National High School Hoops Festival Recaps – First Day
Ron Bailey, Publisher
Page 2
Patterson 81 South Kent Prep 79
In the day’s prep school match up, Patterson School (NC) defeated South Kent Prep (CT) 81-79, in a game its coach, Chris Chaney dubbed “an ugly win”, one in which Patterson “didn’t play well”. The coach also shared regarding their next Festival match up - against similarly highly ranked American Christian (Patterson came into the weekend second, while American Christian was third) – his squad would produce a more effective on-court effort, as “ my teams usually don’t play two bad games in a row”.
Patterson Prep
Game MVP, guard Courtney Fortson (18 points) - who will attend Arkansas next year - led Patterson’s effort, with forward Matt Simpkins (12 points) and point guard Cameron Joyce (13 points) contributing buckets. South Kent was paced by guards Dion Waiters (22 points), Mo Creek (12 points) and Isaiah Thomas (15 points). One of their big men, Christian Morris (9 points), was a load inside. (Morris will attend Rutgers next year, while Thomas will be at the University of Washington).
Though Fortson earned his MVP status, with a win it could have gone to Waiters, a sophomore playing against older, more experienced players. The precocious young man routinely attacked the rim or pulled up for jumpers, including two back-to-back threes that in conjunction with a Thomas three pointer gave South Kent a brief 77-76 lead with about a minute to play.
Just as ‘Big Mo’ or momentum was starting to flow in their direction, South Kent would be called for a technical, a blow they would never recover from, despite Waiters making two fouls shots at the :35 mark.
Bishop O’Connell 88 South Oak Cliff 64
Before the contest, South Oak Cliff’s (Texas) coach, James Mays II revealed his team was quite aware of O’Connell’s Jason Clark, a senior guard who will attend and play at Georgetown University next year. “We’re not going to stop him” said Mays, whose team has won three consecutive state titles. “We just want to slow him down”.
Unfortunately for South Oak Cliff, that didn’t occur, as Clark (26 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists), led his team to an early insurmountable second quarter 33-14 lead, one cemented by his contested rebound and put back. The onslaught continued, being highlighted by a sweet pull up from three-land by Clark, soon followed by his buzzer beating bucket from his teammate and ‘road dog’ and University of North Carolina commit, sophomore guard Kendall Marshall (17 points).
O'Connell's team in a zany moment after the game.
Though Clark was sensational in all aspects of the game and received aid from from Marshall nailing open shots and driving, it was O’Connell’s defense as a unit that made much of their success possible. The team’s coach, Joe Wootten, was quite aware of what South Oak Cliff wanted to do – pound the ball into senior center J’Mison ‘Bo-Bo’ Morgan (3 points) – as they had recently scouted their opponent.
“It was really our defensive principles” stated Wootten, intimating nothing special had been drawn up in defending Morgan, a future LSU Tiger. “We always want to front the post, and I thought we did a great job on the weak side…and pressured their guards”.
They also excelled in transition, as O’Connell routinely beat South Oak Cliff down the floor for layup opportunities. “I thought we did a great job rebounding and getting out on the break” allowed Wootten, of his team’s performance, before later saying “We knew they were a very methodical team, and wanted to get them in a full court game”.
South Oak Cliff received 15 points from senior guard Ty Shaw,
and 13 from senior forward Brandon Jones.