SPRINGFIELD, MA – Saturday’s action during the 15th Spalding HoopHall Classic turned out to be a nifty preview of sorts to Sunday’s announcement of the 2016 McDonald’s All-American team.
Five players with strong likelihoods of being part of that honor squad were on display on Saturday.
And guards Frank Jackson (Highland, UT, Lone Peak) and Kobi Simmons (Alpharetta, GA, St. Francis), forward V.J. King (Fairfax, VA, Pius VI) and post T.J. Leaf (El Cajon, CA, Foothills Christian) and swingman Mustapha Heron (Waterbury, CT, Sacred Heart) more than looked the part of McDonald’s AAs on Saturday.
It was a day in which three of the seven games were decided by, 1) a buzzer-beating layup; 2) two free throws by a freshman with four seconds to go; and, 3) a second overtime, in a game during which Jackson and Simmons combined for 83 points.
Here’s a look at those three games, in reverse order in which they were played, and the other four contests played in front of a packed crowd in Blake Arena on the Springfield College campus:
St. Francis 94, Lone Peak 92 (2OT): My, oh, my – where to begin in recounting a game that could have been as thrilling and entertaining as any played during the first 14 years of this event?
That’s simple, of course: You start with the performances of two of the very best players from the national Class of 2016.
And Duke-bound Frank Jackson used the 40 minutes (32 in regulation and eight over the two OTs) to demonstrate why he’s as good a perimeter-based “scorer” as there is in the class, scoring 49 points via a variety of deep (he dropped in seven 3s) and mid-range jump shots, tossed in with a variety of spectacular dunks and equally impressive drives and finishes, through and around heavy traffic.
Jackson scored 32 of those points over the second half and overtimes, finishing (according to my stat-keeping) with a 16 of 42 shooting performance from the field to go with 10 of 13 free throws, six rebounds, two assists, a couple of steals and three turnovers.
Simmons, who announced a few hours after the conclusion of the game that he plans to sign with the University of Arizona in April, racked up nearly as impressive numbers – in a lot less playing time.
He was on the bench for the final four minutes and 27 seconds of the second quarter after being whistled for his third personal foul and eventually picked up his fifth and disqualifying foul while hand-checking Jackson on a drive with 38 seconds to go in regulation.
But check out the numbers he turned in (again, according to the stats I tracked): 34 points (via nine of 17 from the field, including four 3s, and 12 of 14 from the free-throw line), seven assists (four of those in the fourth quarter), six rebounds, two steals, a blocked shot and five turnovers.
The supporting casts were pretty nifty, too.
St. Francis senior forward Chance Anderson scored 24 points (nine in the OTs) and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds while junior forward Nate Harkness scored 21 points for Lone Peak (15 of those via 3s).
Foothills Christian 82, Sacred Heart 80: The Hearts’ 42-game winning streak (stretching over three seasons) was snapped, in large part by the overwhelming performance of 6-foot-9 future UCLA Bruin T.J. Leaf.
Despite a variety of defenses thrown at him (including the tight 1-on-1 coverage of the muscular 6-5 Mustapha Heron and multiple double teams), Leaf scored 30 points (13 of 19 from the field, including a couple of 3s) to go with 11 rebounds, 10 assists, a couple of blocked shots and six turnovers.
But it was a couple of free throws by a 5-7 and maybe 140-pound freshman that decided the outcome in the California squad’s favor.
And Jaren Nafarrete was only on the floor because the Knight’s senior point guard, Nikko Paranada, had to be helped from the floor early in the fourth quarter after suffering an apparent injury to his right leg.
In Paranada’s absence – and fueled by multiple turnovers by Leaf and his teammates – the Hearts stormed back from the 16-point deficit that they were saddled with when the final quarter began.
Left-handed senior forward Tyrn Flowers (who had committed to the University of Massachusetts earlier in the week) hit three 3s in the fourth quarter to finish with 21 points for Sacred Heart.
And Auburn-bound Heron scored 32 points, six of those on consecutive 3s in the fourth quarter – the second of which tied the score, at 80, with 11 seconds to go.
