2/26/10

Detroit, MI.- The Catholic League and Detroit's Public School League crossed paths as teams in both leagues scramble to fill their schedule before the state playoffs start the second week of March. Consider it a prelim to March 7^th's Operation Friendship as the University of Detroit-Jesuit hosted Detroit King Friday night. Both teams have great coaching, guards galore, and respectable records. King entered the game as a top ten team in the state with only one blemish on their record while U of D-Jesuit made the Catholic League playoffs before bowing out in the first round.

While the first quarter between the two guard oriented teams was rather low scoring, 13-10 King, the next three were a roller coaster ride that kept the rather small crowd on the edge of their seats.

The Crusaders built upon their lead and pushing it to 21 after 6'3 2010 forward Kevin Thomas knocked down both free-throws with just under three minutes in the quarter and it looked like the route was on as the half ended in their favor, 46-25.

Notorious for getting out of the gate late, the talented young Cubs were able to bounce back. One of those talented players is 6'1 2012 point guard Cameron Fowler whose two-handed dunk at the 5:30 mark capped an 8-0 run to start the third quarter. 6' 2010 shooting guard Branden Robinson ended the Crusaders scoreless drought with a three-pointer but the Cubs kept pushing. The home team cut the lead to ten after Fowler lifted the crowd with a put-back dunk with just over 2-minutes remaining in the stanza. The deficit continued to shrink as the quarter went on and eventually the lead was only four a couple of times but a King lay-up and a Fowler goal tend put King's lead back up to eight, 59-51, as the horn blew.

Both teams came out to play in the fourth quarter but King only let their lead fall below double digits once as they started the final period on a 11-5 run. King's senior leadership of Cannon and Thomas provided too much as they pushed their lead back above 20 with the final tally ending in the visitor's favor, 88-69.

Cannon finished with 14 points, Thomas added 12, and 6'2 2012 shooting guard Malik Albert also finished with 12. King had 13 players who found the scoring sheet.

Fowler led all scorers with 19, 6'2 2011 small forward Vaughan Jenerette followed with 12, 5'8 2013 point guard Andrew Horde reached double figures with 10, and 6'6 2012 wing Chris Jenkins added 6-points in a losing effort

Player notes:

King's senior quartet of Cannon, Thomas, Robinson, and 6'1 point guard Brent Hammonds should have the interest of Division II, III, and NAIA coaches with Cannon and possibly Thomas finding the Division I ranks after a couple of years in Juco but, all are qualifiers. Hammonds finished with seven-points.

King also has a standout in the 2012 class with mighty might 5'7 point guard Dennis Norfleet who is already one of the state's best defensive backs. He has aspirations of playing football and basketball in college and is pure energy when he comes off the bench. He's one of those glue guys and he finished with eight-points. Keep an eye on 5'9 2012 point guard Malcolm Sterling, 6'2 2012 shooting guard Malik Albert, and 6'4 2012 power forward Marquan Armstrong as all are the future of Head Coach Bennie White's program.

U of D-Jesuit has solid young players as well, Fowler is in a neck and neck race with Okemos Christopher Harrison-Docks as the state's best 2012 point guard. Fowler gets things done and has a great basketball IQ and feels for the game on either end of the court. His athleticism around the rim is at a high major level as he had a dunk on the break, a put back dunk, and an alley-oop that finished in a lay-up but could've easily been a dunk as well. The goal tending call against him late in the third quarter was an athletic display on the other end of the court. Fowler's getting serious looks from Michigan. Michigan State, and other Big Ten Schools as well as Stanford…I remember distinctly telling Johnny Dawkins about him last November when I took a trip out to Cali.

6'6 2012 wing Christopher Jenkins didn't have a great offensive output but he does a lot of things well for a kid his age. In some ways he reminds me of the only player I know of with two NCAA rings with two different teams (Duke '97 and Michigan State '00), Mike Chappell (Southfield-Lathrup '96). Jenkins has solid handles, rebounds, and can shoot it well, although not very well tonight. He has high interest from Michigan and Michigan State as well as others in the Big Ten and high majors nationally.

5'8 2013 point guard Andrew Horde is a name to look for and don't lose it in Michigan's guard rich class of 2013. He also had a handful of assists and a few steals in this game.

Connor Barwin reincarnated, 6'2 2013 small forward Wenson Harrison, Harrison was on the Cubs varsity football team and played much of the year for U of D-Jesuit's jv squad. I think the kid stopped doing push-ups after 12-years and hit the weight room on his thirteenth birthday.

The future is bright for the Jesuit's Head Coach Pat Donnelly. Could they win a district in 2011?

Inside the Numbers: King started the game hitting 17-17 free throws and by games end finished 27-36. U of D-Jesuit was 18-23 from the stripe.

The reason for the late scheduling, teams in both leagues have to give themselves rooms for a full league tournament and the bigger schools and all the schools in the P.S.L. also have to accommodate for the Operation Friendship games.