Prospect Evaluations: Mansfield Senior at Sandusky
Despite trailing 60-39 after three quarters, Mansfield Senior beat Sandusky 79-76 on Tuesday night on the road.
If you crunch the numbers on that, the Tygers scored an outrageous 40 points in the fourth quarter. From a 3-point bombardment by junior DaQuan Hillory to the lack of timeouts taken by Sandusky, the final period was one of the most unique basketball viewing experiences imaginable.
Hillory scored 20 points in the fourth alone. His confidence to continually pull-up from 22-feet out carried throughout the team and they could do no wrong the entire quarter.
Sandusky undoubtedly played a superior game for 24 minutes, but they won’t have to reflect on this loss for too long. Fortunately for them, Sandusky will likely have a chance to avenge this loss in a Division II district semifinal on March 6.
As mentioned, Hillory was bafflingly outstanding to close the game. The junior 5’10” guard used his thick frame to draw contact and get to the line. He also connected on three triples, each visibly swinging the momentum as it dropped through the net.
But Hillory wasn’t the only prospect to impress last night, so let’s run through the other top prospects in action.
Keith Williams (2018), 6’3” G, Sandusky
It’s impossible to flawlessly evaluate a prospect in your first time watching, but we’re pretty confident in telling you that Williams could be a late recruiting steal. The athletic two-guard is a confident playmaker who sees the floor well and can score it. Williams is poised on the attack, using his body to gather for high-percentage two-foot floaters. He also uses his athleticism on defense to stay in front of opposing guards. He’s unselfish. Also, Williams is important to this team as a rebounder and he must’ve had double-digits in that category.
Again, hard to accurately place a player after one view. However, Williams looked like a scholarship-level guard against Mansfield Senior.
BJ Patrick (2018), 6’2” G, Mansfield Senior
Patrick is a combo guard who could potentially interest an NAIA or D-II school, but will likely be a quality addition for a D-III. Although he was held scoreless in the second half and took just one shot after halftime, Patrick showed flashes in his 15-point night. The combo guard tends to be a volume scorer and isn’t shy about pulling up from deep. He’s a bit erratic as a finisher, often overdoing it on layup attempts. However, he’s very quick and can beat defenders off the dribble consistently. Patrick is a smart defender who needs to add weight to be more effective defending stronger wings. Very active without the ball in his hands.
Tahj Staveskie (2020), 5’10” PG, Sandusky
Our questions for Staveskie this past summer were about efficiency. Last night, he went 13/15 from the free throw line and had a true shooting percentage of 78 percent. Overall, Staveskie scored 26 points on just 10 field goal attempts and dished four assists. He can play.
The shifty lead guard has developed a float game, an important step given his lack of height and ability quickly get past guys. Staveskie can apply pressure defensively, but again his size hurts him against physical guards. However, he knows where to be on defense and is only a sophomore, so we’re nit-picking a bit. He’s got the looks of one of the best point guards in Ohio’s 2020 class.
Dylan Jones (2020), 5’11” G, Sandusky
Jones scored 10 points, exclusively on jumpers. He’s currently a specialist, mostly capitalizing on catch-and-shoot opportunities. Not a ton else to say right now, but we’ll keep an eye on him going forward because the jump shot is pure.