skip navigation

Live in AC: Day Two Notebook (July 27)

07/27/2017, 11:15pm EDT
By CoBL Staff

Kenny Jones (above) says four schools in particular are chasing him hardest. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
--

GALLOWAY, N.J. -- The annual Live in A.C. Tournament takes over the Jersey Shore this week, with teams in the 15U, 16U, and 17U brackets playing at various venues around Atlantic City.

Here’s a notebook from the 17U first and second-round action at Stockton University on Thursday:

~~~

Jersey Shore guard sorting through his offer pile

Mater Dei Prep’s 2018 point guard Kenny Jones has a lot of schools chasing after his talents.

The 6-1 Jones has pulled offers from 16 Division I schools since last summer, including St. Joe’s, Penn, Monmouth, Princeton, Loyola (Md.), Towson and Boston University with the last four schools showing him the most interest as the stretch drive of his recruiting approaches.

Jones has visited Princeton, Monmouth, St. Joe’s and Penn unofficially, but plans to take his official visits to schools in the fall once the live period ends. At this point, he said, no schools are guaranteed visits until he discusses his recruitment with his parents following the end of the July live recruiting periods.

Following those visits, expect a commitment before the November signing period.

“I want to choose my school and then relax my senior year and focus on winning more hardware for Mater Dei,” he said.

Leading Mater Dei Prep (N.J.) to a 25-4 record and a Shore Conference championship before losing to New Jersey powerhouse, St. Patrick’s in the second round of the state tournament last season, Jones brings a winning mentality to his school and to his AAU team, Jersey Force Elite U17.

The team, coached by Joe Stein, won the Elevate Hoops Summer Icebreaker I tournament earlier this month and made a finals run at the Summer Showdown a week later.

“I like to get my teammates involved and give them great shots,” Jones said. “I get into the lane a lot so that gets my teammates open.”

Jones is going to have another weapon to pass to this season for Mater Dei as D-I recruit Alexander Rice is transferring to Mater Dei due to his previous school, St. Anthony’s, shutting down.

With Jones and two other starters returning, the Seraphs have high hopes indeed for the season ahead.

“I think we’ll get back to the Shore Conference Championship,” Jones said, smiling. -- Austin Petolillo

~~~

Mass. guard looking forward to prep opportunity

Tyrone Perry has played in a lot of different atmospheres in his basketball career.

The recently-reclassified 2018 recruit attended Brighton High School in Massachusetts, and started his AAU career two years ago on BABC’s ‘B’ team. Now he’s with New Day on the AAU circuit, and will be attending Woodstock Academy for his prep year this upcoming season.

“The experience has made me mentally stronger,” he said. “It’s made me think you should never give up. As I’m looking around, guys are going prep and getting Division I offers, and I’m just a kid from the city of Brighton. I’m thinking, ‘wow I wish I could have that.’ Now I’m finally getting that opportunity and it’s showed me to keep working and to never give up on yourself because you never know who’s watching.”

At Woodstock, a new program started by Tony Bergeron, Perry will team up with Jakigh Dawson and Dimon Carrigan, two guys Perry is grew up playing against in the Boston area. Also, Philly products Izaiah Brockington (Archbishop Ryan) and Dion Harris (Del-Val Charter) will be joining him at Woodstock.  

“The reason why I picked Woodstock was for another year of developing and another year before college,” he said. “I met Tony Bergeron, he watched me for a whole year and he told me I was good player and to keep working, and I’m going to keep on working with him and striving.

Perry is being mainly tracked by D-II schools such as Nyack, Franklin Pierce, and Georgian Court, but D-I Holy Cross has been expressing interest. While he hasn’t been to any campuses and doesn’t have any planned, he feels that Franklin Pierce and Georgian Court might be paid a visit before he makes his college decision.

Basketball isn't a stranger to the Perry family. Perry’s brother played at Belmont, and his cousin, Wayne Turner, a two-time NCAA champion for Kentucky in the late 90’s, played overseas after a short stint with the Harlem Globetrotters.

