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Primetime Shootout Notebook (Aug. 8)

08/10/2015, 11:15am EDT
By Josh Verlin

California native Sasha French (above) is a D-I prospect in Hun's frontcourt. (Photo: Josh Verlin)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The Primetime Shootout is always one of the better late-summer events, bringing together some of the better programs in New Jersey along with a few select others.

CoBL went up to Trenton Catholic this weekend to watch a few sets of action; here’s a notebook featuring a few New Jersey teams and some college prospects to boot:

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Cali big man impresses for Hun School
The beginning of the fall portion of the offseason is always crucial for prep schools like Princeton (N.J.)’s Hun School, who are able to bring in players from not just across the country but often from overseas for a post-graduate season.

So any opportunity for head coach Jonathan Stone to get even a decent percentage of his team together is a crucial one if Hun is going to compete with the Hill School, Blair Academy and the rest of the Mid-Atlantic Prep League.

“A school like ours always has a few new faces, and to get everybody on the court together is a good thing,” Stone said. “We do a couple of things in the summer, but because we have guys from different areas of the world and country, they’re not always there at every event. We get as many together as we can at every event that we do.”

The Hun School of Princeton has around 650 students from 6th grade through a post-graduate program, with 150 of those students living on the school’s 45-acre campus, located just a few miles from Princeton University.

In Stone’s 15 years as head coach at prep school, he estimates he’s sent “about 40” players off to Division I schools, and that tradition will certainly be continuing this year.

Rising senior guard Austin Harriott, who committed to Loyola (Md.) on Saturday night, wasn’t with the team at Trenton Catholic, but they didn’t need him in a 55-32 blowout win over Plymouth-Whitemarsh earlier that day.

The tone was set early on the defensive end by post-grad forward Sasha French, a California native who spent the last year at Prolific Prep alongside one of the country’s top recruits, Josh Jackson.

A 6-foot-9, 220-pound forward, the left-handed French moved like a Division I big man and blocked several shots both around the basket and even sent back a few jumpers, showcasing a trustworthy hook shot and jumper as well.

Though he’s without a Division I offer, French is hearing from a number of schools since making the decision to reclassify; Portland, Rider, Drexel have reached out, as have high-academic D-IIIs like NYU and Connecticut College.

“He’s got a great touch, he’s really long and really helps you defensively,” Stone said. “I think he’ll have a really good year for us.”

Also playing well for Hun in the win was rising senior guard Niall Carpenter, a 6-2 combo who could get to the basket at ease; D-IIIs Ursinus, Trinity, RIT and Bloomfield are recruiting him, but he looked like he could be worthy of a few D-II looks based on his play this weekend.

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Camden preparing for state title run
After what’s happened the last three years to Camden basketball, there’s only one goal.

The Panthers have been to the New Jersey Group 2 state championship game three years in a row, but each time they’ve been sent home still looking for the school’s first such championship since 2000 and 12th overall.

Newark Tech has played villain each of the last two seasons, pulling off fourth-quarter comebacks in 2014 and 2015 to advance to the state’s Tournament of Champions.

Those same two seasons have also been the first two under head coach John Valore, who spent 35 years as the head coach of Cherry Hill East from 1976-2011; East’s court is named in his honor.

“We’ve been to the state championship two years in a row, two games we thought we should have won,” assistant coach Vic Carstarphen said.

Getting that championship would be extra-meaningful for Carstarphen, who played at Camden in the ‘80s and then went on to a college career at Cincinnati and Temple. Part of the 1986 team that USA Today ranked tops in the country, Carstarphen wants nothing more than to bring the team its first championship in 15 years.

Leading the way this year are two seniors bound for high-major Division I colleges, though Brad Hawkins (Michigan) and Jamal Holloway (Syracuse) will both be playing football in college.

While the two are slightly better on the gridiron than on the court, their hoops abilities are not to be scoffed at; Hawkins, a 6-1 guard, and Holloway, a 6-4 forward, are the leaders on a team that’s not lacking in toughness and athleticism.

“Brad, Jamal, they’re both four-year starters in basketball and they want to end this,” Carstarphen said. “I think we’re going to have a pretty good team, we’re going to have a deep bench, it’s competitive in practice, I’m looking forward to some good things.”

With only “about 40 percent” of its expected varsity roster in attendance, Camden didn’t win either of its games on Saturday--but there’s no shame in losing to either Roselle Catholic or St. Benedict’s, a pair of North Jersey Non-Public powerhouses. It’s a challenge that Valore sets up on purpose, to prepare his team for South Jersey Group 2 and beyond.

