LAS VEGAS – If the playoff portion proves as compelling as were many of the pool-play games played on Friday, look for the final two days of the 2016 Fab 48 to provide a nice way to stay out of the record-breaking heat in the city.
In a Pool C contest, it was quite the clash of Under Armour-fronted California programs with Earl Watson Elite toppling Splash City, 68-63.
Six-foot-two Damari Milstead (Moreau High in Hayward) continued to look like a strong candidate as the top senior in Northern California next season while scoring 25 points by way of nifty combination of deep jumpers, floaters and crafty layups in traffic.
But it wasn’t enough to hold off the deep jumping of Jemarl Baker (Roosevelt in Eastvale but likely to spend his senior season elsewhere, who scored 26 points, and the powerful inside play of Ira Lee (Napa Prolific Prep), who overcame a separation to a surgically repaired right shoulder to score 13 point and grab 10 rebounds.
WER 1 (based in Delaware) edged Expressions Elite (from Massachusetts), 61-57, in another down-to-the-wire clash, behind its particularly tenacious backcourt play.
And the ringleader of that performance, of course, was one of the nation’s elite point guards in the Class of 2017, Trevon Duval, who scored 13 points and usually dictated the tempo of the contest at both ends of the floor.
Another strong McDonald’s All-American candidate (and the event is riddled with them) for 2017, 7-foot Nicholas Richards, scored only 10 points but played well above the rim with his rebounding and shot-blocking dominance for Expressions Elite.
But there wasn’t a better or more domineering player at Bishop Gorman all day Friday than was New Heights (New York) point guard Isaiah Washington – like Richards and Duval, a near-lock for McD’s AA status next spring in my humble estimation.
Washington, who helped lead his squad over the Georgia Stars earlier Friday morning, scored 33 points and took the ball wherever New Heights needed it to go in an 80-66 victory over SoCal-based Belmont Shore in a game in which the score was tied at 52 with about eight minutes to go.
Washington got plenty of help from teammates such as 6-11 junior center Moses Brown (14 points, most of those coming on impressive finishes in traffic) and from Washington’s Bronx St. Raymond’s teammate, Sidney Wilson, who scored 15 points and helped his team bust out to a 25-8 advantage midway through the first half.
Six-four Keith Williams, one of the more underrated shooting guards in the Class of 2017, scored only seven points for New Heights but turned in a stout defensive effort against Belmont Shore’s Billy Preston, who scored 16 points but was out of sync most of the evening.
The Mississippi Express had quite a day, rallying from down 14 points in the first half to edge Arizona Power Factory, 50-47, early Friday afternoon and then edging the Los Angeles Rockfish, 54-52, in buzzer-beating fashion Friday night.
Guard Javious Malone (Meridian, MS) was in full “Tyus Edney, UCLA stunning Missouri in the second round of the 1995 NCAA Tournament”-mode for Mississippi Express in the second contest, taking an inbound pass on the opposite end with four seconds to go, sprinting the right sideline and then laying the ball off the glass and thru the iron as the buzzer sounded for the victory.
H-Squad, based in Los Angeles but led by one of the best players in Nevada, 6-5 junior-to-be Maka Ellis, edged Oklahoma Prime Time, 80-79, in overtime.
Ellis, who may be the best jump shooter in the western Class of 2018, scored 31 points while OPT guard Gerren Jackson – a crafty and speedy left hander with a lot of range on his jumper, as well, had 30.
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