All his life, Perry has been a competitor. He’s got three siblings on his mother’s side, and five on his father’s side.

“On my dad’s side I’m the oldest, but on my mom’s side, I’m the youngest,” he said. “Sometimes I boss the little kids around, but then I have to be the innocent little kid.” -- Tyler Sandora

~~~

St. Benedict’s benefitting from Swedish presence

When watching Ebrima Dibba and Musa Jeng play on the floor together, you can’t help but notice their similarities.

With their similar style of play, same communication habits on the floor, and chemistry for one another, sometimes the only way to tell the two apart is by the color of their shoes.

Rising seniors at St. Benedict’s (N.J.), both Dibba and Jeng were born and raised in Sweden. Their parents, who had known each other previous to their children meeting, were all immigrants from Gambia, a tiny country of less than 2 million people in West Africa.

The tandem met each other in Sweden when they were living an hour away from each other at the age of 10. After playing on the same youth team for years, they moved up the ranks and played club basketball in Sweden for KFUM-Fryshuset as 16-year-olds.

“It was good because we were playing against men,” Dibba said. “It wasn’t 18-and-under, so it was big players. There were 32-year-olds playing against 15 year olds.”

Through playing for six or seven years with each other and living with each other in America, Dibba and Jeng have developed a friendship they use immensely while playing with each other on the floor.

“We learned to play well together,” Dibba continued. “In America, we can both speak Swedish and say like, ‘come set a screen or switch’, and the other guys don’t understand it. We’ve been playing each other for a long time, so we know what to do.”

Dibba plays the role of the point guard, someone who looks to pass first, and at 6-5, he can see over bigger defenders. Jeng, a 6-8 wing guard, primarily plays outside where he feels most comfortable.

“He’s a point guard and pass first,” Jeng said. “He always looks for me. We always keep an eye out for each other. He sees me cut, he passes to me.”

Dibba’s play has landed him offers from Loyola Marymount, Niagara, and Manhattan. LMU has been talking to him for two years now, and hopes to get him on campus of a visit. Jeng’s recruitment is handled by his AAU coach.

While it’s unsure whether or not the duo will try to team up in college, Dibba and Jeng will remain lifelong friends with the relationship they’ve built over the years. -- Tyler Sandora

~~~


Joel (left) and Jace Stutz helped Butler Area into the PIAA Class 6A quarterfinals this year. (Photo

Stutz brothers light up Live in AC

Playing the PK Flash’s 17U group, it’s easy to see double. No matter where you turn, there’s a Stutz brother hitting shots.

Joel Stutz and Jace Stutz -- identical twins, both recent grads of Butler Area (Pa.) -- are 6-foot-tall blondes with equally effective deep-range strokes, which they showed off in a win over New Day to open up bracket play on Thursday afternoon. The two combined to hit seven 3-pointers, giving just a hint as to why Butler Area won its first WPIAL playoff game in five years, and then advanced all the way to the PIAA Class 6A quarterfinals.

“We’ve always been the best of friends and the worst of enemies,” Joel said. “He’s always the best competition out there for me, we always push each other to be better.”

“It’s awesome because you don’t even need to know where he is at, you just know the ball is going to get to him or he’s going to get the ball to me no matter what,” added Jace. “We always have each other’s back.”

Playing for PK Flash puts the pair on a team with many of their former WPIAL foes -- including Daniel Petcash, whose Pine-Richland squad knocked them out in the state playoffs.

“It’s fun playing with a bunch of local competition, the best guys locally, it’s always a lot of fun,” Joel said. “We get to throw jabs at each other for previous games that we’ve played.”

The brothers are clearly close: they stand together in team huddles, constantly find each other on the court both to pass while the action is going and to support during whistles and timeouts. Their jumpers are equally effective, with the same form.

Even if they switched their jerseys, it wouldn’t matter too much.

