City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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MANALAPAN, N.J. -- The second Elevate Hoops Icebreaker tournament of the week wrapped up its three days of competition on Sunday, with the quarterfinals through championships (as well as some consolation games) of the 15U, 16U and 17U brackets.

Here’s a notebook from the final day of the first live period:

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Bradshaw, K-Low Elite 16s finish in dominant fashion
It was certainly a strong weekend in New Jersey for the K-Low Elite’s second-oldest group, who romped their way to the event’s 16U championship and left quite an impression on the coaches watching. Sunday started with a 79-57 win over the Jersey Shore Warriors’ 16s in the semifinals, followed by a 59-39 victory over a similarly-talented Jersey Force Elite in the title game.

Imhotep rising junior Dahmir Bishop, a 6-foot-4 guard with offers from Penn State, Bowling Green, Hofstra and NJIT, had 17 in the championship, including four 3s. Haverford School rising junior Christian Ray scored 24 points and grabbed 14 rebounds over the course of both games.

But though those two’s output has become expected at this point, who really stood out in both games was someone who hasn’t had the same level of high school exposure or college recruitment just yet. Mark Bradshaw, a 6-0 point guard, had 20 points by halftime of the semifinal win and finished with 25; he also scored 12 in the championship game while dishing out a combined six assists in the two wins.

“I’ve just been in the gym every day, and when I play tournaments I just show out,” he said. “I feel overlooked, but I like that.”

The lefty was on fire in the semifinals, making his first seven shots of the afternoon, including a trio of 3-pointers. A strong, athletic combo guard, he moved well without the ball and made shots off the catch, while also showing the ability to break his man down off the dribble and get into the lane.

“Once I started hitting three, four shots in a row I was cool,” he said. “Just handling the ball, shooting, controlling the game.”

Bradshaw went to Archbishop Carroll (Pa.) each of the last two years, backing up stud freshman A.J. Hoggard at point guard and averaging about five points per game as a sophomore. But with Hoggard looking like he’ll run the Patriots’ offense over the next three years, Bradshaw needed to find a place where he can really show what he can do for his final two years of high school.

So for his junior year, he’ll be going to his hometown Glasgow (Del.) High School, where he’ll instantly become a featured player for a Dragons squad that went 13-10 last season but graduates eight seniors.

“I’m going to have to play 30 minutes, have the ball in my hands,” he said. “It’s a better option for me.”

Bradshaw wasn’t sure about his recruitment; he said his AAU coaches have been handling calls from colleges at this point. If he has a few more weekends like that over the next two weeks, he’ll be sure to have a much better idea where he stands with at least a few programs who offer.

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Nittany Lions’ sibling taking prep year in Maine

For his first three years of high school, Daniel Buie has played at Troy (N.Y.) High, under the guidance of head coach Rich Hurley. Hurley also coached Buie’s brothers, Taran Buie and Talor Battle, during his time at Bishop Maginn (N.Y.) before coming over to Troy in 2011.

But with Hurley taking this year off to focus on his family, it became easier for the younger Buie to leave Troy and go to Gould Academy (Maine), where he’ll play in the New England Prep School Athletic Council (NEPSAC).

Gould is moving up into the NEPSAC’s AA classification this year, in the same division as Cushing Academy, Vermont Academy, the Tilton School and more.

“My coach was leaving, and my brothers and my coach wanted me to go prep, so I’d be playing against better competition and get seen more,” he said.

Both of Buie’s brother’s names should be familiar to area basketball fans -- Battle scored 2,213 points at Penn State during a standout four years there from 2007-11; Taran Buie joined his brother there for one season in 2010-11 and also played one year at Hofstra (2012-13), where he averaged 12.4 ppg but departed when the Pride fired head coach Mo Cassara.

Daniel Buie said he’s in touch with his brothers constantly, and it’s no surprise what’s on their minds 24/7.

