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Written by Shotgun Spratling

Saturday, 06 February 2010 15:33

Arriving at Mater Dei High School for the eighth game of the two-day high school basketball event, I will be bringing you periodic updates live from the Meruelo Athletic Center. For full schedule, scroll to bottom.

St. Patrick (Elizabeth, NJ) 91, Taft (Woodland Hills, CA) 64

The game turned into a blowout when Taft junior playmaker DeAndre Daniels was whistled for his fourth foul halfway through the fourth quarter. Taft had been trailing by seven but hanging close. By the end of the third quarter, they were down by 24.
USC-bound Bryce Jones was Taft's only double-digit scorer with 19 points, including 14 in the first half.
Junior Michael Gilchrist scored 22 points and grabbed 14 boards for St. Patrick. He only missed one shot from the floor.
Player of the Year candidate Kyrie Irving showed why he will be playing for Coach K at Duke next year scoring a game-high 24 points and dishing out 6 assists.

Mater Dei (Santa Ana, CA) 82, Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, NV)76

UCLA commit Tyler Lamb led Mater Dei with 26 points shooting 11 for 19.
Mater Dei's Keala King and Gary Patterson each had 11 free throw attempts, but Bishop Gorman's Anson Winder was the ultimate charity recipient shooting 15 free throws.
Bishop Gorman sophomore Shabazz Muhammed led all scorers with 29 points making 10 of 16 shots and 8 of his 9 free throw attempts.

Wheeler (Marietta, GA) 79, Fairfax (Los Angeles, CA) 51

Stars of the Game: Jelan Kendrick and Phil Taylor (Wheeler) - Kendrick is a legit five-star recruit, who plays taller than his 6-foot-6 height because of his length. With Taylor and Kendrick, Wheeler has a formidable backcourt that few teams can match up with.

Taylor, who is signed to play for Isiah Thomas at Florida Internation, is a shooter, unafraid to pull the trigger at any time or at any spot on the floor. He only shot 3 of 8 from deep in this game, but he showed his sniper ability when he gunned a three-pointer at the buzzer to end the first half. He had 15 points -- 13 coming in the first half. A thick 5-foot-10, Taylor is also capable of driving into the lane and absorbing contact.

At 6-foot-6, Kendrick has good ball-handling skills and can shoot the outside shot. He scored 9 points on only five shot attempts in the first half and finished with 16 points and seven rebounds. Like Ocean View's Anthony Brown, Kendrick has a frame that will allow him to add extra muscle.
Recap: Wheeler dominated throughout the game as Fairfax did not get back on defense and turned the ball over too much in the backcourt. Fairfax also struggled to match up with the size of Wheeler. Besides Taylor's three triples, most of Wheeler's points came in the paint. Sophomore big man Chuck Mitchell had 10 points shooting a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor.

In contrast, Fairfax leading scorer, Jordan Weathers, missed 12 shots, including eight three-point attempts. Wheeler shot 20 percent better from the field (56.4 to 36.4) and also won the rebounding margin by 11.

Ocean View (Huntington Beach, CA) 83, Orange Lutheran (CA) 67

Stars of the Game: Anthony Brown and Avery Johnson (Ocean View) - Stanford bound Anthony Brown led all scorers with 32 points for Ocean View. Teammate Avery Johnson nearly caught him at the end of the fourth quarter finishing with 30. The duo could pass for brothers with the way they play so well together. It's almost as if they know where the other is at all times, and with their ability to finish at the rim, they often make the difficult look easy.

Brown is a long and lean 6-foot-7. His versatility is his greatest attribute as he can do it all on the court. He has great court vision, especially in traffic. He's capable of scoring off the dribble or as a jump shooter. He gets great lift for his jumper allowing him to shoot the pull-up well, and he isn't afraid to attack the basket. At Stanford, he will be able to add muscle to his frame and has the potential to be a future professional player.

For Johnson, he still has yet to decide on where he will play his college ball at. He has been getting looks from a number of programs, including Pac-10 and WAC schools. He has been offered a scholarship by Arizona and said he will be visiting Portland next weekend. Johnson is a athletic point guard, who like good friend Brown, is very versatile -- capable of rebounding, dishing, and scoring. He has a great first step, especially going to his right.

Recap: Ocean View opened up the game in the second half behind the play of Brown and Johnson. After only scoring 27 points and shooting 36 percent in the first half, they averaged 28 points in the final two quarters and shot 68 percent. Leading by five at halftime the Seahawks outscored Orange Lutheran 26-11 in the third quarter.

