Black Hawk Invitational: top passers
Chandler High won the 2018 Black Hawk Holiday Invitational at Williams Field High, beating Desert Ridge 68-50 in the championship round. Here are four players from the participating teams that passed well and set their teammates up for scoring opportunities:
Camden Plewe – Williams Field:
I had not gotten a chance to see Williams Field play until this tournament, but Plewe’s passing and distribution as the Black Hawks’ point guard was really fun to watch. He made a few flashy passes, including some behind the back or over his head. But, beside the flash, he made a lot of great outlet passes off rebounds, as well as led teammates into open shots and lay up attempts with great kicks off the drive.
Dayton Harris – Skyline:
As I’d mentioned before, Skyline appeared to be the second-best team in this tournament, having lost to eventual-champion Chandler in a close semifinal. A lot of that success is because Harris kept his team in games offensively. He is a good scorer, which makes defenses play tight on him. He used that space to dribble past defenders and made great passes to the multiple scorers on the Coyote roster.
Vean Simon – Chandler:
Having made the All-Tournament Team after Chandler’s championship victory, Simon clearly has a lot of control over the way this offense runs. He is not the only guard, as Carson Kelly often brings the ball up the court. However, he excels at getting to the basket. Because the rest of the team cut well, he had plenty of options to move the ball to, and made good on those opportunities.
Joe Kelsey – Desert Ridge:
Desert Ridge made the final based on their team play, especially on offense. In the championship round, when Desert Ridge took an early lead, Kelsey made a lot of great entry passes to the Jaguar big men, who in-turn took advantage of size mismatches and scored from the post.