Fall League Report: Tigard, La Salle, Wilsonville, Roosevelt, Mountainside
PrepHoops Oregon has been spending time visiting open gyms all across the Portland Metro area, but with some free time on Saturday we decided to take in some fall league action. We hit HoopSource fall league games at two different locations at Rosemont Ridge Middle School in West Linn and Liberty High School and caught the following teams in action: Tigard, La Salle, Wilsonville, Roosevelt, and Mountainside.
Here are observations on some of the top players that were present:
Stevie Schlabach (2019 Tigard HS)
We’ve seen the 6-foot-4 senior play many times since the spring and this viewing was no different as Schlabach did plenty of scoring and did it in many ways – outside with the three, pulling up from mid-range, driving to the hoop, and a little bit of posting up. He simply takes what the defense takes him and while he puts so many points on the board, you never get the feeling that he’s hogging the ball. In fact, he helped get his teammates involved with some nice passes and was a key contributor on the boards and defense with some blocked shots. But offense is what Schlabach does the best, and it was his game winner that gave the Tigers a thrilling victory of La Salle.
Jake Bullard (2019 Tigard HS)
Bullard often played the point for the Tigers and he was very active on both sides of the ball. He drove to the basket with confidence and had several nice finishes in the lane. On defense, he was active using his hands to deflect the ball. At 6-foot-1 he has solid size for the backcourt and should get major minutes this season for Tigard.
Alex Boyd (2019 La Salle HS)
Boyd was impressive all-around in the games we watched. He was solid with his shot from both beyond three-point range and in the lane, and he was tough with finishing off drives. The 6-foot-3 senior fought hard on the boards and defensively, he did a credible job in trying to contain Schlabach in the games we watched. One thing very noticeable about Boyd was his on-the-floor leadership as he was vocally encouraging his teammates and directing them on both ends of the floor.
Jace Norton (2019 La Salle HS)
Norton has always been billed as a shooter and the lefty certainly did that on Saturday, knocking down threes including six of them in a close loss to Tigard. But the 6-foot-1 senior also wasn’t afraid to show there was more to his game, as he drove to the basket on numerous occasions. At times, the ending result was a little wild but there were other drives that he capably finished with a bucket.
Dakota Reber (2020 Wilsonville HS)
Reber was impressive on both games we watched. The 6-foot-5 junior posted up, faced up and drove, and also knocked down open threes. While he struggled just a tad with the finish on some of his drives, he also provided one of the highlights of the day. On one play, he took his defender baseline and after stopping his dribble and pausing, he used a ball fake to shake off his defender and then jumped up from behind the basket and dunked the ball with both hands. It’s this type of athleticism that has colleges intrigued and we’ll have an update with Reber posted soon.
Cam Feik (2019 Wilsonville HS)
Every time we see Feik we have been impressed with the effort level he puts in on both ends of the floor. The 5-foot-11 senior transfer from Lakeridge helped put together the fall team in an effort to get to know his teammates and it’s been paying off. Feik largely focused on distributing the ball on offense, but did show a nice touch from the perimeter with a couple of pull-up threes. His ability to handle the ball and play at a fast pace should fit in right with how the Wildcats play.
Jayoni Moore (2020 Roosevelt HS)
The Roughriders ran over Mountainside and Moore was the catalyst on offense. The 6-foot junior was hitting from long distance but also took the ball into the lane strong and finished with layups or floaters. Moore also hit teammates with a couple of nice assists off Roosevelt’s full court pressure. There were times when his shot selection was a little bit questionable but overall he was a force to be reckoned with in the game we watched.
Flen Grigsby (2020 Roosevelt HS)
Grigsby might have the find of the day. The 6-foot junior wasn’t at open gym the day we dropped by Roosevelt and he quickly caught our eye with the aggressiveness he played with. Grigsby took the ball to the basket with reckless abandon every chance he got and the lefty would either score or draw the foul on the drive. Defensively he was quick on the press and grabbed a number of steals.
Andrew Ingalls (2020 Mountainside HS)
Mountainside is playing varsity ball for the first time this season and there’s no doubt they are going to be counting on Ingalls a lot as he’s really the only kind of size the Mavericks have at 6-foot-6. The junior will be the man in the paint in the four-out, one-in halfcourt set and given that Mountainside is looking to run and shoot a lot of threes, he really didn’t get many touches in the post. But those he did get he was able to convert into buckets, and he ran the floor well and got some opportunities to score in transition.
Nzube Mekkam (2020 Mountainside HS)
With the team looking to run to be competitive, it will no doubt be Mekkam’s job to push the ball up the floor – and that’s exactly what he did on Saturday against Roosevelt. The 5-foot-11 junior showed the ability to find the creases in the defense and then kick it out to the shooters out on the perimeter for open shots. Near the end of the game he started looking for his own offense a little more and showed a fairly nice touch on his jumper in the mid-range area.