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HG Spring Jam Fest Notebook (April 22)

04/22/2017, 10:00pm EDT
By Josh Verlin & Tyler Sandora

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) &
Tyler Sandora (@Tyler_Sandora)
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MANHEIM, Pa. -- The Hoop Group’s Spring Jam Fest roared into its second day of action, with every one of the event’s several hundred teams playing multiple games at the massive Spooky Nook Sports complex.

Here’s a notebook from Saturday’s action, featuring mostly 17U and 16U action:

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Alex Capitano (above) says he's back on track after missing several months of his sophomore season with a broken hand. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Great Valley’s Capitano making up for lost time

In the fourth game of his sophomore season, Great Valley sophomore Alex Capitano went up for a two-handed slam.

While he was up in the air, he was hit from behind, fell down on his hand, breaking bones in both his middle and index finger on his right hand.

As a result, the 6-foot-4 slashing wing missed a majority of his sophomore season. When he did return, he led Great Valley into the PIAA 5A state playoffs.

“I just want to get back and get ahead,” he said. “I don’t feel that I’m behind anymore, now i just want to get ahead of everybody.”

Capitano came out of the gate firing after halftime of an opening-round game against Olympus Elite (N.J.), scoring 14 of his team-high 16 points in the second half of a Warriors’ loss.

“We started off way too slow,” he said. “At halftime, I told myself I needed to play with a lot more intensity, and in the second half I did that.”

Despite his team losing its first game in a crazy atmosphere in the massive Spooky Nook facility, Capitano enjoyed getting back on the court and being able to play.

“I love this atmosphere,” he said. “It’s so much fun to play in this type of event.”

Though he's still waiting on his first offer, Capitano is currently receiving interest from schools such as Drexel, Delaware, and Holy Cross.

At 6-4, Capitano knows that by the time he gets to the college ranks, he’s going to need to take on a different role than the one is currently holds.

“I’m working on my handle," he said. "I know I’m not going to be a wing in college, I’ll probably end up being a ‘2’ guard so I’ve got to improve my handle.”

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Boyertown's Jerry Kapp (above) is taking his high-scoring abilities to a bigger stage with the East Coast Power. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Kapp adjusting to new, talented teammates

At Boyertown Area High School, for the school’s boys’ basketball team, Jerry Kapp is the man.

The junior guard averaged 22.5 ppg for Boyertown this year, scoring the 1000th point of his career, but despite that the Bears went just 5-16, finishing in last place in the Pioneer Athletic Conference’s Liberty Division.

But now, after moving from the Collegeville Jaguars to the East Coast Power on the AAU circuit, he’s getting a chance to play alongside quite a bit more talent than he’s used to.

“I really like it, we have a lot of talent from other different schools, and it’s still early now, so we’re just becoming a unit and playing together,” Kapp said after scoring 11 points to help ECPower to a 48-44 win over Cecil Kirk 17U in a consolation game. “We have to have each other’s back, even though we’ve only been together a short period of time.”

A 6-foot-3, 180-pound guard with range, Kapp showcased a smooth outside shot in knocking down three triples, accounting for all but one of his team’s long-range makes in that particular game.

It’s a nice complement alongside East Coast Power’s slashers in Collin MacAdams (Central Bucks West) and Greg Barton (Downingtown West), who combined for 20 points in the win; the rest of his teammates have clearly already figured out Kapp’s strengths, finding him open on the perimeter time and time again.

“It’s definitely nice to have two guys, three guys, our whole team, to have your back and be able to score, make passes,” Kapp said. “I’m really excited to start this summer and just having them by my side while I’m by their side, we have each other’s back and I’m excited.”

Collgiately, Kapp has started picking up some Division III interest, mentioning Susquehanna and NYU as two schools that have called around. But he also noted that Lafayette had expressed some interest, and considering his size and shooting ability, it certainly wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for him to move into scholarship territory with a strong summer.

While he said he’s certainly working on his handles and ability to get to the rim to get there, Kapp kept a bigger-picture approach when it came to his summer. After all, as he knows, not nearly as many people come to watch a team that doesn’t win games.

“Main goal is just to win games,” he said. “Just make it as far as possible because if you make it further, you get on the better courts, the more coaches see you and see what you can do and show them your talents.”

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Walsh excited about new summer team

Last summer, Connor Walsh played with Baltimore United’s 16U team on the UAA circuit. This season, Baltimore United didn’t field a 17U team.

Therefore, Walsh needed a new team.

Jersey Shore Warriors boss Tony Sagona met Walsh last year at various tournaments last summer and decided to call Walsh to give him the opportunity to play for his Jersey Shore Warriors 17U team. Since joining the team, Walsh has enjoyed every minute of it.

“The ball we play is very similar to the college game and [Sagona] teaches us that way,” Walsh said. “He has really helped me out with all of the screening, picking, and moving.”

