By Brian Crownover
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Despite being a small state, Delaware is no stranger to big time holiday hoops tournament.  Some elite teams and players from as far away as California and Oklahoma were on hand this past week to take part in the Bay Ball Classic.  Here's a look at some of the top players in the consolation game action.

National Bracket 3rd Place Game

Lincoln (NY) 71 Custer (OK) 42

Lincoln

Lance Stephenson (2009 6-4 195)
Lance is one of the top young players in the country.  He is a great young all around player.  The big point guard with long arms is a very smooth and crafty ball handler.  He is an excellent passer as well as a scorer.  He is great in transition and can often be found pushing the ball up the court since he rebounds so well.  Lance has good body control which allows him to finish in traffic.  He is also active in disrupting passing lanes on the defensive end.  He has a smooth stroke and can knock down pull up jumpers.  Lance finished with 26 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals in the blowout win.

Brandon Walters – Seton Hall (2007 6-10 200)
Brandon made his biggest impact by rebounding (9) and blocked shots (4).  He has a big body and long arms to go with some nice athletic ability.  He also has good hands.  Brandon seems to play well in stretches on the offensive end.  He struggled to finish early on, but finished with 8 points.

Devon Peterson (2007 6-2)
The quick and smooth Peterson had some trouble finishing early on in this game, but picked it up in the 2nd half.  He has a good crossover move and a smooth stroke from the perimeter.

Cape Ferry Bracket 3rd Place Game

Oklahoma Christian (OK) 86 St. Mary’s (NY) 50

Oklahoma Christian

Blake Griffin – Oklahoma (2007 6-9 230)
How’s this for a line:  10-10 from the field, 21 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 blocks.  Not bad huh?  Except those were just Blake’s first half stats.  It is tough to say he’s the best player I’ve seen all year when he did have a good three inches on the entire St. Mary’s roster.  Without a doubt, Blake put together the best single game performance that I’ve seen.  His final line was actually:  15-16 for 35 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists and 6 blocks.  Blake is already a very strong post player.  He has an NBA body and incredible athletic ability.  He has very good touch around the hoop and converts at a high rate.  He also handles the ball quite well away from the basket.  He can bring the ball up the court or finish on the break.  Blake is also an unselfish player who likes to get his teammates involved.  It seems like he has a hand in nearly every play for his team.  He has array of post moves and great hands to go with it.  He plays at sort of a slow pace most of the time, but then explodes when he has two.  Blake covers a ton of ground to block shots.  Often times, he was nowhere in sight, but still wound up getting block.  Perhaps the most impressive thing with regard to his play was that he was frequently coaching his teammates on the court.  One of the few weaknesses in his game was in foul shooting.  Blake also didn’t show any outside shooting ability.  He’s certainly talented enough to develop that portion of his game.  Oklahoma has definitely signed a very special player in Blake.

Tucker Phillips (2007 6-6)
Tucker is a big guard/forward who runs the floor well and is skilled.  He’s a solid ball handler, but not explosive.  He has nice touch around the basket.  Tucker didn’t show much of a perimeter game though.

St. Mary’s

Byron Freeman (2008 6-2)
Byron is a lanky, quick guard with a smooth handle.  He can hit from behind the arc, including off the dribble.  He is streaky from the perimeter.  Byron was able to get to the hoop, but struggled to finish with Blake Griffin manning the paint.

Scott Machado (2008 6-1)
Scott is a long point guard.  He is a good passer who can also score.  He is a solid finisher who works well in traffic.  Scott has long strides that allow him to get to the hoop quickly.  He also has a very good crossover move.  While Scott showed the ability to score, he didn’t take many outside shots.  He scored 15 points in the game.

First State Bracket 3rd Place Game

Caesar Rodney (DE) 44 Tatnall (DE) 43

Caesar Rodney

Tyshawn Bell (2009 6-6)
Tyshawn is a solid young player.  He has a decent build and a solid skill set.  His touch around the basket is solid can handle the basketball.  He isn’t a great athlete.  The majority of Tyshawn’s baskets come near the hoop.  He missed most of the jump shots that he took in this game.

Tatnall

DJ Boney – Delaware (2007 6-4)
The Delaware signee had a solid game.  He struggled to finish early on and played on the wing despite a significant height advantage.  He finally got it going in the 2nd half when he started playing in the low post.  DJ then finished well around the basket and had a few nice drives from the outside.  He got to the line a lot in the 2nd half due to his size and took advantage by converting free throws.  He hit a three in this game, but had just one rebound.  I would like to see more perimeter skills from DJ, but he was clearly better then his fellow in state players on the other side of the court.  He finished with 24 points on the day.

National Bracket 5th Place Game

Campbell Hall (CA) 64 Simon Gratz (PA) 63

Campbell Hall

Jrue Holiday (2008 6-3 180)
Jrue is rated among the top players in the class of 2008.  This athletic wing player can do just about everything.  Jrue runs the floor well and is a smooth ball handler.  He can score from the perimeter, driving to the hoop and also in the low post.  Jrue is very good at drawing contact.  He has nice touch in the post and is very active around the basket.  He is able to use his quickness to score on the inside.  Jrue also caused a lot of problems with his defense.  He blocked several shots and played the passing lanes to pick up several steals.  Jrue scored 18 points, added in 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals. 

Justin Holiday – Washington (2007 6-6 180)
The older Holiday was quite impressive too.  Justin is a lanky, athletic forward.  He plays mostly a face up game, but is very active around the basket.  He moves well in traffic and thus frees himself up for good shots.  He is a solid ball handler who finishes quite well.  He is also a very unselfish player.  Justin would benefit a lot from developing a back to the basket post game.  He also can hit jumpers from time to time, but could improve in that area.  He finished with good all around numbers, 14 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.

Simon Gratz

Charles White (2008 6-1 170)
Charles started off slowly in this contest and he made several mental mistakes.  He wound up on the bench because of it.  After settling in though, he took over the game for Gratz.  He hit a number of tough off balance shots down the stretch (including a three pointer) as his team battled back.  Charles is very quick and can score from nearly anywhere.  He does get himself caught at times when he’s unsure of whether he wants to pass or take the shot.  Obviously, consistent play throughout is also a key for Charles.  When he has it going though, he’s a very impressive player.  He led Gratz with 18 points on a very efficient 7-9 from the field.

Josh Martin (2007 6-1 170)
Josh had a relatively quiet game on this occasion when compared with his play earlier this fall.  He struggled to find his jumper in the early going, but he did a good job of not forcing anything.  Josh passed well throughout the game.  His scoring picked up in the 2nd half and he finished with 9 points.

Ali Odd (2008 6-2)
Like Martin, Ali struggled to find his shot from the perimeter.  This guard isn’t super quick, but he still does a good job of getting into the lane.  When in the paint, he can either pass or finish.  He also scored 9 points.