DTLR Hoops Festival: Sunday part II

UPPER MARLBORO, MD. -- While DeMatha and LaQuinton Ross closed out the DTLR National High School Hoops Festival, the stage was set by a trio of other good games.

PATTERSON WINS UGLY

Year in and year out Patterson and Hargrave are two of the best prep school programs in the nation. Both teams recruit the nation's top players. Both schools have a constant flow of highly recruited players. Both schools are the first stop on the recruiting trail for coaches after signing day because of talented available players.

The two programs were paired against each other on Sunday afternoon and with 10 Division I players on the floor at all times, it was an intriguing match-up.

Paced by the play of unsigned guards Deandre Kane and Vincent Council, Patterson won a sluggish 79-76 scrum against Hargrave.

The two combined for 32 points and were the only guards in the game that had any sort of consistency. Kane scored 20 points on 8 of 15 shooting while Council chipped in with 12 points.

"That might have been one of the ugliest and strangest games I've ever been a part of," Patterson head coach Chris Cheney said after the game.

"Yeah, it wasn't pretty but we won," Kane said. "It wasn't our best game. I can tell you that."

Kane was the best guard in the ugly affair. He hit three three-pointers, played relatively calm and collected and never got caught up in the helter skelter mentality that seemed to overtake the match-up.

Hargrave guards Freddie Riley and Maurice Creek combined for four of 29 shooting from beyond the three-point line. Riley, a future UMass guard, scored 22 points while Creek, an Indiana signee, put in 11 points.

Despite the cold high-volume perimeter shooting from Hargrave, Patterson had little production in the post. The two teams traded bad shots and turnovers throughout the game.

Chris Braswell was the strength of Hargrave's attack. Playing in front of family and friends, the D.C. native scored 22 points and grabbed 16 rebounds.

Considering Braswell was a one-man show against a bigger and deeper frontline, his work on the glass was even more impressive.

David Nyarsuk, a 7-foot-1 center from Sudan, played well when he was in the game. The big man runs the floor well for a player of his size. He is more athletic than he looks and the big fella kept the game where no one else could match up with him – way above his shoulders.

According to Cheney, Tennessee and Ohio State are the two most aggressive pursuers for the Rivals150 center.

Georgia State bound big man Rashanti Harris scored just two points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Future Marshall star Hassan Whiteside came out strong on the offensive end of the floor, scoring six quick points but cooled as the game went along. He finished with 12 points and seven rebounds.

Kane and Council both rattled off a number of schools that are looking at them.

Kane said Marquette, Seton Hall, Baylor, Pitt and UConn round out his list at the moment. Kane, a Pittsburgh native, said he will trip to Seton Hall on Dec. 19.

Council said he has offers from Providence and Rutgers while Central Florida, Arkansas, Hawaii, Kent State and Western Kentucky are heavy in the mix. Council also said he plans on visiting Central Florida, Rutgers and Providence in the very near future.

PAUL VI GOING GREEN

Paced by the steady play of Erick Green, Paul VI (Va.) beat a scrappy Roman Catholic (Pa.) team 60-55.

Green, a future Virginia Tech guard, scored a team high 20 points and grabbed six rebounds to go with his four assists. The three-star guard seemed to always have an answer when his team was against the ropes in a competitive game that went back and forth throughout.

He had his hands full with Maalik Wayns, who played about as well as any guard did over the two days at Wise High School. The five-star future Villanova guard recorded a triple-double, scoring 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in the defeat.

Wayns played the only speed he knows – pedal to the metal – and put Paul VI on their heels with his constant aggressive attack to the basket. He was quick with the ball as soon as he grabbed the rebound. It was grab and go for the senior.

NATIONAL CHRISTIAN WING EMERGES

There was bound to be a breakout player at the star-studded event and National Christian was happy to provide the emerging prospect.

Ayodeji Egbeyemi, a 6-foot-4 Nigerian import, scored a team high 22 points in an 81-53 blowout of St. John's Catholic Prep. Egbeyemi has been in the United States since October and he wasted little time in his first game on the national stage.

The junior loves to shoot it and let it fly from deep. He hit three three-pointers and scored the rest of his buckets at rim level. The physically impressive wing is a scorer through and through and has the look of a player that the high-majors will thoroughly evaluate over the next two years.

His head coach Trevor Brown said things should pick up for his new star over the next couple of weeks on the recruiting front.

"Now that people have had a chance to see him play, I'd imagine he will be a topic of conversation for me [with coaches]," Brown said.

There is little question about that.

Future Pitt big man Dante Taylor, a five-star senior, scored 14 points and collected nine rebounds in a quiet but efficient affair for NCA.

St. John's was led by sophomore Grandy Glaze. The Jamal Boykin-like forward pumped in 19 points and collected seven rebounds. The Toronto native is on the radar for a number of schools, including Baylor, UNLV, Temple, South Dakota, Akron and West Virginia.

ALL EYES ON US

Pittsburgh head man Jamie Dixon, Virginia head coach Dave Leitao, Indiana head coach Tom Crean, Providence's Keno Davis, Central Florida's Kirk Speraw, Marshall head man Donnie Jones

Assistant coaches from Akron, Charlotte, Delaware, Duquesne, George Mason, Georgia Tech, Howard, James Madison, Longwood, Marquette, Memphis, Mount St. Mary's, N.C. State, Northeastern, Old Dominion, Penn, Robert Morris, St. Francis (Md.), UAB, Villanova and Virginia Tech all made it out on Sunday.

SCOREBOARD

National Christian 81, St. John's Catholic Prep 53

Paul VI 60, Roman Catholic 55

Patterson 79, Hargrave 76