SPRINGFIELD, MA. – If it was high school “star power” that you were searching out for a Martin Luther King Day’s worth of basketball entertainment, then Monday’s final day’s action of the 15th Spalding HoopHall Classic fit the bill perfectly.
Even in defeat, St. Louis Chaminade High’s newly minted McDonald’s All-American Jayson Tatum showed why he’s a strong candidate to be the 2016 Player of the Year during his team’s game with Hyattsville (MD) DeMatha in Springfield College’s packed Blake Arena.
And, a few hours later, another McDonald’s AA selection and top POY candidate, Lonzo Ball, was every bit equal parts productive and entertaining while leading nationally top-ranked and (now) 17-0 Chino Hills of Southern California past High Point (NC) Christian, 100-75, to hit the century mark in scoring for the ninth time.
The 6-foot-8 Tatum and his Chaminade teammates had DeMatha at the tipping point of an upset with a five-point advantage and about a minute to go in regulation.
But Coach Mike Jones’ team sent Chaminade players to the free-throw line five times in that final minute and – even as the Red Devils were hitting seven of 10 attempts – it was a strategy that paid off when senior Kellon Taylor, after a short pass from Markelle Fultz, sank a 15-foot floater at the buzzer to put the game into a four-minute overtime.
Tatum scored seven of his 40 points in OT, the last of those coming on a couple of free throws that got his team to within a point of DeMatha with 10.4 seconds remaining.
But, after Nate Darling’s two free throws made it Stags, 72-69, Tatum got a reasonable look from about 25 feet and straight away, but the ball rimmed out at the buzzer to secure DeMatha’s victory.
The Duke-bound Tatum’s numbers were staggering.
Those 40 points can by way of 12 of 28 shooting from the field (he hit just one shot from behind the arc), 15 of 18 free throws, 11 rebounds, four assists, a couple of blocked shots and seven turnovers.
The Red Devils also got 11 pounds and 14 rebounds from Tyler Cook, a power forward who will be a freshman at the University of Iowa next fall.
The 6-4, University of Washington-bound Fultz – also announced Sunday night as one of the 24 McDonald’s AAs from the Class of 2016 – scored 20 points before being fouling out against Tatum in OT.
High Point Christian – led by yet another of the 10 McDonald’s AAs to play at the event this past weekend in 6-9 Bam Adebayo – fell to Chino Hills (94-82) during the Dec. 22 City of Palms semifinal in Ft. Myers (FL).
Things seemed to be going a lot more in the Cougars’ way Monday night, though, as – while methodically passing against the Huskies’ trapping defense – they got a lot of good shots, and him them, to go up, 20-10, with a bit more than a minute to in the first period in the nationally televised contest.
It wasn’t long, though, before things began to unravel Adebayo & Co.
After the Huskies cut their deficit to six points (at 23-17) after the first period, future UCLA Bruin Ball hit a couple of near-30 footers and used three of his five assists in the second period to set up 3s by younger brothers LaMelo (a freshman with two of them) and LiAngelo (a junior who got the other 3).
Things might not have appeared quite well in hand for the Huskies at intermission with their 43-39 lead.
But, sparked by eight Lonzo assists to his brothers and “non-Ball Brothers” starters in junior forward Elizjah Scott and freshman center Onyeka Okongwu, the advantage was 20 points after three periods and things were not only “well in hand” but Lonzo squeezing the heck out of them.
As the case with Tatum, Lonzo’s stats were beyond “eye-catching”: 15 points (six of 14 from the field, including three 3s), 22 assists, 11 rebounds, four steals, five blocked shots and five turnovers.
The 6-9, 240-pound (at least) Adebayo scored 13 points and grabbed 15 rebounds but his presence was never able to be truly exploited by his teammates at either end of the floor.
In other Sunday games:
*Jersey City St. Anthony 72, Bentonville (AR) 50: Bentonville had the McDonald’s AA in its lineup – via Kentucky-bound Malik Monk – but the Friars more than locked him up, defensively, while also pretty much getting high-percent shots attempts on just about every possession.
Six-foot junior R.J. Cole scored St. Anthony’s first 14 points en route to a team-high 23 points while senior teammates Jagan Moseley and Asante Gist added 14 and 13, respectively.
The 6-4 Monk scored 22 points and was credited with eight rebounds and six assists. All but six of those points, however, came during the fourth quarter in which St. Anthony took a 25-point advantage before Coach Bob Hurley began subbing quite liberally.
*Mouth of Wilson (VA) Oak Hill Academy 74, Santa Ana (CA) Mater Dei 55: Each program has a coach with more than 1,000 victories who is a candidate to be inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame – located just a couple of miles from the Springfield College campus – next September.
But, this season, at least, Oak Hill’s Steve Smith has a more gifted roster than does Gary McKnight, which was quite evident especially as the Warriors methodically and relentlessly pulled away after intermission via transition and “power” offense and a shot-blocking and harassing defense.
Six players, led by Alabama-bound forward Brandon Key (16 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, three steals and three of the team’s eight blocked shots), scored from eight to 16 points.
Sophomore guard Spencer Freedman, with 17 points (all but two of those coming by way of five 3s in the first half that ended with Oak Hill up, 38-31), was the only Monarch to score in double figures.
*Montverde (FL) Academy 81, Chatsworth (CA) Sierra Canyon 67: Coach Kevin Boyle’s program’s only loss this season came to a Southern California-based team – Chino Hills, during the second round of the City of Palms event.
And it appeared that the Trailblazers were on their way to pulling off the same feat as they went into intermission up, 27-24.
But things went south from the lads from Southern California in a hurry when play resumed, largely because they had no defensive answers for the post play of 6-8 sophomore Simi Shittu and 6-10, Ohio State signee Micah Potter, who combined for 44 points and 20 rebounds.
*Brooklyn (NY) Lincoln 82, Springfield Putnam 52: The locals were – as the score vividly illustrates – were quite overmatched against one of the better programs from New York City during the final game played in the event Monday night.
Senior Rakym Felder (25), junior Caheim Brown (19) and sophomore Donald Flores (15) combined for 59 points for the Railsplitters.
And doesn’t that remain one of the coolest high school nicknames going anywhere?
Six-three senior Tyonne Malone scored 23 points for Putnam.
El enamorado maduro dice: te necesito por el hecho de que te amo”.