SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Somewhere in the U.S. of A there may be a high school junior who is as forceful, powerful and dominant as Chicago Whitney Young’s Jahlil Okafor.
But that suggestion would be a difficult sell to Coach Sharrief Metoyer, his Long Beach (CA) Poly team and those who watched the teams clash in Springfield College’s Blake Arena late Saturday afternoon during the 12th Spaulding Hoophall Classic.
The 6-foot-10, 260-poundish Okafor hit 13 of 17 shots from the floor – six of those dunks – en route to a 26-point, seven-rebound and three blocked-shots performance before subbed out for the first time with about two minutes to go in the Dolphins’ eventual 85-52 shellacking of one of California’s best squads.
Okafor and his buddies trailed the Jackrabbits (whose Jordan Bell and Roschon Prince signed with Oregon and USC, respectively, in November), 12-8, about six minutes into action.
But the Dolphins, sparked by junior forward L.J. Peak’s transition bang against the retreating and quick-leaping Bell, scored the final 10 points of the first quarter.
In reality, the only mystery that lingered from that point concerned the final margin of the putdown of the team that flew east with a 17-1 record and 10-game winning streak and was set to return to Southern California on the ugly end of a 33-point drubbing.
Slender junior forward Paul White banked in (not intentionally, by the way) a 3-pointer from the right corner and right in front of the Poly bench at the buzzer to put the Dolphins up 33-20 at intermission.
White, one of the starters who played all but nine of the combined 160 minutes for his team Saturday, chipped in with 20 points while hitting seven of 11 from the field – four of five of those from behind the arc – and both of his free throws.
The Dolphins didn’t miss a whole lot of shots – they were 34 of 49 from the field, with three of those misses the result of the three swats by Bell.
While Okafor, White and Peak – quite the all-junior frontcourt, to say the least – provided the flair, the Dolphins’ backcourt of point guard Ausar Madison (the only senior in the lineup) and Miles Reynolds were efficient if unspectacular.
They scored 11 points apiece and combined to hit eight of 10 from the field to go with eight assists and just three turnovers against Poly’s full-court pressure.
If the Jackrabbits were to fly home with a proverbial silver lining of perspective from what took place Saturday it would be that there isn’t a team remotely like Whitney Young remaining on their schedule.
And there isn’t anyone who approaches the size, power and skill level of Okafor in Cali – or anywhere else on the high school level, in actuality.
In other games Saturday:
*Brooklyn Lincoln 95, Hartford (CT) Capital Prep 68: The team from New York, which was added to the field just Friday when St. Joe’s (of Pittsfield, Mass.) bowed out because of multiple players being ill, led 34-8 after eight minutes.
And that was that . . .
Coach Tiny Morton starts four juniors – included the much-touted Isaiah Whitehead, who scored nine points with eight rebounds in just 16 minutes.
Eleven Lincoln players got at least 10 minutes of on-court action.
Five-eleven guard Kahlil Dukes – who signed with USC in November – led Capital Prep with 29 points. But he hit just nine of 24 shots from the floor, with all but six of those points coming after intermission, which Lincoln went into with a 29-point advantage.
*Chicago St. Rita 71, Baltimore Lake Clifton 50: Six-seven junior Victor Law had a productive – and then some – 26 minutes for St. Rita.
Law went for 17 rebounds, a day-high 19 rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Least I forget, he also blocked a shot – which was easy to do since another 6-7 St. Rita player, sophomore Myles Carter, spiked six of them.
Brothers Dominique (a junior) and Charles (a 10th grader) Matthews combined for 25 points – Dominique with 18 of those – to go with 12 rebounds and five assists for St. Rita.
*Philadelphia Neumann-Goretti 63, Orlando (FL) Christian Prep 40: Until Whitney Young took the floor about 90 minutes later, the team from Philly was the most impressive team in the event.
The well-balanced club got at least six points out of six players, with muscular 6-4 John Davis (who signed with Towson in November) going for nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds and guard Ja’Quan Newton, one of the better juniors in event, chipping in with 17 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals.
*Chester (PA) 63, Gonzaga Prep (Washington, DC) 55: Six-seven Rondae Jefferson came to town with one of the bigger national reputations among the events’ seniors.
And the left hander pretty much delivered on the goods during the day’s first truly competitive – aka, “close” – contests.
The Arizona-bound Jefferson went for 20 points (he was just seven of 18 from the floor; he’s not much of jump shooter yet – to go with nine rebounds and six steals.
Kris Jenkins, with the physical dimensions of Mark Aguirre (Google him, boys and girls), scored 23 points for Gonzaga Prep.
The Villanova-bound Jenkins (and Jay Wright doesn’t need to Google Aguirre) hit three of eight shots from behind the arc to go with six rebounds, two assists, three blocked shots and a steal.
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