But, on the inbound pass, Heron inexplicably fouled Nafarrete in the backcourt with four seconds remaining.
And the freshman oh-so-calmly swished both free-throw attempts, then managed to stay in front of Heron as he launched a 35-footer (or so) that fell well short of iron as the buzzer sounded and Foothills Christian pulled out a victory that had seemed so assured through three quarters.
And that assuredness came from the performance of Leaf, in large part due to his stunning passing (from the high and low posts and the wings) that led directly to many of the 15 3s hit by the Knights – six of those by senior forward Luis Salgado.
There isn’t a more gifted “big” forward in the national Class of 2016 than Leaf, who was the most impressive among a lot of impressive performers on Saturday.
West Roxbury (MA) Catholic Memorial 74, Westchester (IL) St. Joseph 73: A follow shot at the buzzer by Stephen Azums gave the Knights the stunning victory in a game in which unsigned 6-10 senior Nick Rakocevic put on quite a display of post play for the Chargers.
Rakocevic, who is likely to come into the spring signing period with dozens of scholarship offers from NCAA Division I-affiliated programs, scored 23 points to go with 18 rebounds, three assists, five blocked shots and six turnovers despite sitting a lot due to foul issues.
Azums finished with game-bests of 19 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots for his squad.
Montverde (FL) Academy 74, Philadelphia Roman Catholic 44: Coach Kevin Boyle utilized his impressive depth to shuttle players – mostly big and mostly quite talented – onto the floor en route to the lopsided victory.
The two-time national champion Eagles – whose only loss this season has come to top-ranked Chino Hills of Southern California – got double-figure scoring from four players, with 6-8 Canadian sophomore Simi Shittu scoring a team-high 15 points to go with five assists.
Paul VI 68, Metuchen (NJ) St. Joseph 60: The final margin isn’t indicative of how much control Paul VI had throughout.
The Panthers led by 16 points with about two minutes remaining before the Chargers whittled their deficit, which was never less than the final margin in the second half.
Louisville-bound V.J. King led the Panthers with 23 points.
Henderson (NV) Findlay Prep 73, Toronto Athletes Institute 59: The unbeaten team from Nevada – with a roster with players from throughout the United States – was too deep and too gifted for the Canada team despite the presence of 7-1 Thon Maker, who is originally from the Sudan but has also had stops in Australia and multiple cities in the U.S.
Junior guard Markus Howard – who, it is speculated, may possible “reclassify” to the Class of 2016 and be eligible to sign in the spring – led unbeaten Findlay Prep with 25 points, 15 of those via shots from behind the arc.
Maker scored 16 points and blocked 10 shots – most of those early in the contest – but couldn’t do a lot in the final quarter to keep the outcome slipping to Findlay Prep’s favor.
Hartford (CT) Waterbury 76, Bronx (NY) St. Raymond 70: There were two very good guards from the Class of 2017 in this one.
And Chaylyn Martin and his buddies were able to hold off a couple of comeback attempts by Isaiah Washington and St. Raymond.
The 6-1 Martin – as impressive an athlete as was on display Saturday – finished with 28 points, hitting a couple of 3s and all eight of his free throws.
Speaking nicely to those aforementioned athletic gifts, the quick and bouncy Martin snatched 16 rebounds – more than anyone else grabbed on Saturday.
Washington, bothered by some foul problems throughout, scored 19 points (hitting all three attempts from behind the arc) to go with four rebounds and four assists.
Sounds like you saw some good games yesterday. I saw the Findlay prep game on TV but the real heartbreaker of the day had to be Ty’s guys from Sierra Canyon who were only behind on the scoreboard once the entire game and that was after the final buzzer of the fourth quarter went off just as a 3 point shot was falling thru. Well if they would not have missed so many free throws it would not have come down to that shot so that;s the way it goes but this was without Ira Lee or Bagley iii. If Bagley becomes a member of that squad, they will have to be favored over Chino HIlls.