Nike Extravaganza: Oak Hill's big win, Bagley goes for 43
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SANTA ANA, Calif. - Oak Hill Academy gave Chino Hills High School its first loss in nearly two years in front of a sold out crowd at Mater Dei High School Saturday evening. The marquee matchup was the final game of the Nike Extravaganza, and the Warriors of Oak Hill edged out the Huskies of Chino Hills 96-91.
Iowa State commit Lindell Wigginton (35 points) and Kansas pledge Billy Preston (16 points and 21 rebounds) led the way for Oak Hill.
LiAngelo Ball and LaMelo Ball of Chino Hills had a tough night of shooting, going 20 for 58 combined from the field and only 11 for 36 from behind the three-point line.
Wigginton shot lights out in the second half, including a couple of threes late in the fourth quarter, to give Oak Hill their first lead of the game. Their defense in transition is what really slowed down the quick shooting Ball brothers.
“Our main goal was to just stop them in transition and stop the quick threes down the court,” Wigginton said. “I think we did a good job with that in the second half, and once we got those stops it helped us get good looks on the offensive end.”
After the game Wigginton told Rivals.com that handing Chino Hills their first loss in almost two years wasn’t surprising to him and his teammates.
“The plan was to always come in here and win, so for us it’s not really that shocking,” Wigginton said. “We know we’re a good team and we know each night we can compete with anyone for a win.”
Oak Hill’s next opponent will be Georgia Prep Academy on Tuesday back in Virginia.
MARVIN BAGLEY SETS SCORING RECORD WITH 43 POINTS
The No. 1 overall junior in the country, Marvin Bagley III, showed fans why he's so highly ranked. Bagley and his Sierra Canyon teammates took care of business early while facing Bishop Gorman, as they never once gave up their lead. Bagley and UCLA commit Cody Riley dominated the post on offense and ran the floor well in transition for easy alley-opp dunks that ignited the crowd.
Bagley went 14 for 22 from the field and also grabbed 14 rebounds. Late in the fourth quarter head coach Ty Nichols pulled Bagley from the game only to put him right back in after realizing he was only two points away from breaking the Nike Extravaganza scoring record (previously held by Shabazz Muhammad at 41 points). The 6-foot-10 center scored right away from the elbow the next time down the court and got the standing ovation he deserved.
“It was a fun game. We came out strong in the beginning and didn’t let up,” Bagley said. “I give all the credit to my teammates for finding me at different times. We played together and sometimes they made the extra pass for me to finish. It was a great win and something I'm really proud of.”
When you see Bagley play and his presence on the court, it’s hard to believe he’s only a junior and has one more year of high school basketball. He’s not focused on the recruiting side of things at the moment and recognizes he still has plenty of time. Arizona, Arizona State, Duke, Kentucky, Oregon and UCLA are known to be in the mix but Bagley is keeping the process under wraps.
“I’m not really worried about the recruiting process right now,” he said after the game. “I’m going to wait until sometime after the EYBL summer session is over to really start taking a deeper look at programs.”
TAESHON CHERRY HAS IMPRESSIVE SHOOTING NIGHT
A top 50 player in the 2018 class, Taeshon Cherry shot the ball the best I’ve ever seen from him Saturday night. The 6-foot-8 small forward went 10 for 18 from the field and knocked down three threes to finish with 24 points in a 62-74 loss against Mater Dei.
“I tried not to get frustrated when my shot wasn’t falling in the first half and coach told me ‘keep shooting the ball, keep shooting the ball,'" Cherry said. "So once one fell I just kept thinking, ‘(I) got to keep shooing,’ and then I got my confidence back and knew they were going in.”
Cherry broke his hand in the fall and was worried about the time he was losing to work on his game. But once that cast came off he really started to focus on his jump shot right.
“I spent hours and hours in the gym working on my shot. Just countless reps and shooting drills,” Cherry said. “Also my coach just kept telling me to be confident when I shoot and now a few months later, my shot is looking great. I’m shooting 52 percent for this season so far.”
On the recruiting front, Cherry holds offers from Cal, Texas A&M, USC, UCLA, Kansas, Arizona, Ganzaga, Harvard, and San Diego State.
He plans to get to Texas A&M, Gonzaga and Arizona for visits sometime soon but hasn’t set any dates. Cherry recently was on the UCLA and USC campuses and had good things to say about both programs.
“The visit to UCLA was great," Cherry said. "I went to the Arizona game and it was a great atmosphere even though they lost the game. TJ (Leaf) is also from San Diego so of course he’s pushing me to go there and be a Bruin,”
“The USC visit was also great. I’ve known Coach Bland since I was a little kid so I have a great relationship there, and Coach Enfield is a great guy too and talks to me a lot. Bennie Boatright is like a brother to me and he texts me all the time telling me to be a Trojan and is always commenting on my social media posts with Fight On and stuff like that.”
Cherry said he plans on narrowing things down this fall and making a decision before his senior season.
