The Championship:
After a narrow win on Friday night over Winchendon, Naadir Tharpe and Brewster Academy showed how explosive they can be in a dominating 114-88 win over South Kent in the final of the 24th annual New Hampton Invitational on Saturday.
Brewster is now 27-4 on the season with their losses coming in overtime to Winchendon, in double overtime to South Kent, at the buzzer against Newark's NIA Prep (Shaq Thomas) and earlier in the season to NIA Prep.
After losing to South Kent earlier in the year, I was primed for an exciting game pitting the depth of Brewster against the terrific duo of JJ Moore (Pitt) and Russ Smith (Louisville). Moore entered the game on fire, having just scored 35 points the night before in a win over the host New Hampton Prep, and making the all tournament team at the National Prep Invitational, but Will Barton locked him up, as he had done against Gerard Coleman in December, holding Moore to a mere 3 points.
Additional thoughts on the weekend:
The point guards: What a great weekend for point guards. Three Providence targets were on display (Tharpe-Brewster, Lawhorn-South Kent, Laguerre-New Hampton) with a Friarbasketball favorite, Winchedon's Anthony Ireland, Tharpe's AAU teammmate, rounding out a great foursome.
Tharpe was the star of the weekend, taking home MVP honors in a tournament filled with high major talent. The PC target torched Lawhorn and anyone else on South Kent who tried to cover him on his way to 30 points in the final. Naadir was 4-4 from beyond the arc in the first half and did a tremendous job controlling the pace. When he's hitting from deep like he did in this one Tharpe becomes almost impossible to defend and the court opens up for his teammates because he is such a great passer.
I was blown away by Naadir after seeing him in December in the Brewster Invitational against Tilton, and after a so-so performance at the National Prep Invitational he was terrific again this weekend. As I wrote previously, Providence would strike gold with either Shabazz Napier or Naadir Tharpe. Can't say enough good things about both prospects.
Laguerre was also impressive in a New Hampton victory over Winchendon in the consolation game. After a silent first half he controlled the second against a very good team. Jordan is a physical lefty who is good off of the dribble and flashes great body control on his drives. In all honesty, I've been so firmly entrenched in the Tharpe/Napier camps that other point guards have felt like a fall back plan, but Laguerre is better than he's being giving credit for in Providence circles. A more physical presence than Tharpe and Napier who isn't the play maker Tharpe is or the shooter Napier is, but he's still a very solid prospect.
Danny Lawhorn did little in my first viewing of him to nudge his way into the point guard conversation. No impact on this day, but it is dangerous to place too much in a single impressive or poor performance.
URI's class: Even without having seen the headliner - Billy Baron - this URI class is still impressive. URI is bringing in two live bodies in Levan Shengalia (6'9, 265 out of MCI) and Kyle Cain, who was active in the paint and finished well against a big Winchendon frontcourt. Cain is a 6'7 interior player out of Chicago who just makes a lot of plays around the basket.
Will Barton's defense: Feeling better about Gerard Coleman's performance against Brewster in December after watching Barton and Brewster lock down the explosive JJ Moore, holding him to 3 points. Barton's offense makes headlines, but if he continues to shut down opposition's top scorers Brewster becomes very difficult to beat.
Brewster's tidal waves: Brewster went on a 23-4 run two minutes into the second half and South Kent never recovered. Brewster led by 20 at the half and if not for Louisville commit Russ Smith making plays on his own late in the half it would have been a 30 point game by halftime. It was a 30 point game early in the 2nd.
The same thing happened to Tilton when they traveled to Brewster in December. A 15-3 Brewster start turned into a 53-27 halftime lead. In both games Brewster's defense led to breakout opportunities and with athletes like Ejim, Barton, and Fair running alonside Tharpe they are very impressive to watch. You aren't going to win many track meets with Brewster.
Gerard Coleman versus Brewster Pt. II: In what was easily Gerard Coleman and Tilton's worst game of the season, Brewster ran the Rams off of the court in December. Coleman and Co. get an opportunity to prove they are better than what they showed on that night as they travel to Brewster on Monday.
- Winchendon didn't play with their typical energy in the second half (they had defeated New Hampton both times they played them earlier), but Khem Birch did manage to block four shots, two pinned against the backboard. Once his rebounding and offensive game come around his stock will explode.
- Not hard to see why the guys at New England Recruiting Report are so high on Dartaye Ruffin of New Hampton. A great body for a prep player and a good back to the basket player. A fine get for Drexel.
- Evan Smotrycz has all sorts of skills. A 6'9 kid who is as good as a shooter as you'll find at the high school level, with the ability to put the ball on the floor? No wonder Keno liked him so much.
