SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — The 12th annual Spalding Hoophall Classic was spread over five days in Blake Arena on the campus of Springfield College.
But the teams and players that most of those who showed up to watch were on display over Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
And Monday is when a whole lot of people were really happy they braved the gathering storm clouds in and about the state.
That’s because one of the three most touted players in the Class of 2013 — Jabari Parker, who recently committed to Duke – sparkled while leading his Chicago Simeon squad past Mouth of Wilson (VA) Oak Hill, 81-68.
And a showdown between a couple of prep school squads many believe to be the best in the country this season — Findlay Prep of Henderson, Nevada, and Montverde Academy of Florida — more than lived up to the anticipation that preceded it.
Parker, naturally, was the driving force behind Simeon’s nearly wire-to-wire victory.
He hit a corner 3 to start things and his jumper was fluid and spot-on all night, from deep and mid range en route to a 28-point performance on 12 of 19 from the floor (including three of eight behind the arc) to go with five rebounds and a couple of blocks.
Parker will give Mike Krzyzewski a lot of the post and wing versatility that the program has been missing since Kyle Singler departed.
Also impressive for Simeon was left-handed guard Kendrick Nunn, who had 21 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Oak Hill could never establish any sort of post presence Monday afternoon but stayed relatively close most of the way behind the offensive production of South Carolina-bound Sindarius Thornwell, 27 points, five rebounds and five assists, and R.J. Curington – one of the better unsigned “wings” in the Class of 2013 — who scored 19 points while connecting on three of five shots from behind the arc.
He’ll be heavily pursued in the spring by any program in need of a quality scorer (especially relative to jump-shooting ability).
But the game of the day – and most any other day during the 2012-13 prep hoops season – was the Findlay Prep-Montverde clash.
The squad from Florida held modest advantages pretty much throughout, via the play of very strong post players in 6-10 Dakari Johnson (he’s Kentucky-bound) and 6-8 Devin Williams (a West Virginia signee).
Findlay Prep struggled to generate much offense other than occasional jump shots by way of future UCLA Bruin Allerik Freeman and Christian Wood, who signed with UNLV in November.
And Montverde seemed well on its way to pulling away late in the third quarter while moving out to a 13-point advantage.
But that’s when Nigel Williams-Goss – figuratively and literally – seized control of things for the Pilots.
NWG scored 18 of his game-high 26 points in the eight minutes of the fourth quarter, while adding one of his game-high four assists in the stanza, as well – meaning had a hand in all but four of his team’s fourth-quarter output.
The point guard, who signed with Lorenzo Romar’s Washington program in November, might have been the calmest person in the gym when Freeman scrambled and recovered a turnover and flipped the ball to Wood, who called a timeout with the score tied.
When play resumed (with 34 seconds remaining), NWC dribbled from straightaway, about 24 feet away, while Montverde remained married to a 2-3 zone it had gone to a few possessions earlier in an effort to cool off his relentless penetration.
He was allowed to dribble in place until starting his move with only about eight seconds to go before launching 21-footer that swished a second before the buzzer sounded to ignite a Findlay Prep players’, coaches and family members’ celebration.
It was the coolest, calmest and most collected – as well as most clutch – performance I’ve witnessed from a high school point guard this season. And it was just one more bit of on-court testimony as to why he is worthy of McDonald’s All-American accolades.
In other games:
*Lone Peak (UT) 81, San Jose (CA) Mitty 46: The Knights (whose only loss came to Montverde Academy in the final of the City of Palms Tournament), harassed Mitty with their quick hands as well as slick jump shooting.
Coach Quincy Lewis’ club hit 13 of 24 from behind the arc, with seniors Nick Emery (4 of 8) and Connor Toolson (he didn’t miss in 6 attempts) combining for 10 of 14.
Toolson scored a team-high 22 points while Emery — who signed with Brigham Young University in November — added 20 points to go with five rebounds, three assists and three steals.
T.J. Haws, who, at very least, is one of the best three or four wing/shooting guards in the west region’s Class of 2014, added 18 points, six rebounds and three assists.
And another athlete who has signed with Dave Rose’s BYU program, 6-10 Eric Mika, was a significant force in and around the lane with 10 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Yet the player who scored heaviest in the department of “oohs” and “aaahs” department wore Mitty uniform.
The 6-8 Aaron Gordon, who is likely to sign a letter of intent with one of two Pac 12 programs, Arizona or Washington, this spring, scored 27 points including three or four dunks that were likely the three or four most impressive over the three days and 15 games I watched.
*Jersey City St. Anthony 60, Tift County (GA) 54: The Friars trailed by five points in the fourth quarter but pulled away down the stretch behind the play of Josh Brown (14 points, nine rebounds and five assists), Hallice Cooke (11 points and three assists) and Tim Coleman (15 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots) to extend their three-season winning streak to 78.
Kansas-bound forward Brannen Greene had four field goals — all 3s — in 10 attempts to score 14 points while junior guard Tadric Jackson added 13 points, nine assists and six steals.
But senior forward Donell Tuff was the team Most Outstanding Player with 17 points (a healthy percentage of those via two-handed bangs) and seven rebounds.
*Jersey City Hudson Catholic 59, Hyattsville (MD) DeMatha 56: In the final game of the evening — and event — forward Reggie Cameron (who signed with Georgetown in November) scored 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds while point guard Kavon Stewart (landed by Robert Morris University of Pittsburgh) added seven points, six rebounds and eight assists for the team from New Jersey.
Massive — oh, let’s say he goes about 6-8 and 275ish — North Carolina State signee BeeJay Anya scored 12 points (four of five from the field and four of eight from the free-throw line) to go with six rebounds and six blocked shots for DeMatha.
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