Behind the play of junior James Douglas and sophomore Gabe York, Orange Lutheran closed down the lead to start the fourth quarter, but essentially gave up down the stretch allowing Ocean View to surge the lead back to 16 points by the end of the game. Douglas finished with 17 points, including 12 on fast breaks. York had 15 points; Tyler Funk added 17.

Brown and Avery were the only Seahawks in double figures.

Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA) 62, Torrey Pines (San Diego, CA) 57

Star of the Game: Wolfie Wood (Santa Margarita) - Only a sophomore, Wood was the catalyst for the Eagles. At 6-foot-4, Wood could have easily settled for jumpers shooting over defenders, but instead he got most of his buckets by showing his slashing abilities. Shooting 8 for 13, Wood finished with 19 points and passed out three assists.

He also was a part of the defensive vanguard that was charged with chasing sharpshooter Nick Kerr around multiple screens on every play. Wood and the Eagles held Kerr more than seven points under his season average holding him to 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting, including only 1-of-7 from behind the arc.

With the possibility of a growth spurt still to come, Wood will be on the radar of many college coaches in the upcoming seasons.
Recap: With a number of shooters on both teams, including Nick Kerr, son of former NBA player Steve Kerr, both teams started out on fire. Kerr drained his first long-range shot from over a foot behind the three-point line. He then knocked down a deep two-pointer, but after that Santa Margarita clamped down on him.

Torrey Pines also began getting called for illegal screens as they tried to free their shooters, and Santa Margarita took advantage taking a six-point lead into halftime thanks to the contributions of Matt Sawdon, who had eight points and five boards before the break, and a 14-2 run to finish the half.

In the third quarter, the Falcons battled back by holding Santa Margarita to only 11 points in the third quarter. But Torrey Pines could not knock down enough shots in the second half to ever take the lead as they finished without making a three-point basket in the second half.

Trailing by only four late in the game, Kerr couldn't connect for his team -- even at the free throw line where he missed two of three free throws down the stretch. Santa Margarita's Ryan Robles and Brandon Blanchard didn't have the same problem as they knocked salted the game away shooting five of six from the charity stripe in the final moments.

Los Alamitos (Los Alamitos, CA) 73, Upland (Upland, CA) 57

Star of the Game: James Walker (Los Alamitos) - The 6-foot-3 shooting guard didn't have his best game shooting from long distance making only one of his five attempts. But he did just about everything else well. Walker finished with 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting, grabbed seven boards, and had three assists with four steals.

Though he was being looked at by some larger schools and looks to have the ability to play in the Pac-10, Walker signed with Utah State in November during the early signing period. Walker said having the opportunity to play right away definitely played into his decision.

Walker is a tough defender that causes problems with his long frame. On the offensive end, he has an explosive first step that allows him to create space for a silky smoth jump shot. He gets great elevation on his jump shot, which will allow him to knock down shots at the collegiate level where he will play the point guard position.
Recap: In a frenetic game, Los Alamitos took control down the stretch runs of both halves. They pushed their three-point first quarter lead to eight by constantly pushing the ball and wearing down the Upland Highlanders.

Upland made a run in the third quarter to get the lead down to four, but Los Alamitos slowly pulled away in the final period. One key to the Griffins' success was outrebounding Upland 44-30. DJ Coleman, John Gilliam, and Chris Powell all had double-figure scoring in the loss. Los Alamitos was led by Walker's 23 while Camryn Crocker scored 21.

Colony (Ontario, CA) 57, St. John Bosco (Bellflower, CA) 49

Star of the Game: Julian Caldwell (Colony) - Caldwell was all over the floor for Colony. He led all scorers with 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting, but also grabbed six rebounds, had two assists and a steal.

Caldwell told me after the game that he is talking to a few schools, including Pacific and North Dakota, but has yet to receive any offers. He has the ability to play point or shooting guard at the next level, and at 6-foot-3, I'm surprised he hasn't gotten more attention to be a bigger point guard.

Though he is not a sharpshooter, he does have a nice-looking jumper shooting well over defenders. He doesn't have tremendous explosiveness, but he was still able to go by the Bosco defenders with ease. He also was intelligent enough to pull up or dish the ball when the help came.
Recap: After being behind 15-12 after the first quarter, Colony outscored Bosco 17-6 in the second to take an eight-point lead into halftime. They never looked back from there thanks to Caldwell's ability to get to the basket seemingly at will and Bosco's inability to take advantage of the short baseline jumper where they had open looks when they beat Colony's half-court zone trap. Bosco also shot poorly from three-point range shooting only 2 for 13.