Open Gym Report: Columbia Christian Knights
PrepHoops Oregon is hitting up open gyms in the Portland Metro area this next month to get an early look some of the top teams. Wednesday afternoon’s visit was to see Columbia Christian. The Knights are the defending 2A state champions and head coach Bart Valentine has all the key pieces back to make another title run.
Starting senior point guard Dominic Blake (2019) was missing due to the fact the school’s soccer team is making a playoff run, but many of the other Knights top talents were in the gym.
Here are observations on the top players that were present:
Ben Gregg (2021)
Gregg was the star attraction as college coaches have been coming to the Columbia Christian campus this entire fall. Portland head coach Terry Porter and Eastern Washington assistant coach Bobby Suarez were there on Wednesday and they must have liked what they saw. Gregg was dominant on both ends of the floor, often times handling the ball and running the point after grabbing the defensive rebound. He drove to the basket whenever he wanted and often finished with a dunk. In fact it appears he’s been working on his athletic leap as he finished one break off with a two-handed slam, something he had not previously shown earlier this summer. Gregg updated us on his recruitment and we’ll have a report posted son.
Elijah Munyan (2021)
It wasn’t just a one man show in the Knights gym as Munyan certainly turned some heads. The 6-foot-3 sophomore is an explosive athlete who is extremely aggressive going to the basket and if he didn’t throw down the dunk he had some very impressive misses. Munyan also has a nice touch from the outside and sank a few jumpers beyond the three-point line. It appears he still needs to work on a mid-range game, but his athleticism and body for his age – he just turned 15 in August – definitely caught the eye of the coaches on hand.
Mo Hartwich (2021)
If there wasn’t enough talent in the sophomore class for Valentine, the Knights have three potential college players in the Class of 2021 as Hartwich certainly has potential. He’s grown a couple of inches to 6-foot-10 and a half and while he’s rail thin and still learning the game, there’s no question his best basketball is ahead of him. In this open gym, the younger brother of former Portland Pilots center Philipp Hartwich ran the floor well, finished some easy layups and dunks around the basket, and blocked some shots on the defensive end. As he builds muscle and hones his skills as he continues to grow – Valentine noted the projections are he could surpass seven feet – Hartwich will be a four year college prospect for sure.