Three Stars: St. Edward vs. Euclid

<p>In the second leg of Wednesday night's double header, St. Edward, winners of the Lakewood district, faced off against winners of the Solon district, Euclid. Anytime Euclid is on the floor, all eyes turn to star PG Garvin Clarke and what he can do with a basketball. He'd have a tough matchup with Demetrius Terry and company.</p> <p>In a game where Euclid swung first and jumped out to an early lead, St. Edward relied on a 15-2 run in the final 4 minutes of the 1st Half to get them back into the game. Following that, we witnessed a dogfight of a 2nd half that included late drama, sending an exciting game to Overtime. Here are the 3 Stars for each side in this game:</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>EUCLID</strong></span></p> <p><strong>#3 - Reggie Priah - 6'3" - F - 2019<br /> </strong>The Senior forward was not going to go down easy. With Euclid's season hanging in the balance, it was Priah that took the last shot as the final buzzer sounded, hoping to send the game to OT. The shot went in. Whether it came before or after the horn is a separate conversation. Priah shot the ball fairly well in this game, converting 6 of his 12 shot attempts, 3 of which came from range. The senior leader can hurt you in a couple different ways, sometimes setting himself up nicely with baseline cuts or posting someone up, both with effectiveness.</p> <p><strong>#2 - Mario Lacy, Jr. - 6'6" - F - 2019<br /> </strong>Rebounding differential is often a stat coaches can look to and see why they may have won or lost. Lacy's work on the glass gave Euclid it's best shot, pulling down 7 rebounds on each side of the ball for a game-high 14 rebounds. Though he did not record any blocks, Lacy's lengthy frame was a huge factor against a team that liked to work the ball inside on the dribble-drive. The Senior forward also contributed 12 points on 6/9 shooting in yet another stellar performance.</p> <p><strong>#1 - Garvin Clarke - 6'0" - PG - 2020<br /> </strong>This is what you'd call an easy choice. The motor that makes Euclid go. The fastest man on the court. Euclid's best forms of offense came one of two ways. Off a St. Edward miss, if Clarke could take one of the 8 rebounds he brought down or catch an outlet and immediately push the pace down the other end, often times he could beat everyone else for a layup. If Euclid found themselves running halfcourt sets, nothing worked better than allowing the junior stud to penetrate, and if the defense would collapse, he could find teammates cutting baseline or backdoor a defender for an easy two. What makes Clarke particularly tough to defend is the shooting prowess he also brings, shooting 40% from 3 on the night. Clarke finished with a stat line of 27 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists. Not a bad night at the office.</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>ST. EDWARD</strong></span></p> <p><strong>#3 - Demetrius Terry - 6'0" - PG - 2019</strong><br /> Despite whether Meechie Terry was going to make the cut for this list, at least you know no one is going to play harder than this senior leader. In just about all of St. Edward's halfcourt sets, Terry fills the corner, but the number of ways he can beat you from there is impressive. St. Edward took a heavy swing early on a long alley-oop pass from teammate Grant Huffman to Terry flying to the hoop along the baseline for 2. Late in the 3rd, Terry buried a heavily contested 3 from the corner. Seconds later, Terry filled his spot again before quickly lifting to the wing to hit back-to-back 3's, sending the crowd into a frenzy. Finishing with 12 points, Terry also made his presence known on defense, adding 2 steals and a block.</p> <p><strong>#2 - Montorie Foster - 6'3" - G - 2020<br /> </strong>Foster played with a different aggressiveness I had not seen him play with yet this year. More eager to attack the basket, Foster was able to use his explosiveness and sheer athleticism to blow by slower defenders to get to the cup. Though he won't kill you with his shooting, Foster was very active with or without the ball on offense and heavily engaged on defense, grabbing 7 rebounds, collecting 2 steals and a block. Foster will need to maintain a high level of play for St. Edward to punch their ticket to Columbus.</p> <p><strong>#1 - DeVontae Blanton - 6'6" - F - 2020<br /> </strong>St. Edward has a number of guys that can hurt you, but Blanton is someone that always sticks out. Part of that could be his muscular frame standing 6 feet 6 inches. But part of it is his ability to work inside or out. After the St. Edward coaching staff showed concerns about his energy level in the opening moments of the game, Blanton was pulled early. If doing so was to send a message, the message was received. Blanton played with a higher physicality level once he checked back in, and started using it to get to the rim at will. Blanton can also shoot from range at a fairly good clip if you allow him to. He was only 1/3 from 3-point range in this go-round, but was 7/10 inside the arc and added a couple assists. Look for Blanton to come out in the next game eager to start off well, because when he's on, the Eagles of St. Edward are an incredibly hard group to guard 1-5.</p>