10 Best: Blue Springs vs Lee’s Summit North
Lee’s Summit North played Host to a Blue Springs team that might have the best Big Man in the area! Daniel Parker Jr. who is a Missouri Football Commit had his way with the Bronco Defense the entire night. The game was pretty close from start to finish and neither team could really grab the momentum and pull away. The game came down to the last minute in which Blue Springs was able to pull of a huge conference win by a score of 68-65. Lee’s Summit North had a couple of opportunities late when Blue Springs missed two front ends of 1-1 from the free throw line, but both times, Blue Springs came away with the offensive rebound. Daniel Parker Jr. led Blue Springs with a double double and scoring a strong 33 points. Logan Jenkins shot the ball well and got hot in the second half for the Broncos. He led the team with 20 points.
MVP – Daniel Parker Jr. (Blue Springs)
As I said above, tonight was Daniel’s night, and on one was going to stop him. He is a big body who moves extremely well. If there was a better player on the court tonight, I don’t know if I would believe you as Parker Jr. did it all. He was rebounding, dishing off, scoring with ease, and playing spectacular defense as well. One of the more impressive things from Daniel has to be his on-ball defense. He loves to reach in when the opposing player crosses over, and he is good enough to bet plenty of steals when doing that. He knocked down three 3’s tonight and shot 8-9 from the free throw line to get him to a game high 33 points while also pulling down more than 10 rebounds.
Best Shooter – Logan Jenkins (Lee’s Summit North)
We have seen Jenkins get hot plenty of time in his career, and tonight was another one of those nights. Out of Logan’s 13 shots tonight, 11 of them were attempted behind the 3 point line. He shot 6-11 from deep and kept the Broncos in the game. He has great elevation on his shot and is very quick off the dribble. He got pretty hot in the second half hitting 4 of his first 5 three point field goals. With his shot being so smooth and clean, it gives almost every attempt a chance to go in.
Best Offensive Performance – Javaunte Hawkins (Lee’s Summit North)
Hawkins continues to put together a pretty strong Junior year with another decent scoring night. He is very smooth with the ball and has great handles. While last year he was more of a 3 point shooter, this season, his game has elevated quite a bit and he is able to score from anywhere on the court. Being right handed, Hawkins has one of the best left hands or off hands that I’ve seen around the area. One of the highlights of the night would have been when Hawkins made a defender fall and finished it by knocking down a 3. He didn’t have his greatest shooting night this season, but it still was pretty good. He knocked down 4-10 from deep and finished the game with 19 points.
Quickest Trigger – R.J. Lawrence (Blue Springs)
RJ Lawrence started off the game very slow tonight which is very unlike him. His only points in the first half came from two free throws, but he was determined and knew that there was no way he was going to struggle in both halves. He knocked down his first attempted 3 in the second half and scored 15 of his 17 points in that second half. If you’ve seen RJ play, you know he has one of the quickest shots around the area and he has some serious range. Lawrence and Parker Jr. are two of the top seniors around the area and are the heart and soul of this Wildcat team.
Best Passer – Elijah Farr (Lee’s Summit North)
Elijah Farr continues to show why he is one of the better big men in the area. He has some of the best footwork for a big man, and he is loaded with great moves around the basket. Farr knows that most bigs believe that they are shot blockers and that a good ball fake will give him a good look almost every time. He has a fantastic up and under move that he has pretty much perfected and it has showed this year. He has been great on the defensive end of the ball as well posing as a force and a tough guy to shoot over, but what he continues to get better at is his passing. When Farr gets the ball in the post, a lot of the time he is double teamed, and that gives him the opportunity to find his open teammates. He has done this very well. With Jenkins, Hawkins, and Jack Gatti on the floor, Farr is continuing to pile up assists. Farr also had a pretty good game scoring the ball finishing with 19 points.
Best Defensive Performance – Braylon Culler (Blue Springs)
Culler probably isn’t looked at as one of the best players on the court, but he has great length and size which helps him tremendously on the defensive end. He is able to get much needed deflections which lead to steals and fast break buckets, but he also plays with a sense of urgency. Culler is a big time hustler and he knows that the harder he plays, the more minutes he will earn. Sometimes Culler can be a little too aggressive and that is what brought his night to an end a little shorter than he would have liked. He fouled out late in the fourth quarter, but still put together a great performance. He also finished with 8 points on the offensive end.
Best Rebounder – Daniel Parker Jr. (Blue Springs)
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Parker Jr. probably won’t be the tallest guy on the court on given night, but I would bet that he is the strongest and most aggressive. There aren’t many times where Parker Jr. is going to be out rebounded, and if you plan to do so, you better be bringing everything you have. Late in the game, Blue Springs was up by 4 and ended up missing 2 front ends of the 1 and 1’s. Parker Jr. hit the ball off a Bronco on the first rebound opportunity and tipped the second rebound out to another teammate. Those two rebounds sealed the game and threw out any comeback that the Broncos were trying to make.
Best Underclassman – Cooper Willich (Blue Springs)
Cooper Willich is just a sophomore and he is playing around 20 minutes a game. These are big minutes for a sophomore and he is taking full advantage of it. He doesn’t like to shoot the ball a lot, which I’m sure will change in the future, he just needs a little more confidence. He is a real team player and wants to do anything to help his team win the game. He is very patient and looks for the best pass.
Best Guy Off The Bench – Christian Carter (Lee’s Summit North)
Carter has quite a bit of potential and could become a key piece for this Bronco team if they want to have any kind of success in the future. He isn’t the best shooter on the floor, but he is probably the fastest and one of the quickest. He is a smart player who doesn’t try to force anything on the offensive end, and gets his nose in a lot of plays on the defensive side. He jumps passes and is able to pick up big steals which gives his team much needed momentum. It’ll be interesting to see how the Broncos continue to use Carter, but look for his playing time to increase as the season goes on.
Best Aspect of the Environment – Lee’s Summit North Crowd
There were multiple reasons why Lee’s Summit North lost the game on Friday night, but the crowd was not one of them. The gym was packed all the way up to the top seat plus there were quite a few fans that weren’t in seats and standing where they could find room. It was an electric night and the Student section was loud the entire game. They could have been the reason for some late game Free Throw misses, but it just wasn’t enough in the end for the Broncos.