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Hatboro-Horsham, Notre Dame (N.J.) pick up wins at Kobe Bryant Classic

01/21/2017, 11:00pm EST
By Zach Drapkin & Josh Verlin

Jay Davis (above) suffered a seizure and was sent to the hospital after a scary October fall. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Zach Drapkin (@ZachDrapkin) &
Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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When Jay Davis woke up in the hospital, he had no clue where he was.

“My head was spinning and I just woke up,” he said. “IVs were in my arm. I asked my aunt where I was, she said I was in the hospital.”

The Hatboro-Horsham senior didn’t know the scene he’d left at Penncrest High School, where a gym full of spectators watched him go down hard while going up for a layup, and then begin convulsing on the court. He didn’t know that the first person on the scene, a nurse from Penncrest, had a hard time finding a pulse.

All he knew was he wanted to get back out on the court.

“The first thing I asked the doctor was how long I’m going to be here,” he said, “because I’ve got a game at 5:15.”

He had no idea how bad it really was.

“One of the scariest things I’ve ever been through,” Hatters coach Ed Enoch said. “I thought we lost him for the season, quite frankly. Thank God he didn’t die.”

All things considered, Davis and Hatboro could not have been any luckier. There was no concussion, just bruising, and Davis was released from the hospital the next day.

Within a couple weeks, he was back on the court, and ever since, he’s approached the game slightly differently.

“I had a seizure; that’s the worst thing that could happen to you. I don’t have much to lose,” Davis said. “If I can get back up from that, then I can get back up from anything.”

Davis had to recover pretty quickly from his near-death episode, with the Hatters’ first game of the season coming just a month after he left the hospital.

Playing alongside Indiana-commit and fellow senior Clifton Moore this season, Davis has come back strong as ever, helping Hatboro to another strong campaign following last year’s playoff run and sparking the interest of Del Valle, Neumann, Northampton, West Chester, and Millersville.

On Saturday night, Moore and Davis led the Hatters to a 55-48 victory over Sanford at the Kobe Bryant Classic, combining for all but five of the team’s points in a tight, grind-it-out win.

“I’m very fortunate to have Clifton and Jay as seniors at the same time,” Enoch said. “They’re two great players.”

Moore knocked down four first-half threes to give him 17 points at the break with the score knotted up at 26. Sanford (6-7) made adjustments at halftime to try and limit the 6-10 big man, and that’s when Davis took charge.

With the Warriors focusing their coverage mostly on Moore, who finished with 26 points and nine rebounds on the game, Davis saw more open lanes and took advantage, going for 15 points in the second half to finish with 24 for the night.

“I feel like every team is a little scared of us, but not really,” Davis said. “Every team just wants to go after Cliff, and they lay low on me.”

After each of the first three quarters ended in ties, it was Davis who was able to give Hatboro the edge in the fourth quarter.

Zipping through the lane to lead the Hatters’ fast-paced offense and forcing giveaways on the other end to create transition opportunities, he was all over the court as he spearheaded a 15-8 advantage over the final eight minutes to seal the win.

“He’s as good as I’ve ever coached in the open court,” Enoch said. “He’s one of the quickest jumpers you’ll ever see, and it’s not just the first jump, it’s also the second one. He’s up and then down and then back up again before anybody else.”

Sanford’s J'yare Davis, one of the area’s most talented freshmen, also displayed his fair share of athleticism in the contest, exploding down the baseline and rising up for a reverse slam at one point for two of his 24 points on the night to lead the Warriors.

This was a much-needed win for Hatboro (9-7), which placed 26th in the latest PIAA 6A rankings, just out of a spot in Districts.

Having qualified for States last season and returned two top players in Moore and Davis, the Hatters are expected by many to replicate their performance.

Enoch just wants to concentrate on getting back to the postseason.

“You can’t look at last year. This is a whole different team, a whole different situation,” he said. “This is the time of year when you want to start playing your best basketball. We’ve had some disappointing losses but you learn through that.”

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Travis Comber (above) and Notre Dame picked up 25 steals in a win over Church Farm. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Notre Dame (N.J.) goes on steal spree to top Church Farm

This isn’t the oldest or most experienced team Bob Turco has had at Notre Dame High School in his seven years at the Lawrenceville, N.J. school. But it certainly is his most promising.

An extremely talented group of sophomores showed their stuff at Kobe Bryant Gymnasium, pressing Church Farm into turnover after turnover to lead the way to an 86-65 win.

Though the Griffins’ offense had no trouble making 3-pointers, it was feast or famine against an Irish defense that came away with 25 steals to lead to one easy bucket after another the other way.

“Athletically, this is the most athletic team I’ve ever had,” Turco said. “And you don’t want to say anything negative about them, but we’re working on the guard skills and the jump shots. We get a lot of easy baskets because of our tempo, because of our athleticism.”

Sophomore guard Cartier Bowman benefitted the most from that tonight, running rim-to-rim for 30 points to go along with 11 rebounds and four assists. His classmates chipped in plenty: Isaiah Wong had 17 points, six steals, five rebounds and three assists; Travis Cumber had 11 assists and six steals as well as eight points.

And then there’s freshman Julian McGowan, an athletic 6-5 wing who came off the bunch for 10 points and a handful of steals as well.

Despite all the youth, Turco isn’t shying away from expectations.

“We have a lot to look forward to but we’re not throwing anything away, we’re trying to meet all our goals this year and put a lot of pressure on us for years to come,” he said. “We want to be county champs and we want to be state champs so we work towards that goal every single day and these guys, even though they’re young...they play like they have varsity experience, they’re composed, they know the game really well and they know the system inside-out. So they don’t look like sophomores a lot of times.”

Church Farm (10-5) was led by senior guards Augustus Veniukevicius (19 points) and Faustas Kulbickas (16 points). --Josh Verlin

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