National Prep Championship Begins Today

NewEnglandRecruitingReport.com | Monday, March 3rd, 2008

The field will not only feature the nation’s best teams, but also some of the top players.  American Christian’s Tyreke Evans and St. Thomas More’s Devin Ebanks headline that list.  Both players are also New York natives who will end their prep school careers playing in front of the home crowd this weekend. 

Today’s action will begin at 5pm when Ebanks and St. Thomas More look for the upset against the number one ranked team in the country, Hargrave Military Academy.  This game will certainly challenge STM’s depth as the top seed has a seemingly endless supply of talented players led by Roscoe Davis (West Virginia), Dee Bost (Mississippi State) and Chris Braswell (Georgetown). 

At 6:30 Evans will be in action as his American Christian team locks up with NEPSAC champion Brewster Academy and league MVP Emmanuel Negedu.  Brewster is likely to also be battling the crowd as American Christian has several other local products including A.J. Matthews, Joshua Spivey, Karron McKenzie, Lamont Jones, and Achraf Yacoubou. 

At 8pm two of the most storied programs in prep school history will face off as #3 Patterson School meets #6 Notre Dame Prep.  There will be a couple of intriguing match-ups in this game beginning with the battle under the boards as Patterson’s Memphis bound big man Matt Simpkins will go head to head with Notre Dame’s Terrence Jennings, who is bound for Louisville.  The perimeter battle will be no less entertaining as Courtney Fortson (Arkansas), Varez Ward, and Darius Johnson-Odom form a lethal trio that will be matched by Johnny Higgins (Duquesne), Kimmie English (Missourri), and NYC natives Melquan Bolding (Louisville) and Sean Crawford. 

The final game of the night will feature undefeated Findlay College Prep from Nevada against Harmony Community School from Cincinnati, Ohio.  Findlay will rely on their backcourt of DeAndre Liggins (Kentucky), Deividas Dulkys (Florida State), and NYC native Curtis Dennis (New Mexico) along with junior big man Clarence Trent.  Harmony will look to counter with their depth and balanced scoring attack, although another local product in Indiana bound point guard Terrell Holloway will certainly need to play well. 

The championships will continue on Wednesday with semi-finals at 6 and 8 pm, while the finals will be played on Thursday night with tip-off scheduled for 7pm.