HOUSTON – Bouncing around the first night of action on the third weekend of the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League spring circuit, 2015-style:
*Houston Hoops and Team CP3 took different paths while improving their respective records to 8-1 Friday night.
The “home team” zipped past Nike South Beach, 83-55, behind the overall play of – and I don’t think isn’t going to exactly stun you – 6-foot-8 junior-to-be Jarred Vanderbilt (13 points, nine rebounds and six steals) and another left hander, 6-3 combo guard guard-deluxe De’Aaron Fox (19 points, two rebounds, three assists and three buckets from behind the arc).
Houston Hoops was always so comfortably in front that the 11 combined turnovers from the Vanderbilt-Fox duo didn’t hamper the outcome in the least.
Coach Tim Schumbacher’s squad also benefited from the long-range accuracy of 6-1 Carsen Edwards (Humble, TX, Atascocita), who dropped in six of his eight 3-point attempts en route to 23 points.
And the squad named for the guy who doesn’t those terrific State Farm Insurance commercials – minus its leader, 6-9 Harry Giles (who had to remain home in North Carolina for some academic work Friday but is expected in Houston Saturday Morning), Michigan-based The Family, 68-63.
Alterique Gilbert (Lithonia, GA, Miller Grove), a 6-1 guard from the Class of 2016 went for 22 points, six rebounds, and deuces in assists and steals for CP3.
The Family got 23 points and 10 rebounds from another scintillating southpaw (how’s that for early-morning alliteration?) in 6-7 Miles Bridges (from Flint, MI but by way of Huntington Prep in West Virginia).
*If Giles and Michael Porter Jr. (the sizzling 6-8 junior-to-be who didn’t play Friday night for MOKAN Elite) are in action, the 9:30 Saturday morning clash between CP3 and the 7-2 MOKAN Elite squad promises to be quite the way to tip off Day II.
The program named because it draws its players from Missouri and Kansas (and a helping heaping from Oklahoma) edged the New York Lighting Friday night, 73-69.
And a couple of the best guards on the EYBL Circuit demonstrated succinctly in the game why I describe them as such.
The best “combo” in the Class of 2017, Trae Young (Norman, OK, North), combined to blaze the circuit with 29 points for MOKAN Elite, hitting four of his eight attempts from behind the arc and dropping 13 of 15 free throws.
And the Lightning’s 6-1 left hander Shamorie Ponds (Brooklyn Thomas Jefferson) continued to show EYBL on-lookers what I saw from of him during a couple of games at the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic after Christmas in San Diego while scoring 26 points (although he hit just four of his 14 attempts from 3 range) with five rebounds and seven steals and just two turnovers.
*Matthew Coleman (Norfolk, VA, Maury) continued to build my case for believing he’s the best “pure 2017 point guard” on the EYBL scene while helping Boo Williams knock off Mac Irvin Fire, 84-73.
The 6-2 left hander (man-oh-man there are sure a lot of impressive lefties on the EYBL scene this spring) racked up 10 assists with just one turnover – a healthy percentage on any level of hoops, for sure.
Several of those assists came by way of the bucket-making skill of 6-5 senior-to-be DeShawn Corprew (from Norfolk by way of Winston-Salem, NC, Quality Education), who went for 24 points with six rebounds and three steals.
*Louisiana-based Elfrid Payton Elite edged All-Ohio Red, 76-74, behind the continued eye-catching play of 6-3 Javonte Smart (Baton Rouge Scotlandville).
The only player from 2018 starting (to the best of my knowledge) on the EYBL “17U” level, Smart scored 18 points (nailing four of eight shots behind the arc) with three steals and three assists.
*The Georgia Stars may be “only 7-2” but, based upon what I saw Friday night during their 87-68 win against the New Jersey Playaz, may be more physically gifted than any EYBL squad around this “season”.
And a big reason is the presence of 6-4 Trent Forrest (Chipley), who announced earlier this week that he intends to sign scholarship papers with Florida State in November.
He was impressive as any “bigger guard” I watched Friday while scoring 22 points (in just about any way he wanted to score them) with eight rebounds and seven assists.
And he’s surrounded by a impressive pair of posts in 6-11, 280-pound Udoka Azubuike (Class of 2016 by way of Jacksonville, FL, Potter’s House) and 6-8, 250-pound Wendell Carter (who will be a junior at Carter in Atlanta in the fall).
They combined for 28 points and 15 rebounds while swatting three opponents’ shots apiece.
*Canadian players have made some pretty big metaphorical on-court “waves” in the U.S. recently and 6-3 Koby McEwen (who will be a senior in the fall at Wasatch Academy in Utah) is continuing that trend.
I’m sure he has emerged as one of the more pleasant surprises on the EYBL circuit this spring (I’ve seen quite a bit of him in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas events for two years) while scoring 29 points with six rebounds, six assists and three steals in CIA Bounce’s 66-61 defeat of New York’s City Rocks.
*Southern California Class of 2016 standouts Jonah Mathews (6-3/Santa Monica), Ian Carter (6-7/Gardena Serra) and De’Anthony Melton (6-3/Encino Crespi) helped Cal Supreme pummel new members of the EYBL circuit, the Las Vegas Prospects, 87-62.
Mathews hit six of nine attempts from deep (and deeper) for 18 points; Carter went for 16 points and five rebounds; and Melton had a whole lot of impressive numbers via 11 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, five steals and two blocked shots.
Leave a Reply