Nkereuwem Okoro

St. Raymond's vs Shabazz

St. Raymond's

Nkereuwem Okoro (2012, 6-4 SG)
This young guard is loaded with potential as he already has good size for a guard, is long and has a quality skill set.  Okoro can shoot from the outside and buried three shots from beyond the arc.  His shot selection was not the best at times however, as he launched up a couple off balance shots with defenders in his face.  Not only can he shoot but he can also take his man off the dribble.  He is quick with the ball in his hands and although he seemed to prefer to drive right, he was also able to go left.  He always seemed to attack the hoop with a purpose and utilized a crossover to accomplish his goal of getting to the hoop.  Okoro was also able to score out on the break on a finger roll and also threw down a two hand slam after cutting along the baseline moving without the ball.  He also had a pretty reverse layup early in the game.  Okoro did find himself in foul trouble and ended up fouling out of the game with four and a half minutes left in the game.  Once he left the game Shabazz began to extend their small lead.  Despite his early exit, Okoro was still awarded MVP for his team as he scored a team high 17 points.

Daniel Dingle (2012, 6-6 SF/PF)
Daniel Dingle is definitely an intriguing prospect, as he can play inside but can also attack the hoop off the dribble.  His ball handling definitely needs some refining, because he seemed a bit out of control at times but he is only a 2012 prospect.  On one possession he caught the ball about 7 feet from the hoop. He then used a combination of post moves and face up driving to get to the hoop but he was fouled.  Daniel did however miss both of the following free throws.  Not only did he struggle from the free throw line but he struggled to convert for most of the game.  Daniel missed a deep two pointer, as well as a put back, and another layup attempt.  His best bucket of the night was made after taking one quick dribble before making a hop step to get closer to the hoop.  On this play he somehow avoided two attempted blocks and banked the short shot in.  Daniel was strong on the boards throughout the contest and blocked a couple shots himself on defense.

Larry Graves (2012, 5-10 PG)
Larry is pretty fast going straight to the hoop and this resulted in a couple layups for him out on the break.  He also stepped out and buried a jumper from three point land.

Shabazz

Tyre Lockhart (2010, 6-7 PF)
In this contest Tyre did his scoring around the hoop for the most part.  He hit a pair of hook shots and also scored on a tip in.  On one possession Tyre missed a short jumper but then grabbed his own rebound and then hit a short shot.  His only other points of the game were scored on a 2-2 trip to the free throw line.

Daveon Boardingham (2010, 6-6 PF)
Daveon was a force inside for Shabazz, as he used his athleticism to control the boards and score around the hoop.  Most of his points were scored off of layups or dunks, but he did both in impressive fashion.  On one of his successful layup attempts he had to adjust midair to avoid a block.  He did miss one of his layup attempts but then grabbed his own rebound and proceeded to throw down a dunk on the other side of the rim.  After cutting along the baseline on another play, Daveon caught a pass and slammed home a powerful one hand dunk.  His other dunk was a result of him catching a long pass out on the break.  When he caught the pass he then took it strong to the rim and dunked with two hands right over a smaller defender.  Daveon finished with 17 points for the game.

Isaiah Williams (2010, 6-8 SF)
Isaiah is a long and athletic wing player who can put the ball on the floor as well as knock down shots from the outside.  He did struggle shooting from beyond the arc in this contest, as he took a number of shots from three but could not get any of them to fall.  Isaiah did however hit a pair of jump shots from just inside the three point line.  Off the bounce Isaiah hit a runner and also showed good vision hitting a cutter along the baseline.  On one play he crossed his man over and got all the way to the hoop for a layup, which he was also fouled on.  He hit the ensuing free throw and his other four free throw attempts as well.  Isaiah also showed off his leaping ability on a trio of dunks.  After grabbing an offensive rebound he went right back up with it for a dunk.  His other two dunks were out on the break, one of which was a result of him picking his man’s pocket and dribbling all the way to the hoop himself.  Isaiah was named game MVP with a game high 21 points.

Bishop Loughlin vs Cherokee

Bishop Loughlin

Jayvaughn Pinkston (2010, 6-6 SF/PF)
It appeared in this game that Javaughn wanted to display his wing skills, as he did not play inside much on the offensive side of the ball.  He did however find himself more on the interior on defense and did pull down quite a few rebounds.  Javaughn brought the ball up the court a number of times and looked very comfortable with the ball in his hands.  He also showed that he could drive to the hoop and used a crossover effectively.  This was a somewhat quiet game from Javaughn, but that was at least partially caused by his early foul trouble, which forced him to sit out most of the first half.  When he was in the game however, he struggled converting both around the hoop and with his jump shot.  His only two field goals of the day came off of an easy layup and he hit a runner in the lane off the backboard.  Where he really contributed on offense was with his passing and by getting to the free throw line.  He drew a number of fouls, including one on a three point attempt.  Seven of his points were scored from the line, and his passing created a couple open scoring opportunities for his teammates.  Far from the best performance we have seen from Jayvaughn but it was not needed in this easy win for Bishop Loughlin.

Davonte Dunham (2011, 6-2 SG)
Davonte showed he could hit from the outside as he buried a pair of shots from beyond the arc.  He also hit a difficult layup in traffic.

Rasi Jenkins (2010, 6-6 PF)
On both sides of the ball Rasi provided a solid inside presence for Bishop Loughlin.  Defensively he blocked three shots including stuffing 6-9 Ryan McKeaney.  He rebounded the ball well throughout the contest and was able to score on a pair of put backs after pulling down offensive boards.  His other points all came from the charity stripe as he hit three of his four attempts.  Rasi drew one of these fouls after making a nice drop step move along the baseline.

Branden Frazier (2010, 6-3 SG) committed to Hofstra
Branden was the games leading scorer with 13 points but most of his buckets were scored on layups.  On one play he had the ball stolen off of him, but on the ensuing break he came from behind to pin the layup attempt against the glass.

Kareem Canty (2011, 5-11 PG)
Named the games MVP, Kareem finished with 12 points.  He showed that he could get to the hoop and score in traffic or step out and knock down jump shots.  From the outside he hit a three pointer and another shot with his foot on the line.  Around the hoop he hit a layup while being fouled and finished off the old fashioned three point play by hitting his free throw.  In transition Kareem hit another layup that he was fouled on but this time around he missed the ensuing free throw.  In order to avoid being blocked on this play he delayed the release of the layup until he almost hit the ground.

Cherokee

Ryan McKeaney (2010, 6-9 C) committed to Vermont
This long, lanky post player had 8 points in this contest, most of which were scored around the hoop.  His first bucket was scored by softly laying in a lob pass from one of his teammates.  He followed this up by tipping in a teammates miss.  After this though, he struggled to convert around the hoop.  Ryan did however draw a pair of fouls.  On his first trip to the line he hit both of his attempts but he could not get either free throw to fall on his second trip.

Willis Nicholson (2011, 5-10 PG)
Willis put together a pretty impressive performance and was the obvious MVP choice for his team.  Early on in the game he drained a three pointer, but that would be his only made outside shot.  This was not the only shot he took though, as he did miss a step back jumper that was just inside the arc.  What made him dangerous in this game though was his ability to get to the hoop and score.  Willis utilized a vast array of moves off the dribble to get by defenders, including a crossover, a fake crossover, dribble hesitation, changes in speed and a fake spin move.  After beating his man with a crossover Willis hit a layup off the glass, between two opposing players.  On the other two layups he hit, he was fouled on both and successfully converted the three point play by hitting the two following free throws.