight (6’1″ Sr. PG, Baltimore (MD)) took team honors with 24.