Baltimore Hoops Festival: Top Scorers
This past weekend, the third annual Baltimore Hoops Festival took place at St. Frances Academy. The seven-game slate offered plenty of talent across the board. We’ll break down the event in a number of articles throughout the week looking at…
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Continue ReadingThis past weekend, the third annual Baltimore Hoops Festival took place at St. Frances Academy. The seven-game slate offered plenty of talent across the board. We’ll break down the event in a number of articles throughout the week looking at different standouts. For this piece, we’ll take a look at the top scorers from the event.
Cam Spencer | Boys’ Latin ’19
Spencer scored a game-high 26 points to help lead Boys’ Latin to a 66-61 win over Farragut Academy. Usually, Spencer makes a living from beyond the arc, but with Farragut applying a ton of pressure on his initial catches, Spencer did the majority of his damage off the dribble. Surprisingly enough, the Maryland commit didn’t have a made three today. He scored 20 of his 26 from the mid-range and around the rim. Spencer is extremely patient and makes all of the right reads while utilizing pump fakes to help get looks at the rim.
Winston Dessedow | Farragut Academy ’19
Dessesow capitalized on a huge second half scoring surge on his way to 24 points. He scored effectively from all three levels and did a nice job drawing contact on his way to the rim. Most of his work came off the dribble breaking his man down in iso’s or pick-and-rolls. The 6-foot shifty guard showed plenty of toughness and grit by helping bring back his team from a deficit.
Dave Brown | McDonogh ’21
Brown led McDonogh to a tough 46-44 win with 15 points. Brown struggled in terms of efficiency, but with senior guard Drew Green limited after suffering a dislocated shoulder a couple of weeks ago, Brown is expected to shoulder the scoring load. While his outside shot was off, Brown made it a point of emphasis to get to the free-throw line, where six of his 15 points came.
Keith Bolden | Edmonson ’19
Bolden was key for Edmonson in their 64-55 win over Gerstell. He scored a game-high 26 points and did so in a variety of ways. The 6-foot-2 lefty cashed in on three-point looks off of kick-out situations. He was less of a deep shooting threat when he was handling the ball, rather he would look to capitalize off of one or two moves and get to the rim. Bolden also was an effective overall play maker once he get the Gerstell defense to collapse in the paint by getting easy lay ins for teammates.
Ahmad Harrison | Gerstell ’21
In the loss to Edmonson, Harrison was one of the lone bright spots with 18 points. The Red Storm played a ton of zone defense, so Harrison made his impact at the high post by catching, observing and choosing whether to pull up or take it to the rim. Although sometimes it hurts the ball movement as a team, Harrison’s patience with the ball paid off today and took advantage of some undisciplined defensive possessions by Edmonson.
RJ Blakney | Goretti ’19
It seems like every time I’m at an event, Blakney makes the scoring write-up. Today he does so again as he led Goretti with 22 points in a win over Hill School. The 6-foot-5 wing scored in a balanced fashion with two three’s, a couple of mid-range jumpers and drives to the basket where he either finished a lay-up or drew contact. Blakey finished with six made free-throws.
Rahsaan Edwards | Goretti ’19
Edwards followed Blakney’s 22-point performance by chipping in with 18 of his own. He was an assassin from three, converting on four of his looks. After hitting one early, Edwards went cold, but still remained effective by getting out in transition and finishing lay-ups. Once the second half began, Edwards started getting cleaner looks from deep and capitalized on three of his four makes.
Elijah Rantin | Mervo ’20
Rantin imposed his will in a 58-42 win over Milford Mill today by scoring a game-high 21 points. The 6-foot-9 forward is limited to scoring strictly in the paint at the moment, but he displayed tremendous hands throughout. Rantin had a few strong two-handed dunks and strong offensive rebounds that we didn’t see him getting just 5-to-6 months ago. It’s evident that Rantin has been putting in the time in the gym to improve his coordination and overall motor.
Jermaine Goodwyn | Milford Mill ’19
Goodwyn paced Milford Mill with a team-high 20 points. The 6-foot-2 lefty played with great pace and made a number of plays off the dribble. His two three’s came off spot-up situations, while many of his two’s came off the dribble after breaking his match up down.
Marvin Price | Patterson ’19
Price led Patterson with 21 points in their 93-65 win over Calvert Hall. He did a nice job mixing up his attack by hitting a number of mid-rangers and taking his man off the dribble to the rim. He was on the finishing end of an two-handed alley-oop in the third quarter that added to their insurmountable lead. Where Price has been effective all season is crashing the offensive glass for put-backs. He had six of his 21 points from offensive rebounds.
Rajeir Jones | St. Frances ’19
Jones had a breakout game that was overdue for him this season. The Chicago State commit finished with 18 points, and was instrumental from outside in their 77-51 commanding win over Wilson. Jones had been struggling to find his shot this season and this is the type of game that can instill confidence going forward. Jones hit four three’s coming off screens, quick swing passes as Wilson’s zone was in rotation and as the trailer in transition.
Ace Baldwin | St. Frances ’20
Baldwin finished behind Jones with 14 points for the Panthers in the win. Nine of his 14 came off pull-up three’s off the dribble, an area that he has drastically improved. His only two-pointer came off of an iso situation where he faked a hand-off to Jones scattering around the perimeter. Baldwin immediately took advantage of his angle and finished with the right hand before the help could rotate.