Another day, another huge shooting night for Lawrence Academy star Shabazz Napier. Playing against an East Boston team that hung around longer than they probably should have, Napier knocked down seven 3 point shots on the way to 28 points (unofficially) in a 78-66 LA victory. With the win his Lawrence Academy team improves to 22-0 on the season.
A trend in games we've seen Napier in this year is his ability to string together a few 3 pointers when his team needs them the most. East Boston stayed within striking distance after looking like they were on the verge of being blown out as they cut a third quarter Lawrence lead to 5. With Lawrence leading by 8 to start the 4th quarter Napier squashed all hopes of a monster upset by knocking down two deep 3s on consecutive possessions. An 8 point lead became 14 and the game was never in question from there on in.
Want an idea of how far Shabazz's range is? I grabbed still shots with my video camera. Napier's first 3 in the 4th quarter from distance...
... and the second was from even deeper.
Recruitment:
- After doing some digging over the past week I've learned that Shabazz doesn't have a list yet and might look to narrow it down after the winter. Shabazz has seen interest from the Big East, ACC, Big 12, Pac 10, SEC, and upper level A10 schools according to his coach Kevin Weircinski.
- The Naadir Tharpe/Shabazz Napier debate will go on until either or both signs (and beyond) and Providence fans should be thrilled to land either. It's the classic scoring point guard versus true point guard debate. With Vincent Council on campus for their first two seasons in college basketball, the thought here is that Napier is the better fit at Providence because of his scoring ability. He could play a dual role at PC in years 1 and 2, as a scorer/shooter running with Vincent Council and then spelling Council at the 1.
