Marshall County HoopFest – Day Three Recap
by Chris Jung
Graves County girls v. Jefferson City
Probable regional first-teamer Leslie Dowdy led the Lady Eagles with 17 points and 11 rebounds as Graves beat the Lady Jaybirds 60-53.
GCHS won despite Jefferson City’s Brianna Culberson’s 29 points and 13 rebounds, one of the weekend’s best performances.
Jefferson City v. Tucson Santa Rita
Arguably one of, if not the most fundamentally-sound teams at HoopFest, Jefferson City used an impressive performance and defeated the Arizona school 51-32.
Jefferson City used an 11-0 third quarter run to put the game away. Zach Roling scored 10 points to pace the Jays. Kyle Carney and Devin Stewart combined for 28 of Santa Rita’s 32 total points.
Webster Groves v. Louisville Fairdale
Groves survived in the face of a seemingly insurmountable comeback and defeated Fairdale 53-48.
Behind Eric Jones’ 23, Webster led by 11 at halftime and had to do all it could to fend off Maurice Grinter and 3-pointers by Josh Thompson.
Westbury Christian v. North Broward Prep
Wendell Preadom had 21 points, including 11 free throws to lead Westbury 67-60 over Broward.
Jake Worley and Jimmie Sutton combined for 25 for Broward.
Carbondale v. Memphis White Station
Matching up a heavy favorite to win the Illinois Super Seven against a team that has won four of the last five Tennessee state championships meant one thing: somebody had to win.
On this night, Carbondale had the edge and defeated White Station 62-59 in what was HoopFest’s only overtime game.
With the score tied at 51 with 23 seconds left in the game, Carbondale’s Josh Tabb, who finished with 18 points, fouled Station’s Collin Cunningham following the in-bounds pass. Cunningham made both bonus shots, giving the Spartans the 53-51 lead. But with 1.2 seconds to go, the Terriers’ Phillip Fayne drove the lane and was fouled. He also hit both free throws, forcing the game to the extra four-minute period.
Carbondale took over in overtime, as Tabb, Manual Cass and Fayne continued their hot play. Cass, who finished with 18 points and eight boards, was the MVP.
J.P. Prince, cousin of Detroit Pistons star and former University of Kentucky guard Tayshawn Prince, missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have sent the game into double overtime.
Belleville Althoff v. Chicago Hales-Franciscan
In what may be the state championship game for Illinois Class A, Althoff and Hales duked it out, with Hales Franciscan earning the 57-55 win.
Nate Minnoy’s 20 points and 11 rebounds led the Spartans. Senior Kevin Lisch was the Crusaders’ leading scorer, as the Saint Louis University-signee had 17.
Minnoy, who will play for Purdue next season, scored seven points in the first quarter, 12 in the first half and was a dominant inside force for Hales. However, it was Althoff that held the lead for the majority of the game, and did not surrender its first lead until there were four minutes to go in the third quarter.
Darius Melchor’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer ended the third quarter, and gave the Spartans a 49-42 lead.
Late in the fourth quarter, Hales’ Austin Chapital missed the front end of a one-and-one bonus free throw, and a Crusader possession would have given them a chance to tie down just two. But a giant offensive rebound by Hales prevented that and forced Althoff to foul Melchor, who hit both free throws.
Althoff did have one final chance, as Lisch’s steal and halfcourt heave would have won the game. However it hit the right side of the backboard, ending the contest.
Sophomore Jeremy Felton had 16 points and 13 monstrous rebounds for Althoff. Jeffrey Wilson chipped in 11 for Hales.
Poplar Bluff v. Arlington Country Day
Behind one of HoopFest’s largest performances, Poplar Bluff and Tyler Hansbrough were in a position to win, but were unable to stop the speedy Apaches, as the Mules fell 64-56.
The 6’10 Hansbrough, who will play for North Carolina, scored 34 points on 12-of-21 shooting, including 17 in the first half. He also had 12 rebounds in the loss.
Arlington Country Day’s David Huertas had a huge third quarter and his 3-pointer with 1:30 to go in that period sealed the deal for Arlington Country Day. He finished with 17 point, while Josue Soto led with 23.
Oak Hill vs. Homewood-Flossmoor
With his future Head Coach Bill Self looking on from the bleachers, Homewood-Flossmoor senior Julian Wright didn’t show signs of nervousness. He didn’t act out of character or change his approach in order to impress the University of Kansas head man, or anyone else for that matter.
Instead, Wright simply let the game come to him, played his upbeat style and contributed to one of the best games and possibly one of the biggest upsets in HoopFest and high school basketball history. Flossmoor defeated Oak Hill Academy, a team that was the undefeated (38-0) national champion from 2003 and unbeaten thus far this season, 68-67 Saturday night in the HoopFest premiere game. Despite trailing by nine points at halftime, the Vikings never gave in to the bigger and badder Warriors.
Wright, who had 19 points and nine rebounds on the night, delivered a rim-rattling, windmill baseline jam with four minutes remaining in the game, and cut the Oak Hill lead to one, 60-59. A couple of possessions later, Wright came through again, this time of the jumpshot variety, and tied the score at 64 with just under three minutes to go in the contest.
After trading baskets and continuing to battle over the game’s final moments, Oak Hill staked out to a one-point lead, leaving Flossmoor with possession of the ball with thirty seconds to play.
And instead of attacking the basket early, the Vikings’ Head Coach Roy Condotti called a timeout and drew up a plan that would have his team go for the win by running down the clock and taking the final shot. With multiple screens set in the lane, Vikings guard D.J. Posely broke to the top of the key and handed the ball off to who else – Julian Wright.
With nine seconds left on the clock, Wright made his move through the middle of the paint, and was fouled with about seven seconds left to go and his team trailing by a point.
Wright stepped to the charity stripe and buried his first attempt to tie the game at 67. Attempting to freeze Wright, Oak Hill Head Coach Steve Smith called a timeout of his own, leaving Wright to wait and think about the all-important free throw, and to devise a play of his own for the Warriors once they regained possession.
But like a poised veteran, Wright stepped to the line and showed no ill effects from the freezing attempt and drilled free throw No. 2, giving the Vikes an improbable 68-67 lead.
For good measure, Smith and Oak Hill took one more timeout before running the potentially game-winning play.
Oak Hill’s point guard and the team’s fastest member, Tywon Lawson, took the inbounds pass and sprinted past the halfcourt line, only to be greeted by a pair of Viking defenders.
Lawson fell to the ground, the final seconds slipped off the clock and the final horn blew. But just before the final buzzer went off, an official ruled that Lawson had called a timeout from the floor, and ruled that one-fourth of a second should be added back to the gameclock.
With a second and more desperate chance for Oak Hill, junior Kevin Durant sat purched beneath the goal, waiting for the out-of-bounds pass to come his way. But he would never see it. A swarm of Flossmoor defenders deflected the ball away and as if they were celebrating the Illinois state championship, fans rushed the floor and players jumped and embraced at midcourt as the prolific upset was complete.
“We have a good team, and we all play team ball,” Wright said following the win. “Coach said we have to play a 32-minute game, not a 16-minute game, and that’s what we did. We wanted to play our game and pick up the tempo of the game and we did that. It feels good and we have a long ride home, so hopefully we’ll get some rest on the bus.”