“Coach Valore always gets us to compete against some of the best teams in the state every year, St. Benedict’s, St. Patrick, Roselle Catholic, and it’s just good for our guys to see that type of competition,” Carstarphen said. “We hope that it carries on, especially with the young guys.”

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Notre Dame banking on Dixon and depth
After going 4-0 in the Shootout, Notre Dame (N.J.) head coach Bob Turco was most pleased about what happened in the second half of his team’s final game, against Pt. Pleasant Beach.

After trailing by 12 at halftime, his Irish turned it up on the defensive end, going on a 17-5 run to wind up with a win.

“We’re not really known for our defense much the past few years,” Turco said. “We have to become a better defensive team if we want to win the big, big games.”

Notre Dame has had plenty of success in Turco’s first five seasons as head coach, with a 22-7 record this past season marking the third time in four years that he’s lead them to a 20-win season.

But though they’ve made a few appearances in the South Jersey Non-Public ‘A’ tournament over the last few years, they’ve yet to win a sectional title under Turco’s watch.

“I’m always the bridesmaid, never the bride,” he said. “Always coming in second place, so we’ve got to try to get better at that, and the only way to do that is defensively.”

Turco’s squad for the upcoming season is a bit of a conundrum; both very experienced and very inexperienced, depending on who’s in the game at any given time. He’s expecting to have six different seniors contribute, but only two juniors and no sophomores on the roster.

So a group of four freshman have a chance to earn some time right away. Isaiah Wong, a 6-0 guard, impressed on Saturday, giving his team good energy during that second-half run and coming up with a few buckets of his own.

But the key to the whole season will be one of the juniors, 6-4 wing Manny Stokes-Dixon, a Division I recruit with offers from La Salle and Rider. Though Stokes-Dixon will have plenty of scoring help and shouldn’t need to average 20 ppg for Notre Dame, Turco needs him to set the tone on both ends of the floor, on and off the court.

“He’s got to be a leader,” Turco said. “We had this conversation in practice the other day when he was going through drills half-assed--everybody looks up to him, even the seniors who are going to be playing in college.”

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Quick Hits
--Plymouth-Whitemarsh (Pa.) guard Xzavier Malone is one of the more intriguing prospects in the 2016 class. The left-handed, 6-foot-4 guard was ultra-raw during his first two years of high school, spent at Martin Luther King, but after transferring to P-W last offseason, started to make big strides in starting to turn that potential into production. He pulled in offers from Canisius and Fairleigh Dickinson, and is taking some visits in the next few weeks, all unofficials: FDU on Wednesday, Central Connecticut State on Aug. 17, plus Canisius and Hofstra in September.

With the Colonials’ leaders of the past two seasons--Andre Mitchell (Catholic U) and Jimmy Murray (Moravian)--off to college, Malone will have to shoulder a large amount of the scoring load as a senior, and with a few big performances could continue to increase his recruiting stock throughout the season. So don’t be surprised if he holds off on a commitment this fall and banks on some bigger offers coming in the spring.

--Though Roselle Catholic was missing a number of the high-major prospects that make them one of the early favorites for the 2016 Tournament of Champions title, they weren’t totally devoid of Division I talent. Big man Peace Ilegomah stood out in a win over Camden with his fundamentals; the 6-foot-10 forward did a great job of rebounding, starting the break and hustling down the court, where he could catch and finish inside. He also showcased some nice timing on the defensive end, using his 7-foot wingspan to block a few shots. Though he’s waiting on his first offer, he claimed interest from Rider, Rutgers, Buffalo and Binghamton.

--Two guards impressed for Pt. Pleasant Beach in a losing effort against Notre Dame. Senior Jimmy Panzini had a solid junior year, averaging double-digits for the Garnet Gulls, and the 6-1 redheaded combo guard looks like he’ll be the dominant focus of Pt. Pleasant’s offense in his senior year. Muscular and athletic, Panzini plays the game at a quick tempo and has the ability to hit tough shots off the bounce; he needs to improve his decision-making as a point guard, but he’s got a college-ready body and could easily find himself with some D-II scholarships and maybe even a low D-I look or two with a really stellar season.

It looks like he’ll be getting some help from sophomore guard Danny Frauenheim, a 5-9 combo with a nice outside shot. Frauenheim has a nice handle and ability to run the point, but as a better shooter than Panzini it won’t be surprising to see him spotting up more than he has the ball in his hands.

 

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