MICDS Tournament Recap: Tuesday Night’s Best
There were some high-level performances at Tuesday Night’s quarterfinal round of the MICDS Holiday Tournament. Here is a look at some of the “Best Of” from Tuesday Night.
Top Performance: Deandre Campbell (Parkway Central): The 6’1″ 2018 guard was brilliant in the Colts’ victory over St. Charles in the quarterfinals. He scored a game-high 35 points and also did an excellent job defensively on the Pirates’ top guard Cameron Teson. Deandre controls the ball and controls the flow of the game at all times. He is strong when getting to the basket and he also displayed a nasty step-back jumper from the mid range. He is averaging 27 points for the season.
Top Performance II: Mitchell Fairless (Duchesne): The 6’5″ 2018 wing scored a game-high 31 points in the Pioneers’ victory over Ladue. With a couple of his teammates ailing because of sickness, Fairless took over the offensive load from start to finish as he scored on driving layups, offensive rebounds, floaters in the lane and transition buckets. He was active and the points came from everywhere.
Top Match-Up: Kale Catchings (Wentzville Liberty) vs. Torrence Watson (Whitfield): The dual between the two Division I players was a good as advertised in Liberty’s 61-60 victory over Whitfield. The 6’5″ Catchings (Harvard commit) scored a team-high 25 points while Watson, the Mizzou signee, scored 26 points, including 24 in the second half. In the fourth quarter, the two standouts were trading buckets and big plays and the jammed packed gymnasium was loving every minute of it.
Little Brother Steals the Show: Jayce Catchings (Wentzville Liberty): The 6’3″ 2020 guard was the “X” factor in the Battle of Division I players, as he stole the show with 23 points, six 3-pointers, and a dramatic game-winning 3-pointer in the final second of play. Not only did Catchings knock down the six triples, but he also displayed some improved handle and ability to get to the basket.
Battle of the Baby Bigs: The final game of the evening featured a nice battle of young bigs with 6’10” 2020 Ryan Kalkbrenner of Trinity going against 6’8″ 2021 Sam Thompson of Francis Howell going head to head. Both every impressive as Kalkbrenner scored 17 points while Thompson scored nine points. Both are very good around the basket with a nice shooting touch. These youngsters have big upsides.
Smoothest Performer: Jaron Thames (Trinity): The 6’4″ 2019 guard was a dominant factor in Trinity’s surprisingly easy victory over Francis Howell. The smooth wing erupted for 16 points in the first quarter as he scored on drives, mid-range jumpers and a couple of 3-pointers. He also dropped a couple of nice no-look dimes to open teammates for easy buckets. He finished the game with 25 points.
Best Dunk: Jordan Nesbit (Lutheran North): For this play, I have to go back to the consolation round from earlier in the day. The 6’5″ 2020 guard stole a pass and went coast to coast and soared in for a left-handed slam dunk in transition, which was spectacular, especially because Jordan is right-handed.