What to Watch For – Southside Classic Championship (Mehlville vs Hancock)
The Match-Up
The championship game of the Southside Classic is set to tip-off at 8pm Friday night and will feature an exciting match-up between the #1 seeded Mehlville Panthers and the host Hancock Tigers. Mehlville’s path to the finals featured wins over Windsor and Clayton while Hancock took down Affton and followed up with an impressive victory over Lindbergh last night. Mehlville, the defending champs, are led by a trio of ultra-talented transfer juniors and are off to a 5-1 start against a gauntlet of a schedule to start the young season. Hancock is looking for their first Southside Classic title in over a decade. The high-flying Tigers are only two games into the young year but look to be in mid-season form already.
What to Watch For
- With the return of 6’7 F Lamontay Daughtery last night who put up 17 points in his debut, Mehlville has added a critical piece to the puzzle. Against an athletic and dangerous Hancock team in a ruckus environment, it will be interesting to see how much the on-floor chemistry has progressed in a short amount of time if there is a tight game down the stretch.
- Hancock makes a living finishing at the rim with a pair of bouncy wings in 6’4 G Sam Richardson and 6’2 G Rico Sutton, but Mehlville’s 7’0 C Davion Bradford will likely have something to say about that. Something has to give. Will the presence of the big man deter Hancock’s rim-rockers? Or will they attack the big man and get him in foul trouble?
- Hancock’s pressure defense has forced a lot of turnovers early on and they love to use their defense to fuel their offense in transition. Will they be able to continue the trend? Or will Mehlville’s standout 6’4 G Dylan Branson continue to slice and dice his way through the competition?
- Can Hancock contain the Panther big man in the paint? Bradford has been a force inside this year around the rim and on the glass. Although undersized, Hancock senior 6’5 F Siah Moultrie is a long shot-blocking machine with a nose for the ball off the rim. He will be relied on heavily to attempt to neutralize Mehlville’s size advantage inside.
The Stars
Mehlville: 6’7 Lamantay Daughtery (#5 Prep Hoops MO ’20), 7’0 Davion Bradford (#7 Prep Hoops MO ’20), 6’4 Dylan Branson (#8 Prep Hoops MO ’20)
Hancock: 6’2 Rico Sutton (#107 Prep Hoops MO ’19), 6’4 Sam Richardson (#13 Prep Hoops MO ’20)
Key Contributers
Mehlville: 5’11 G Carson Ulrich, 5’9 G Jai’Ryn Pruitt
Hancock: 6’5 F Siah Moultrie, 6’3 F Jeremiah Williams