By Brian Crownover

{mosImage}After a fantastic session of the Eastern Invitational individual camp, the team camp opened up on Monday.  A number of the top teams from throughout the region were on hand.  Here is a look at some of the top performers.

Boys & Girls

David Imes (2008, 6-6 210 SF/PF)
David was without question the best player we saw during the evening session. The big wing caught everyone’s attention early with an athletic shot block. After that, he made another fine defensive play by taking a charge. David then kicked it into high gear on the offensive end. He buried his first in a long line of three point shots. He was hitting them in a variety of ways; catch and shoot, off the dribble and he even knocked down a step back three. David added in a pull up mid range jumper as well. He has a great combination of athleticism, size and skill. He’s very difficult to defend, especially when he’s this red hot on the perimeter. He added in an offensive rebound follow up or two just for good measure. With the way he played tonight, I’m surprised I don’t hear more about David. He’s a terrific player.

C.J. Reid (2008, 6-4 200 SF)
C.J. is another talented and athletic forward. The lefty is a good finisher around the hoop, including after contact. He has a very quick crossover move and nice touch on his shot. C.J. is also strong and a very good rebounder. He scored on several offensive putbacks. He blocked several shots as well.

Notre Dame Academy

Andrey Semenov (2008, 6-7 SF)
Andrey is a skilled forward with a good all around game. He missed a jumper early, but followed it up with a lay-up a few minutes later. He had a very nice reverse lay-in after initially being blocked. Andrey seems to be good at bouncing back after a miss. Throughout the game he hit a pull up mid range jumper, a couple of threes and even scored on the interior a couple of times. While he can score on the inside, he’d benefit by adding some strength so that he can bang more effective in the paint. Andrey also rebounded well in the contest. He doesn’t have the quickest release on his jumper, but he does shoot the ball from a high release point. He seems to shoot the ball consistently from game to game, never getting really hot or cold. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of his game on this day was that he kept battling even with his team down big. Andrey was getting frustrated like the rest of his teammates, but continued to play hard and tried to make things happen. He did struggle defensively against David Imes, but did force David to at least settle mostly for jump shots.  Andrey isn’t dominant in one area, but he’s definitely a highly skilled all around player. 

Will Alston (2008, 6-6 SF/PF)
Will is a big, athletic forward. He plays on the perimeter a lot, but can also go inside and bang. He can score shooting from beyond the three point line or he can get to the basket off the dribble. He can also post up some. Will’s best play was a pretty one handed floater in the lane with contact. He also rebounded well. After a quick start, Will was rather quiet. His team was getting blown out. It didn’t appear that he completely quit, but he was clearly frustrated and didn’t play with as much energy as he had early on. 

Travon Vann (2008, 6-3 PG/SG)
Travon is a quick ball handling guard with a nice crossover move. He had a good early pass to Semenov, but his game slid from that point. He had a couple of turnovers, had some trouble finishing and even had a shot blocked. Travon is always on the attack and it’s hard to not like that part of his game. This just clearly wasn’t one of his better days. 

Bishop McNamara

Rashad Whack (2009, 6-2 SG)
Rashad is a talented young guard who put together a fabulous game. He possesses a good combination of strength and quickness. Rashad also has a deft touch from the perimeter. He hit on jump shot after jump shot on this evening. He’s good from the mid range area and can catch and shoot or pull up. Rashad threw in a couple of highly difficult step back jumpers as well after a fantastic crossover moves. He’s a very quick ball handler who can create off of the dribble too. Rashad often uses a floater in traffic to score over the defense. He’s a talented player and certainly one to watch in the next couple of years. 

Marc Hill (2008, 5-9 PG)
Marc had a solid, but not spectacular outing. The undersized guard is very quick off the bounce. When his jumper is on, he’s a dynamite player. Today, however, he struggled to find his shot. Marc really does like the pull up jumper and he settles for it too often rather than attacking. He really needs to drive more and put pressure on the defense. Marc is certainly a talented player though when he gets it going. 

Gwynn Park

Sean Thomas (2008, 6-3 SG)
Sean was very active defensively early on. He came up with several steals. The strong guard played a solid transition game and attacked off the dribble. He was quiet from the perimeter, but Sean put together a solid game.  

Henninger

Ben Cronin (2008, 7-0 235 C) Committed to Michigan
Ben is a skilled 7 footer. He has a big frame and is good at clearing rebounds. He passes well after surveying over the defense. He’ll often do so from the high post. Ben isn’t very athletic, but he has decent touch. He can put the ball on the floor a little, although he did get called for a couple of walks on the interior. Ben didn’t look for his offense enough, especially considering he was easily the biggest guy on the court. While he passed well from the high post, he spent too much time out there. Ben does certainly have some ability though.

Gonzaga

Max Kenyi (2008, 6-4 175 SG/SF)
Max drew a technical foul early on, but stayed composed. He didn’t have his best game, but was still solid. Max had a beautiful left-handed finish and converted it into a three point play. He also dropped in a nice short bank shot. Max ran the floor and drew a number of fouls. His shot wasn’t falling on this day though. 

Cameron Johnson (2008, 6-4 SG)
Cameron is a big bodied guard who was at his best passing the ball on this day. He has good court vision and gets the ball to his teammates in a hurry. He drew a foul after posting up and also pulled down several rebounds. He was relatively quiet in the scoring column though.

Ian Hummer (2009, 6-6 SF)
Ian is a solid forward. He made most of his impact crashing the offensive glass. He’s not the biggest player, but he understands how to position himself underneath for the boards. The lefty scored off of several offensive putbacks. Ian finishes well around the basket and did so after a nice cut to the hoop. He was somewhat quiet in the other areas of the game, but Ian still played well.

Imhotep Charter

Will Adams (2009, 6-3 SG) 
I really haven’t seen Will awhile. He’s now become one of the go to guys on Imhotep. He has a quick crossover and can get into the lane. Will was also pretty good from downtown. He possesses a smooth stroke and hit several threes. He even mixed in a blocked shot too.

Kenny Battle (2009, 6-1 SG)
Kenny is a very physical guard. He was fantastic finishing around the basket. One of his more impressive plays occurred when he sliced through the teeth of the defense and changed directions. He has a shifty crossover move and is quite strong. Kenny can finish after contact and did so on one occasion to create a three point play. He also buried a three pointer and made a nice pass late in the contest.

Friendship Charter

Alvin Brown (2008, 6-9 PF/C)
Alvin is quite the long and athletic big man.  The lefty does have a beautiful mid range jumper.  He rebounded well too. 

Riverdale Baptist

Phillip Brooks (2008, 6-7 SF/PF)
One of the problems with seeing someone briefly is they can play better than they really are. That appeared to be the case with Phillip’s play on Thursday evening. On Thursday he looked great, but with his high school team he had little impact. Phillip wasn’t even a starter for Riverdale Baptist. He does have good size and did crash on the boards. Other than that though, he was relatively quiet.