“All day, every day, we just talk about NBA players and who’s good, things we’ve got to work on,” he said. “We just talk about basketball all day.

“They just tell me to go out and play and whatever I do, just work the hardest out of anybody on the court,” he added.

A 6-1, 170-pound guard, Buie scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds while playing for New York Havoc in a 17U quarterfinal loss to Team Melo Red.

He claims an offer from Siena, which came in last May; now that he’s reclassified, he said he’s been contacted by coaches from “UMass, Purdue, Providence, St. Joe’s, Albany, Monmouth, New Hampshire (and) Colorado State.”

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Quick Hits

-- Don’t want to leave out the 17U champion Jersey Shore Warriors and 15U champion Philly Pride, both of whom represented the CoBL-area quite well in Manalapan. The Warriors weren’t challenged in their title game, downing Team Melo Red by a dominant 70-29 score, while Philly Pride snuck by VA Premier, 66-62. Box scores were not kept at the tournament, and I was off watching a different game at the time, so that’s all I got on those.

-- Speaking of that other game, it was an entertaining 16U consolation game which saw a sharpshooting PK Flash hold off 6th Man Warriors 86-83. The western Pa.-based squad knocked down 10 3-pointers to power the high-scoring effort, led by 21 points and six boards from 6-4 wing Braedon Poole (2018/McDonald); 6-3 guard Reed Fenton (2019/Greater Latrobe) had 17, 6-4 guard Bryce Butler (2019/Greater Latrobe) had 13 points and 6-2 guard Daniel Petcash (2019/Pine-Richardland) had 10 for PK Flash. The three juniors are all on the Division I radar at the moment; each said they’d been hearing from Holy Cross, while Fenton and Petcash said that they’d also been contacted by Princeton and Bucknell.

-- Going backwards through the day; watched the East Coast Cyclones down the South Jersey Select 17s in a Garden State consolation game, 61-40. It was a well-rounded effort from the Cyclones, though three players in particular stood out. Matan Zucker (2019/Lawrenceville Prep) came off the bench to lead the way with 19 points, including two 3-pointers, hitting eight of his nine shots. Zucker, who previously played at nearby Manalapan HS, is looking forward to using a reclassified season to improve his game and hopefully get some schools on his case. Tony Godwin Jr. (2018/North Plainfield) chipped in a 17-point outing, looking very strong with his outside shooting in knocking down three 3-pointers on four attempts; the 6-4 shooting guard said he’s mostly hearing from D-IIIs including Hamilton and Trinity College, but said that Boston U and some D-IIs had reached out. Andrew Seager (2018/Ocean Twp.), a 6-7 wing, had 14 points and seven rebounds; the athletic combo forward said he’d recently heard from Princeton, and was also talking to D-IIs USciences, Jefferson U (Philly U), Fairmount State and Georgian Court as well as “a lot of” D-IIIs.

-- A few other thoughts/stats from the day: K-Low Elite 16s also got a solid effort from Vineland 2019 F Zion Teague, younger brother of former Seton Hall big man Eugene Teague; the younger Teague, a solid 6-8 big man, had nine points in the semifinal win including a nice-looking right hook, and he’s a solid contester inside. ...Khalil Diarra (2019/Germantown Academy), a 6-5 wing forward, also shot the ball well for K-Low Elite, making three 3-pointers against the Jersey Shore Warriors while adding four rebounds, two assists and two steals. ...Camden 2018 SF Myles Thompson had a strong game for South Jersey Select, scoring 18 points in a losing effort. The powerful 6-4 wing forward knows how to use his body to get to the hoop, and is quite dangerous within 15 feet. ...6th Man Warriors had standout games from 2019 SF Kimari Williams (St. Andrew’s Md.), who had 20 points and five rebounds, and 2019 G Jason Gibson (Sidwell Friends, Md.), who hit five 3-pointers en route to 17 points while also dishing out four assists and grabbing three steals.