National Prep Showcase - Day 3 Recap

Christian Bradley | Saturday, November 19th, 2011

Kentucky coach John Calipari, Providence coach Ed Cooley, and St. John’s coach Steve Lavin, along with assistants from Connecticut, California, NC State, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Baylor and dozens of others, were the headline attendees on Sunday for the final day of the National Prep Showcase. With some of the top players in the country all in one gym, here’s what we saw on the final day of action:

Brewster Academy (NH) 95, Massanutten Military Academy (VA) 65

St. John’s head coach Steve Lavin and Providence head coach Ed Cooley were both in the building for this one, as was and NBA scout to see Mitch McGary. Massanutten was able to keep it close against the loaded Brewster squad, staying in a 2-3 zone and forcing Brewster to slow down their tempo. Massanutten got a great first half out of point guard Bryan Harris, who nailed four threes. After leading 48-33 at halftime, Brewster began to pull away towards the middle of the second half, capped off by a thunderous dunk by TJ Warren with five minutes to go that seemed to have taken all the wind out of Massanutten’s sails. Xavier-commit Semaj Christon had 18 points and once again controlled the tempo of the game, TJ Warren showed off his deep offensive arsenal by scoring a game-high 22 points, and Jakarr Sampson dominated around the rim on his way to 20 points. Brewster shot 67% from the floor in this one.

Northfield-Mount Hermon (MA) 67, Maine Central Institute (ME) 52

Ryan Oliver had a great second-half and Vermont-commit Ethan O’ Day dominated the paint on both ends of the floor for a Northfield-Mount Hermon squad that capitalized on MCI shooting 14-25 from the free throw line in this one. O’ Day ended with a double-double of 15 points, 10 rebounds, and countless shots inside by MCI that he forced them to readjust. Oliver displayed a wide of array of scoring ability for NMH, knocking down three-pointers, and scoring off of dribble drives and acrobatic finishes going to the rim. MCI had two guys in double figures: 6’9 Xavier-commit James Farr and guard Joey Boyle.

New Hampton School (NH) 90, Blair Academy (NJ) 63

Noah Vonleh and Jared Terrell were absolutely unstoppable in this one. Vonleh (19 points) dominated the glass with 14 rebounds and held Blair’s defense in check with four treys. Terrell continued to impress with his athleticism and finishing ability, while also knocking down three three-pointers. His one-handed alley-oop dunk that had the crowd at Albertus Magnus in awe was undoubtedly one of the best dunks of the weekend. Sophomore Mike Auger had a breakout performance for New Hampton, he had a couple of three-pointers to go along with eight rebounds-at one point he had an offensive rebound on four consecutive NH possessions in the second half. 6’11 Virginia-commit Mike Tobey led Blair in scoring with 21 points, he was able to make a difference all day in the paint by forcing New Hampton’s finishers to work over and around his long arms.

La Lumiere School (IN) 102, Vermont Academy (VT) 93

Despite La Lumiere jumping out to an early lead and holding a sizable lead the majority of the second half, Vermont Academy stormed back late in the second half to bring this one within reasonable reach. Ultimately Southern Illinois-commit Antonio Drummond (25 points, eight rebounds) and Purdue-commit Raphael Davis (23 points) were just too much for VA. Drummond knocked down three three-pointers in the second half, while Davis got to the rim at will and knocked down a few mid-range jumpers. UMass-commit Trey Davis, Dominic Woodson, and Donelle Munda combined to score 60 or VA’s 93 points. Davis made two three-pointers and was blowing by defenders to the rim all game long.

Tilton School (NH) 79, Kiski Shool (PA) 40

This game was all Tilton the whole way, with Kentucky head coach John Calipari looking on for the whole thing. Iowa State-bound senior Georges Niang outscored Kiski by himself in the first half, showing some range on his outside shot, finishing everything that came his way in the paint, and getting to the free throw line at will. Wayne Selden and Goodluck Okonoboh had a couple of highlight-reel dunks each, and highly-touted recruit Nerlens Noel was a dominant force on both ends of the floor; Noel rebounded, scored, and blocked shots it seemed as if whenever he wanted to. Dartmouth-commit Kevin Crescenzi was a great scoring addition off the bench for Tilton; he finished with 11 points on three three-pointers.

Winchendon (MA) 74, Wilbraham & Monson (MA) 69

Jaylen Brantley displayed once again why he has become a high-major prospect at point guard. He scored on a variety of different dribble moves and drives, had a quick trigger on his outside jumpshot, and rebounded at an extremely high rate for a 5’9 point guard.  Penn State-commit Akosa Maduegbunam showed his full offensive arsenal, making a variety of deep threes as well as athletic drives.  Ultimately, Wilbraham's hopes looked slim when Brantley went down with severe cramping at the four minute mark, but they turned in a gutsy effort behind Alex Ramone and Maodo Lo to cut the lead to just three with under a minute to play.  That's when Maduegbunam stepped up yet again, drilling a huge three-pointer that would push Winchendon's lead to safety.