SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Although Saturday was the second day of the Spalding Hoophall Classic at Springfield College, the action is only just getting warmed up. It was a full day of boys action, just like Sunday and Monday will be. A college game occupied the early part of the day, but we pick things up from the first televised game of the day, a blowout in a matchup of national powers.
Saturday Scoreboard
West Springfield (MA) High 61, East Hartford (CT) High 47
New London (CT) High 72, Albany (NY) Academy 59
Woodland Hills (CA) Taft HS 72, Mount Vernon (NY) High 56
Jersey City (NJ) St. Anthony 75, Hyattsville (MD) DeMatha Catholic HS 25
Chicago (IL) Morgan Park HS 78, Seattle (WA) Garfield HS 67
Milton (GA) High 75, Mouth of Wilson (VA) Oak Hill Academy 69
Springfield (MA) Central HS 57, Chicopee (MA) High 53
Honor Roll
Jordan Adams, Oak Hill Academy: 16 points, 12 rebounds
Mikhal Asad, West Springfield: 17 points on 6-9 shooting, 10 rebounds
Victo Aytche, West Springfield: 15 points, 11 rebounds
Wayne Blackshear, Morgan Park: 26 points on 10-17 shooting, 8 rebounds
Torin Childs-Harris, New London: 34 points on 11-21 shooting, 13 rebounds
Kris Dunn, New London: 26 points on 8-13 shooting, 24 minutes
Kevin Johnson, Taft: 26 points on 12-20 shooting, 13 rebounds, 4 blocked shots
Myles Mack, St. Anthony: 28 points on 11-14 shooting, 6-7 on three-pointers
Shannon Scott, Milton: 22 points on 7-11 shooting
Markee Williams, Morgan Park: 15 points on 6-10 shooting, 7 assists
Tony Wroten, Garfield: 23 points, 15-21 free throws, 7 rebounds, 5 assists
Mack Leads Blowout For St. Anthony
Looking at the score, one would figure that St. Anthony probably didn’t need a big game from one of their stars to have any hope of knocking off DeMatha Catholic HS. The Friars are deeper and DeMatha is younger, but one Friar in particular showed up like he often has in the last year in Rutgers-bound Myles Mack (5’10” Sr. PG).
Mack has been known to make his team go, and he certainly did it with a national audience. He scored 28 points on 11-14 shooting, including 6-7 from long range. The shooting numbers make the scoring all the more remarkable, and they led the blowout as it wasn’t a contest from the early going.
Mack did a lot of the damage in the first half, but he didn’t stop in the third quarter. He kept playing like it was a tie game until coach Bob Hurley took the starters out with a big lead.
Blackshear Plays Through Pain, Helps Team Win
The buzz before the matchup of Morgan Park and Garfield was mainly about the senior matchup of Morgan Park’s Wayne Blackshear (6’5″ Sr. SG-SF) and Garfield’s Tony Wroten (6’5″ Sr. SG). The matchup was a close call looking at the box score, but a direct comparison is even harder because they’re different players. However, at the end of the day, the edge has to go to Blackshear for more than just numbers.
Blackshear went in on a breakaway for a dunk late in the first quarter, but landed awkwardly and was in obvious pain. He eventually walked off with minimal assistance and went to the trainer’s table. But he wasn’t done. In fact, he would eventually go down two more times but played right to the end.
The Louisville-bound wing gutted it out and finished the first half with 10 points, but he saved the best for later. He would finish with 26 points, and none were bigger than the last five as they helped Morgan Park seal the win. First, he hit a three-pointer as the shot clock expired, then got a stickback the next time down.
Wroten had a good stat line, but wasn’t very aggressive in trying to score for most of the night. Blackshear, on the other hand, was not to be denied.
Seniors Headline, Sophomores Shine
While the aforementioned seniors certainly held their own, one had to be impressed by the play of a number of sophomores in the game.
Blackshear got plenty of help from the likes of Markee Williams (5’10” So. PG), Billy Garrett, Jr. (6’4″ So. SG), while Xavier Taylor (6’9″ So. PF-C) gave a lift inside. Williams is a scrappy floor leader who can get by his man and is unselfish, handing out seven assists to go with his 15 points. Garrett is baby-faced and handled the ball a fair amount early on, finishing with 12 points. Taylor will come at a pace, like a lot of post players, and his numbers in this game were nothing to write home about as he was in foul trouble but has a good body.
They weren’t alone, though, as Garfield had a couple of their own. Tucker Haymond (6’4″ So. SF) looks like a nice glue-guy type and had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. He won’t jump out at you physically, but he’s a heady player that gets things done. Daeshon Hall (6’6″ So. SF-PF) had his moments as well in scoring 10 points and grabbing five boards. He needs to get stronger and improve the ball toughness, as he lost the ball too easily a couple of times.
Milton’s Seniors Come Up Big
At first glance, one might figure powerful Oak Hill Academy should be able to handle Milton High School. Oak Hill is loaded with future Division I players, while Milton has a few of their own but not the same number. But the Eagles’ top players came up big in their 75-69 win.
Milton looks well-coached and they play like a senior-laden team. They ran out to an early lead and led by as many as 20 in the fourth quarter, leading by double digits for a lot of the game. And when Oak Hill made a run and eventually took the lead, it wasn’t the psychological blow it can sometimes be. Instead, they made it a short-lived lead and made the plays in the final minutes to win the game.
The unquestioned leader of the Eagles is Ohio State-bound Shannon Scott (6’2″ Sr. PG). But he was hardly alone, and on this night Dai-Jon Parker (6’3″ Sr. SG) was arguably the best player on the floor as he did a lot of his work on the defensive end. Parker was glued to Duke-bound Quinn Cook (6’1″ Sr. PG) all night long and made life difficult for him and the Oak Hill offense. Scott aggressively drove to the basket and played like a seasoned veteran, while Parker had 19 points and four assists to go with his defense.
Also helping were Julian Royal (6’8″ Sr. PF) and Jordan Loyd (6’2″ Sr. SG). Royal is a plus athlete, but when he tries to play like a small forward it isn’t pretty. He had 15 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots. Loyd had 10 points and nine rebounds, and the latter stat is indicative of how active he was all night long. He was a constant factor at both ends of the floor.
All of it adds up to a Milton team that played better than a more talented Oak Hill team. Intangibles win games very often, and this was one such occasion.
Other Notes
- Myles Mack’s primary help came from Jimmy Hall (6’6″ Jr. SF-PF), who had 14 points and nine rebounds. Hall showed a nose for the ball and got a few stickbacks along the way, as eight of his rebounds were on the offensive end.
- One player who impressed in the blowout loss for DeMatha was post player BeeJay Anya (6’8″ So. PF). He has a wide frame and moves reasonably well, and should develop into a nice college prospect down the road.
- A.J. Hammons (6’11” Jr. C, Oak Hill Academy) looked like an intriguing prospect early on. He has a mature body and was very active on the glass early, tipping a couple of balls he couldn’t quite get to. But he disappeared after the early minutes and wasn’t a factor later.
- Damien Wilson (6’5″ Jr. SG-SF, Oak Hill Academy) had 10 points on 4-11 shooting. The athletic lefty will attack the basket at the offensive end, and he’s a good complementary player.
