There’s no way to properly recap or summarize the Bill Hensley Memorial Run n’ Slam event. You just have to be there, at least once in your life. The Spiece Fieldhouse hosts all of the top high school teams from Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Iowa. Meanwhile, there’s several other pristine basketball venues with plenty quality college prospects.
We’ll do our best to capture the action, by spotlighting just over 65 Ohio prospects who exceeded expectation. We’ll call them “Standouts,” and segment them by state region throughout the early week. In the NWO recap, we threw in a Michigan prospect who couldn’t be ignored.
Ryan Nunn (2019), 5’11” PG, Northwest Ohio Basketball Club / Findlay
Nunn is an athletic point guard who can realistically play off the ball in college because of his shot creation ability. However, we like him best as the primary ball-handler. Despite his ability to dribble into his sweet spots (around the elbow especially) at any time, Nunn remains unselfish with the ball. He uses his quickness to be a nice defender.
Nathan Bruns (2019), 6’7” W, Northwest Ohio Basketball Club / Marion Local
Bruns is a dexterous 6’7” athlete with tremendous length and feel. He plays like a two-guard on the offense side of the floor, yet rebounds like a four. He shows versatility within single possessions. Bruns is even a skilled tipper on the offensive glass. The State Champion is also shooting the ball well from the outside right now.
Mike Ketner (2019), 5’11” PG, Northwest Ohio Basketball Club / Minster
Ketner has followed up his strong junior season — which included a 21-point outing against Franklin Monroe at Flyin’ to the Hoop in front of scouts — with a validating spring. He handles the team with confidence as a lead guard. He’s more of a conservative player in that he takes advantage of defensive lapses instead of forcing the action. Plays with a nice pace and doesn’t commit turnovers. As a scorer, Ketner can finish inside but primarily catches and shoots from deep.
Areon Evans (2019), 6’2” G, M2K Elite / Whitmer
Evans is an athletic perimeter defensive player with reliable energy and strong hands that make plays on the ball. His effort on Friday night on 50-50 balls and in locking up opposing guards was a catalyst for their keeping the game close. Evans rebounds well for a guard and knocked down a pair of catch-and-shoot 3-pointers.
Donavan Freeman (2019), 6’4” G, M2K Elite / River Rogue (MI)
Yet another time watching Freeman where the kid just doesn’t miss shots on the attack. He’s finishing
tough layup attempts in traffic and doing it in unpredictable ways. The big combo guard has a strong upper body and is a nice athlete. Combines skill with power and is able to deal with contact.
Braydon Lichtenberg (2021), 6’2” G, All Ohio Gold / Toledo St. John’s
The D-I quarterback prospect can produce a clean look at the basket at any given time. Although Lichtenberg wasn’t quite converting many of his field goal attempts on Saturday afternoon, his ability to efficiently get a jumper off was impressive. He has an athletic build and can defend 1-3 at the moment. Shows leadership qualities as a communicator.
Joey Holifield (2020), 6’1” PG, C2K Elite / Cardinal Stritch
Holifield is the unofficial Ohio MVP from the 2018 Run n’ Slam. On Sunday especially, Holifield was special as a slasher, finisher, defender, and rebounder. The high-IQ and team-first guard is playing out of position right now, yet out-rebounding opposing wings. Holifield was able to get to the rim at will and combined elusiveness with power at the basket. Stays active and aware on defense and is able to stick with anyone.
Zeb Jackson (2020), 6’3” G, C2K Elite / Maumee Valley
We stopped by one of Jackson’s games on Saturday afternoon and he had one of those absurd three-possession stretches that are becoming routine for him. First, he came down and nailed a triple after jab stepping. Then, Jackson finished off a sloppy possession with a baseline one-foot fall-away shot. Zeb, now feeling it at this point, then did the Durant ball-fake hesitation move (
go to 0:28 of this video) to scoot by a defender and get into the lane. His scoring ability is top notch. We’d like him to be more involved defensively though.
Drew Bench (2019), 6’5” F, All Ohio Gold / Genoa
After watching Gold multiple times in Indy, we only caught their defeat against Red on Saturday evening. It wasn’t their best game to say the least, but Bench impressed regardless. His effort level never wavered and he made an impact on the glass. The confident post player is physical in the post and has a tremendous build. Excellent feet and bounce.
