Weekend News & Notes

New England Recruiting Report | Saturday, February 13th, 2010

We have officially entered crunch time of the season and that means a variety of intriguing storylines from around New England.  Here’s a recap of some of the headlines: 

•  The Hotchkiss School traveled to the Prime Time Shootout in New Jersey on Saturday to play the defending national high school champions Findlay College Prep from Nevada.  Jason Morris opened the game with consecutive three-pointers but it was Derrick Wilson who led the team with 24 points while holding Cory Joseph to 19.  Hotchkiss played Findlay tough before eventually falling 64-48. 

•  Michael Carter-Williams picked up right where he left off after last weekend’s MVP performance at the National Prep School Invitational when he came up with a steal and buzzer beating three-pointer to lead St. Andrew’s over Proctor Academy in overtime on Saturday. 

•  The SMAA Conference announced their post-season awards in Maine and Westbrook’s Nich Joblin was the big winner picking up league MVP honors.  Keegan Hyland earned honorary all-star distinction after missing his senior season with injury.  The SMAA first team consisted of Deering’s John Amabile, Westbrook’s Dominic Borelli, Cheverus’ Indiana Faithful, South Portland’s Matt Lee, and Thornton Academy’s Andrew Shaw.  The second team was made up of Windham’s Garrett Clemmer, Cheverus’ Louis Distasio, Cheverus’ Alex Furness, Scarborough’s Conor Sullivan, Portland’s Koang Thok, and Deering’s Eddie Tirabassi.  Nolan Allen, Chance Baldino, Connor Hasson, Thomas Litchfield, and Jose Nouchanthavong were named to the third team. 

•  The state tournament is underway in Maine and the big news this weekend was the return of Indiana Faithful to Cheverus’ line-up as they defeated Scarborough and now have a battle with Windham, who knocked off defending champions Thornton Academy, on the horizon as they lock up in Western A semi-finals on Wednesday. 

•  UConn head coach Jim Calhoun returned to the bench this weekend but unfortunately it wasn’t enough for the Huskies as they fell at home to Cincinnati.  However, his return may have been just in time to save the verbal commitment for Roscoe Smith, one of the nation’s top forwards in the class of 2010.  Smith told SNY’s Adam Zagoria on Friday that he had doubts when Calhoun missed seven games but intends to keep his word.  Connecticut is also still involved with some of the most highly sought after players in the country in Brandon Knight, Josh Selby, C.J. Leslie, Cory Joseph, and Doron Lamb.