East Coast Bump: Standout Bigs
On Saturday night inside the UMBC Event Center, history would be made. Two Baltimore teams in St. Frances and Baltimore Polytechnic Institute took down two top-5 teams in the country in Oak Hill and IMG. Prior to the two prime…
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Continue ReadingOn Saturday night inside the UMBC Event Center, history would be made. Two Baltimore teams in St. Frances and Baltimore Polytechnic Institute took down two top-5 teams in the country in Oak Hill and IMG. Prior to the two prime time games, Rock Creek Christian Academy and New Hope Academy faced off.
For this article, we’ll take a look at the standout frontcourt players from this event.
Jamal West | St. Frances ’20
Jamal West sent a statement with his play against Oak Hill. The 6-foot-5 South Alabama pledge was a dominant force in the paint going against a highly-touted Oak Hill frontcourt. West complied a double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds while refusing to be denied as he rose up multiple times and rocked the rim with two-handed dunks. As usual, West ran the floor consistently and effectively, controlled the glass shot efficiently from the floor by going 8-of-12.
Julian Reese | St. Frances ’21
Reese’s versatility was on display Saturday evening. The 6-foot-9 lefty got things started by hitting a three followed by a 18 footer on the baseline. It set the tone for his match up and forced his man to guard him away from the paint which ultimately opened up driving lanes for guard and room to operate inside for West. Reese converted on four of his seven shots from the field. Where he most the biggest impact was his shot blocking. Similar to his shooting, Reese let it be known from the early going that he wasn’t allowing any easy looks for any Oak Hill player. He finished with five blocked shots and disrupted many others that resulted in misses.
Emmanuel Okpomo | Oak Hill ’20
Okpomo was one of the lone steady scoring presences for Oak Hill. The 6-foot-10 South Florida commit finished with 11 points in the loss. He did a nice job of scoring with his back to the basket and was rewarded with foul calls after his persistence crashing the offensive glass.
Justin Lewis | Poly ’20
Lewis came through with a clutch performance in Poly’s win over IMG. The 6-foot-8 Marquette commit converted on multiple mid-range shots while being contested by taller IMG defenders. He put pressure on the referees by relentlessly attacking the rim off the dribble and visited the charity stripe often as a result. 10 of Lewis’ 18 points came from the free-throw line. He also battled inside and made an impact on the defensive glass, helping to limit IMG to one-shot possessions despite their NBA-like roster in terms of size.
Mark Williams | IMG ’20
Williams overall didn’t have a breakout performance as the Duke commit finished with just four points. He did however do a nice job of using his elite length and size at 7-foot to force Poly’s players to alter their shots. He ran the floor well and did a nice job of gaining position inside, but was forced out of his comfort zone having to guard the Poly frontcourt players out on the perimeter.