A rising senior at Boys’ Latin School in Baltimore Md., Walsh currently has no Division I offers but is receiving interest from schools such as Yale, Lafayette, and Colgate.

In Boys Latin’s first round of the state playoffs,they lost a heartbreaker. Their opponent, Mount Carmel hit a three to send the game into overtime, then hit a three in overtime to win the game.

“It was a very hard loss, but a good all around season,” Walsh said. “We will learn from that.”

The 6-foot-4 wing is an energetic player. He can score, facilitate, rebound, and he brings a valuable energy level to his team. He scored in different ways on Saturday, in transition and in the half court.  

“I’m trying to improve on my shooting and dribbling,” Walsh said. “I want to be able to show coaches that I am able to do anything.”

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Dean Noll (above) and Shawnee made it to the New Jersey Group 4 state championship game. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

No more sneaking up for Noll, Shawnee

Last year, not many people were focused on Shawnee High School or Dean Noll.

The Renegades had won 16 games in 2015-16 -- certainly not a bad total, but not really much of an indication for what was to come: Despite starting five non-seniors, Shawnee won 29 games, making it all the way to the New Jersey Group 4 state championship game before a season-ending loss to Linden.

Noll, a junior and one of the team’s several impressive guards, was the team’s second-leading scorer at 15.1 ppg, going over the 20-point mark on seven occasions.

“It was awesome, really exciting,” he said. “We start four juniors and a sophomore so we expect to be back next year.”

Quite a few of Noll’s Shawnee teammates join him on the SJ Hoops Elite squad for the summer, including sophomore Connor Deveney, a promising 6-2 guard, and 6-4 junior Deavon Robinson, an athletic wing forward.

Though Noll had 16 and the other two chipped in 14 points, that wasn’t enough to help SJ Hoops Elite escape a talented Michigan Warriors squad in the third round of the main 17U bracket.

At 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds, Noll has solid size for a lead guard, and does a good job of playing within himself and limiting his mistakes. He’s very good at drawing in double-teams and then finding shooters after getting into the high post, though he can finish at the hoop if he gets a step on his defender.

So far, Noll said, “a couple Ivies” have reached out, though he only wanted to name Columbia for now.

“I’m trying to focus on pressuring the ball and not letting anybody by me,” he said. “Better defense and more point guard skills, running the offense.”

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Quick Hits
-- Dominic Dunn (2018/Camden Catholic) displayed just about all of his versatility for the Jersey Shore Warriors’ 17U Blue squad in a 73-62 win over WrightWay Skills Academy. The 6-4, 205-pound wing forward scored 14 points, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers on a nice-looking shot while at the same time showing he could demand the ball in the post and score through contact around the rim. “That’s the main thing I wanted to do,” he said, “I shot really well in the winter and I just wanted to keep it up.” At Camden Catholic, Dunn was the Irish’s top scorer at just over 15 ppg, as well as its top 3-pointer shooter, leading his team to a 20-8 record. But that hasn’t turned into much college interest yet; Dunn said he’d been on the phone with D-III Worcester Polytechnic Institute recently and was looking forward to getting in front of small-college coaches this month.

-- Casey Jack (2019/Berks Catholic/York Ballers 16U) has quite a nice post game for a guard -- but that shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody who knows his older brothers, Donovan (6-9) and Connor (6-7). The two older Jack brothers, who played collegiately at Penn State and Flagler (Fla.), respectively, were both face-up forwards, but the youngest of the three is certainly quite different. At 6-3, he’s got a solid handle -- “playing against (my brothers), I had to develop my ball-handling so I could get around them somehow,” he said -- and is a slick passer, even though he’s still got some nifty moves when it comes to scoring around the bucket. After helping Berks Catholic into the PIAA 4A playoffs before a second-round loss to Audenried, he’s hoping to get his college recruitment started this summer.

-- Ryan Kendra (2018/Upper Perkiomen) showed an improved all-around game on Saturday, hitting some threes and playing well in the open floor. The 6-3 wing is still unsure whether he will play football or basketball in college. On the gridiron, Harvard and Yale are possible landing spots for the wide receiver. For basketball, York College has been showing interest.

-- Matthew Corey (2019/Worcester Academy) displayed his long-range shooting ability, draining five 3’s in his team's first game of the day. At 6-6, Corey describes himself as a tall wing who can get to the basket. He doesn’t have any college looks just yet, but after he improves on his ball handling and strength, expect some Division I schools to reach out to him.

-- This summer will be important for Ben Eckstrom (2018/Phillips Exeter Academy). Originally a 2017 recruit, Eckstrom made the decision to reclassify after his junior year and attend one of the country’s most prestigious prep schools. St. Anselm and Bentley are two top D-II schools after the services of the 6-5 wing. Eckstrom is a facilitator with the ball, who will also knock down the open outside shot. He hopes to win another NEPSAC Class A state championship, the biggest classification, in his senior year.


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