D-I First Team All Tournament
The D-I Final Four is a snapshot of the best Ohio high school basketball on a given year, both on a team and individual level. This season, a physically dominate Moeller team brought a frontline of D-I prospects along with veteran guard play. Together, this special group cruised to a State Championship win over Solon.
Solon, Lorain, and Pickerington Central also participated in this season’s D-I State Tournament — two of which had representatives on the D-I All Tournament Team.
*MVP* Jeremiah Davenport – 32 PTS (62%), 17 REB, 5 AST
Sincere Carry – 56 PTS (52%), 6 REB, 13 AST, 6 STL
Jaxson Hayes – 30 PTS (74%), 19 REB, 2 AST, 6 BLK
Alec Pfriem – 20 PTS (50%), 11 REB, 8 AST
Taevon Pierre-Louis – 13 PTS (30%), 13 REB, 4 AST, 3 BLK
Jeremiah Davenport (2018), 6’5” W, Moeller
A year removed from jumping onto D-I radars as Moeller’s super sixth man, Davenport took his game to yet another level during Moe’s postseason run. He appears to be the steal of the class for Wright State. He’s a prototypical two-way wing who has scoring moves from all three levels, with his 3-point shooting as the only sorta unproven area. Davenport’s middle of the lane post-up is a nasty weapon where he uses strength to get position. From there, he can turn over either shoulder and finish ambidextrously at the cup, making for a dynamic go-to move. He also ignited the crowd with several baseline dunks. Can you tell I’m impressed?
Sincere Carry (2018), 6’0” PG, Solon
Across all divisions, Carry led the weekend in points and assists. (Carry could’ve had at least five more assists in the first half against Moeller alone, when his teammates struggled mightily on open looks.) The productive All State point guard dealt with foul trouble all weekend and still gave them hope, hardly ever coming out of the game regardless.
The West Liberty commit beats opponents up the floor and made it look easy on contested finishes, even against Moeller. His pull-up triple is elite. Using a hesitation move, Carry is able to dive into the lane before finishing or finding and open shooter. Despite going to a D-II program, which is perfectly conducive to his skillset, he’ll finish near the top of our final 2018 prospect rankings.
Jaxson Hayes (2018), 6’10” C, Moeller
What more do you want out of an active, shot-blocking big man? The Texas signee should be able to make an impact in the Big 12 for years to come. We were mostly impressed with his athleticism in blocking shots, finishing, and running the floor. The fluid athlete kept up with Solon’s pace on the break, even coming up with an emphatic chase-down block in the opening minutes.
Hayes’ offensive game isn’t super polished, mostly just dunking on kids for his points, but his short-range jumper was 2/2 this weekend. Regardless, he shoots a high percentage because of that bounce we referred to.
Alec Pfriem (2019), 6’5” W/F, Moeller
Pfriem was far away from cracking this list after the Lorain game on Friday. The LM/D-II prospect flat-out struggled as Lorain stifled him by simply not guarding Pfriem at the perimeter. However, he denied any chances of that being our lasting impression on him for the 2018 season.
The transfer did a little this a little that on Championship Saturday. He wastes no time in getting to the basket for a layup on cuts and faceups against Solon. Pfriem squares his shoulders to the basket and is a clean finisher. His frame allows him to be a formidable faceup four, capable of guarding most wings.
Taevon Pierre-Louis (2019), 6’6” W/F, Lorain
We didn’t fully appreciate how good TPL was until we saw what Moeller did to Solon on Saturday. Sure, Moeller also played better last night than Friday, but TPL deserves some of that credit. He had 13 rebounds against Moe, three more than the previous season-high by Crusader oppponents.
The physical combo forward out-rebounded much larger opponents with his strength. He was able to get into the lane with his back to the basket and finish over the top. TPL can also play in the open floor and on the perimeter, showing a bit of wiggle on the attack. He’s a legitimate D-I prospect going into the summer.