Hollywood MLK Fall League: 5 takeaways (Sept. 18)
HOLLYWOOD — Fall League action continued Tuesday (Sept. 18) with four games at the MLK Community Center. It is Week 2 of a five-week season, with the top four programs making the playoffs. Games are played on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Here are Tuesday’s top 5 takeaways:
SOUTH MIAMI TRIO A PROBLEM: The threesome of Toru Dean (2019), Lee Flenor (2019) and Jeffrey Bujan (2020) is going to be a problem for opposing defenses. Dean (Barry University offer), who was first-team All-State as a junior, is lethal with the ball. He can break down defenses and dish for wide-open 3-pointers, hit his own jump shot or take it all the way to the hole. The 6-foot-6 Flenor (Stetson offer) is a beast down low, while Bujan will drain 3s if left alone and excels at tracking down long rebounds. Tuesday night, the squad erased a double-digit, first-half deficit to win going away by 15 points. “We changed and went to 5-out,” coach Robert Doctor said. “It opens lanes and gives Toru the option to kick the ball out.”
WHERE’S CYRUS? Something was missing. Team HPS played a sloppy, sloppy game. Two steps forward and two steps back. Then it him me … no Cyrus Nance (2019). Nance, a leader on last year’s 20-win Stranahan squad, has transferred to American Heritage-Plantation. It will be interesting to see if the young Dragons can replace Nance’s leadership and scoring and take the next step.
NEW PARTS CLICKING: Western High, which added two senior Division I prospects in Tristan Pratt (FGCU interest) and Damari Monsanto (double-digit offers), looks like it could make a deep run in Class 9A. Lavar Miller Jr. (2019) can stretch the floor from 3, giving Western a third option. And point guard Gavin Ostrow is now a sophomore after getting thrown into the fire as a freshman. “It’s just a matter of of them getting used to each other and understanding what they can do,” Western coach Kenneth Kelly said of Pratt and Monsanto. “The cool part about having them both is they kind of complement each other.”
FROM CREEK TO DILLARD: Dillard can throw 6-7 Jalen Haynes (2020) and 6-6 Makerere Williams (2019) at you. Now add 6-7 transfer Jvonni Roblejo (2020). Roblejo is a transfer from Coconut Creek.
STAR POWER: Former NBA guard Kenny Anderson and former NFL quarterback Daunte Culpepper were in the stands Tuesday. Anderson’s son, Kenny Jr. (2019), starts at guard for Boyd Anderson, while Culpepper’s son, Chayse (2020), is a starting guard for Stranahan.
If you have high school basketball news, you can reach Pat Lammer via e-mail at PatALammer@Gmail.com or via text at 954-661-9671.