HoopHall Classic on tap for this weekend

Tuesday, January 9th, 2018

The annual Spalding HoopHall Classic takes place this weekend at Springfield College and once again hosts top talent from both the local and national ranks.

After four games from local Western Massachusetts teams on Thursday followed by five girls’ games on Friday, things will really get busy on Saturday with eight games on the schedule.

Here’s a day-by-day rundown of what local fans can keep an eye out for:

Saturday

The state of Vermont will be represented for the first time in recent years as Rice Memorial faces McQuaid Jesuit, from upstate New York, first thing at 9am.

Colin Bradanese and Central Catholic have their work cut out for them at 10:30 with a match against Long Island Lutheran, one of New York’s top teams including Frankie Policelli, Donatas Kupsas, Tyson Etienne, and others.

Albany Academy (NY) takes on Bishop O’Connell (VA) at noon with Nebraska bound point guard Xavier Johnson leading a handful of D1 commits. Albany has a potential high level sophomore in Andre Jackson.

Hillhouse will represent the CIAC at 1:30 as they take on Imhotep Charter from Philadelphia. Mekhi Warren leads the way for House while Imhotep is loaded with young talent in the classes of 2019 and 2020 including Dhamir Bishop, Chereef Knox, Jamil Riggins, Donte Scott, and Elijah Taylor.

Another defending CIAC champion, Sacred Heart, takes on Gonzaga at 3:00pm. Sacred heart is led by senior guards Isaiah Gaither and Raheem Solomon while Gonzaga features Notre Dame bound guard Prentiss Hubb and Penn State signee Myles Dread.

New Jersey’s Roselle Catholic, including five-star big man and LSU signee Naz Reid and junior forward Khalil Whitney, take on Oak Ridge High School from Florida, featuring Texas A&M bound Antwann Jones, at 4:30pm.

At 6:00pm a loaded Montverde Academy team featuring the top ranked prospect in the country, Duke signee R.J. Barrett, faces one of Chicago’s proudest programs in Simeon High School. Montverde also features Rechon Black (North Carolina), Andrew Nembhard (Florida), Mike Devoe (Georgia Tech), and junior big men Mahki and Mekhi Mitchell (Maryland).

Saturday’s main event features Zion Williamson and Spartanburg Day School from South Carolina against ONyeka Okongwu and Chino Hills from California live on ESPN at 8pm.

Sunday

There’s major action right away as Northfield Mount Hermon faces Hargrave Military Academy at 9am. A win for NMH could potentially propel them to the top of the prep polls after knocking off Brewster Academy on Sunday.

Brewster will look to take out their frustrations on David Duke and Cushing Academy at 10:45 in a game that features all six of the Bobcats high-major commits along with junior Sherif Kenney.

At 12:30 Vermont Academy plays IMG Academy’s prep team in a match-up that was supposed to feature two of the top ten prospects in the country in Simisola Shittu and Anfernee Simons. Unfortunately, Shittu won’t be in action following last week’s injury.

Archbishop Molloy (NY) and DeMatha Catholic (MD) square off at 2:15 in a match-up that features Cole Anthony, Moses Brown, and Khalid Moore against Justin Moore, Earl Timberlake, and Hunter Dickinson.  

Bryan Antoine and Scottie Lewis, arguably the best 2019 duo in the country, will lead the Ranney School (NJ) against a Mount St. Joseph (MD) team that features five-star forward and Maryland signee Jalen Smith at 4:00.

Syracuse signee Jalen Carey leads another New Jersey powerhouse, Immaculate Conception, against Bol Bol, a top five prospect in the country, and Findlay Prep at 5:45.

MacDuffie will take their supreme young talent against Montverde Academy CBD at 7:30 including Darnel Brodie (Seton Hall), Josh Roberts (St. John’s), and Morris Udeze (Wichita State).

Woodstock Academy, a team with just one loss on the prep season, will face Cole Swider, Brycen Goodine and St. Andrew’s in the nightcap scheduled for 9:15.

Sunday

George Mason signee Jason Douglas-Stanley and Mount Vernon (NY) will play Webster Groves (MO) and a pair of ESPN 100 products in Carte’Are Gordon and Courtney Ramey at 9am.

The first of four games televised live on ESPNU features a battle of two of the top point guards in the country as Jahvon Quinerly’s Hudson Catholic (NJ) team faces Immanuel Quickley’s John Carroll (MD). Hudson Catholic also features Louis King (Oregon) and Luther Muhammad (Ohio State) while John Carroll has Montez Mathis (Rutgers).

R.J. Barrett and Montverde will return to the court to take on one of California’s proudest programs in Mater Dei at 1pm.

Keldon Johnson (Kentucky), Keyontae Johnson (Florida), and David McCormack (Kansas) lead Oak Hill Academy against a University School (FL) program that features the second ranked junior in the country in Vern Carey along with one of the top sophomores in Scottie Barnes.

The final ESPNU games of the day features the 3rd ranked prospect in the country, Duke signee Cam Reddish, and his Westtown School team against an IMG Academy team that features Chol Marial if he’s healthy.

The event wraps up with a local MIAA match-up as Springfield Central takes on Newton North.