NEHF - Saturday PM Recap II

by AJ Stokes | Saturday, April 14th, 2012

The action continued to be fast and furious at the Northeast Hoops Festival on Saturday afternoon with various players shining from Trinity College to Avon Old Farms to New Britain High School.  Here's a rundown of the action:

K.J. Baptiste - BABC - Was effective using his wide-body to create space in the paint to rebound and score the ball consistently.  The kid has a great motor and wears down the opposing front-line.  Finished with two-hand dunk-shots on several occasions.

Jaylen Brantley & Rene Castro - BABC - Maverick and Goose flew two successful missions on the afternoon, facilitating efficiently for the front-court and scoring the ball with daggers on the trick or treat tip.

After taking the ACTs in the morning, Goodluck Okonoboh arrived for BABC's second game and immediately changed the black & gold dynamics, challenging every shot attempt by the opposition in the lane and using his speed to erase transition opportunities for the opponent like Larry David ruining a Surprise Party.

Andrew Chrabascz - BABC - No one works harder than bruising power forward Andrew Chrabascz.  He attacked the basket from all sorts of mid-range angles, scoring the ball through contact and making a living at the charity stripe.

Jared Terrell - As his skills continue to tighten, Terrell looks more and more impressive as a high-voltage scoring guard who puts red-alert pressure on a retreating defense with his no-nonsense North & South dribble-drive attack up the gut.  This afternoon, he scored the ball with elecricity from long-range, the mid-range, and the dunk-range.

In addition to Terrell, the combination of Alec Brennan and Abdul-Malik Abu was impressive throughout the day.  Abu was his typical self, rebounding the ball hard, scoring the pill around the bucket, and attacking the rim ferociously. Meanwhile, Brennan was today the best we've ever seen him.  He was active on both ends of the floor, going after rebounds in enemy territory and aggresively pursuing oppourtinites to challenge shots defensively.  On the offensive end, in addition to crashing the boards, Brennan scored the ball in a number of ways; he faced up and knocked down some shots from the mid-range, he went to work with his jump-hook game in the lane, and AB also finished with loud two-hand dunks on numerous occasions.

Garland Owens - Mid-Antlantic Select - Athletic dynamo on the wing who plays well above the rim and is electrifying when finishing at the tin.  Had some of the day's loudest dunk shots.  They hurt my ears.  Wonder if Owens plays football.  He could go up and get 'em as a wide-out.

Matt Cimino - Rivals - Pick and pop 4-man all day with a little McNasty in him.  Cimino scored from inside and out on the day, finishing through contact around the basket and filling trey balls off the catch and shoot.

Thomas Rivard - RI Hawks - Aggressively showcased his versatility all day long, getting after it all over the floor and scoring it in a variety of ways.  Showcased a smooth long range shooting stroke and a nice ability to score along the baseline.  Also looks to challenge shots from the small forward position.

Charles Correa - Jitter-bug lead guard with pep in his step off the bounce and terrific court vision.  CC has the ability to knock em' down from deep, and along wiht Damien Lugay, formed a potent back-court for the Hawks.

Evan Nole - Shooting Stars - One of the top individual performances of the day went to Nole, who went for 25 pts cold-blooded points on 4 treys for the Shooting Stars 17s in a big OT win.

Kaleb Joseph - In terms of combining efficiency with his sprawling length and talent, KJ played the best we've ever seen him play, effectively selecting creases in the defense to attack with the dribble-slash to get into the lane, where he finished with pull-ups, kicked re-locating shooters and scored the ball at the tin.

Coming into the spring known as a long 6'6 wing with a smooth stroke, Mike LeBlanc has come out of the gate raising eyebrows with a strengthened frame and increased athleticism.  In addition to knocking down shots from the long-range and the mid-range, today Leblanc attacked the basket with urgency from the wing, finishing at the rim on multiple occasions, including a two hand rock job in traffic on the break.

In addition to Cimino, Joseph, and LeBlanc, Noah Vonleh, Dimitri Floras, and Idris Taqqee all got in on the buffet throughout the course of the Rival's two blow-out vitories.