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Donofrio Classic Report: April 6, 2016

04/07/2016, 12:15am EDT
By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)

Game One: With a few players stuck in traffic, WeR1 was forced to start its game against Team Philly with just five players, and Team Philly took advantage to go up 29-14 over the opening few minutes. But WeR1’s reinforcements showed up over the course of the first half, allowing them to go on a 33-9 run and end the opening 20 minutes with a 47-38 lead. The teams made their way to overtime after a closely-fought second half, and finally WeR1 was able to emerge with a 101-98 win. Kevin Anderson (2017/St. John Neumann) led the charge with 32 points for WeR1, who also got 23 from Isaiah Wong (2019/Notre Dame) and 15 each from Antwuan Butler (2018/Del-Val Charter) and Sean Simon (2018/SCH Academy).

Game Two: The LVBR Beasts came down from Allentown and gave one of the tournament favorites a game, but Old School Cavaliers' talent was too much in a 116-101 win. Penn State-bound Lamar Stevens (2016/Roman Catholic) led the way with 22 points, as Ryan Daly (2016/Archbishop Carroll) and highly-touted soph Cameron Reddish (2018/Westtown) dropped 20 each. LVBR was led by some talented juniors, as David Kachelries (2017/Emmaus) had 26, Sam Iorio (2017/Parkland) poured in 18 of his 23 in the second half and Lafayette-bound teammate Kyle Stout (2016/Parkland) added 20.

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Kevin Anderson (above) had an impressive 32-point outing on Wednesday night. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Anderson shines in Philly
For Kevin Anderson, the long drive to Donofrio every night is worth it.

The junior from St. John Neumann in Williamsport (Pa.) has to drive three hours or more to Conshohocken in order to play with his WeR1 teammates. When he’s there, he gets to show off a different part of his game than at home in central Pennsylvania.

“In Williamsport, […] I’m one of the tallest players on the court all the time,” Anderson said. “But when you get out of the area and come to Philly, everybody’s taller than me and I can really play my position.”

The 6-foot-3, 175-pound guard definitely proved himself to the crowd on Wednesday night, scoring 32 in WeR1’s 101-98 overtime win over Team Philly.

It was an unexpected win for WeR1, who went up against a Team Philly roster consisting of mostly upperclassmen, while WeR1 had a combination of freshmen and sophomores, save for Anderson, the only junior.

“Being the oldest guy on the team, it just felt good going out there and getting the ‘W’ against them,” said Anderson, who’s playing in his first Donofrio event. “It’s nice competition out here, it can get everybody better and I like it.”

This is his first summer playing with WeR1, which competes on the Under Armour Association circuit against some of the other top teams in the country. There, he’ll get the opportunity to play in front of dozens of Division I head coaches alongside talented players like Trevon Duval (API), Zach Kent (St. Andrew’s, Del.) and more.

Anderson hopes the added exposure will jump-start his recruiting, which is tougher to start for a player out of the middle part of the state.

In fact, he said he had no schools currently recruiting him, though that will change with several more performances like his one on Wednesday night.

“That was one of my big reasons to join WeR1, just for the exposure, so I get colleges looking at me, and also so I can get better,” he said. “I’m trying to get to the next level. I know playing with guys like this is going to get me there, it’s going to get me tougher, more physical.”

Against Team Philly, the self-described “quiet” player exploded, scoring 19 of his 32 points in the second half of the tightly-contested game.

An athletic slasher, he showed he was capable of finishing through traffic with both hands, and showed some craftiness with several floaters and bank shots as well.

“It feels great," he said of his scoring output against several Division I-bound defenders. "I didn’t think I had it in me, but now that I did it I know I can.”

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Quick Hits
--Emmaus junior David Kachelries is one of a few D-I prospects in the junior class coming out of the Lehigh Valley, and he showed why in dropping 26 points against the highly-touted backcourt of the Old School Cavaliers. The slippery 5-11 guard has the ball on a string and can get his shot against taller defenders, with no hesitation to pull the trigger. As of right now, he's got offers from nearly half the Patriot (Lehigh, Lafayette, American, Holy Cross) and several Ivy (Dartmouth, Brown) schools, with interest from Davidson, Princeton, Robert Morris, NJIT and new Columbia head coach Jim Engles in the last few weeks. Expect many of those schools to see him with Sports U at the Under Armour Association's first stop in NYC next weekend.

--Through his first two performances at Donofrio, WeR1’s Isaiah Wong (2019/Notre Dame) has really opened some eyes. After scoring 23 on Wednesday night, he's got 48 points in his first two games at the 56th-annual high school all-star tournament, but it's not just his scoring ability that makes him stand out. The 6-2 guard always seems to be thinking a play ahead, whether it's making a quick-tip pass off a rebound for an assist or getting into a passing lane for a steal. He's still on the slight side in terms of his frame, but the talent is certainly there for a high-major prospect in a year or two.


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