“We’ve thought about it,” Jace admitted, “But no, we haven’t done that.”

Though the Stutz brothers are both hoping to catch the eye of some Division III schools over the final week of the live period -- Jace mentioned Geneva College and La Roche as a pair of colleges who had been in touch -- the two already have plans this fall to attend Butler County Community College, with hopes to transfer to a four-year program after their freshman or sophomore seasons.

“Whatever happens, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Joel said. “I’d want to stay together, but if we went our separate ways, we go our separate ways.” -- Josh Verlin

~~~


Ryan Young (above) has had several high-major schools come watch him this week in Atlantic City. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Quick Hits
-- Ryan Young is unsure whether he will wait to see if he will receive an offer from high-major schools, or choose one of the mid-majors that he has on his tail. Stanford, Maryland, Notre Dame, and Northwestern have all expressed interest; Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey was in Atlantic City to watch Young on Wednesday, and a Northwestern assistant was there Thursday. He’s visited to Stanford and Notre Dame already.

If those offers don’t materialize, William and Mary, Richmond, Princeton, Yale, and St. Joe’s are all possible landing spots.  “It will be up to whatever the best fit is,” he said. “Going high-major would be nice because it’s every kid's dream, but it’s going to come down to the campus, education, and the team.”

Last summer as a 16 year old, Young was given the opportunity to play up with the 17’s, and high-level prospects Eli Brooks (Michigan) and Taylor Funk (St. Joseph’s). Now with the 17’s for his final year, Young appreciates his role with a team he loves to play with.

“Last year and this year, there have been 30 plus coaches at every game,” he said. “I’m blessed to be on a team like this where guards are really unselfish. They value the big man and know how effective I can be if I get the ball inside. I think we play the most unselfish out of any aau program I’ve ever see, so I’m happy to be here.”

-- Pine Bush High School (N.Y.) 2018 forward Bryan Powell displayed his scoring abilities in his game against Team Final EYBL on Thursday afternoon. Powell put up 19 points and capped off his day with a rim-shaking dunk to put an exclamation point on his Early Risers squad’s victory. The 6-6 Powell does not currently hold an offer from any school but has received interest from schools such as D-IIs STAC and LIU Post plus D-III Scranton. Powell said that if he does not receive a scholarship offer by the end of the summer, he’ll start looking at some Post-Grad options but said he’ll cross that bridge when he gets there. Powell is used more as a high post option for his AAU team but aid that he is trying to work on his handles and his outside shooting as he’ll be used more as a wing than a big when he plays in college.

-- This past Monday, Andrew Sims picked up his first D-I offer from St. Francis (PA), joining D-II’s St. Thomas Aquinas, Adelphi, Stonehill and Pace. A 6-6 forward playing with the Jersey Shore Warriors, Sims plans to visit all of the schools that have offered him in August. While he’s got offers from schools at two different levels, Sims is still unsure which level he will end up at.

“I mean, I just am gonna let it fall through and whatever happens, happens,” he said. “Wherever I feel most comfortable. Which coaches I like.”

With the ability to stretch the floor as a big man, and also play the role of a guard, Sims knows that will attract the eyes of some college coaches. In addition to the schools that have offered him, Loyola (Md.), Hartford, Colgate, and Fairleigh Dickinson have all expressed interest.

-- In a very exciting first-round matchup, East Coast Power and Philly Pride 2019’s battled the length of the game, but ECP came out victorious, 55-53. For ECP, Jerry Kapp (2018/Boyertown) scored 16 points and pulled down five rebounds. Slippery Rock, East Stroudsburg, Millersville, West Chester, York College, and Sciences are all interested in the 6-4 guard. Also for ECP, Collin MacAdams (2018/CB West) contributed nine points. MacAdams has been offered by D-II Kutztown; other D-IIs USciences, East Stroudsburg, and Stonehill are all monitoring him. D-I’s Colgate and Lafayette have also reached out. For Philly Pride, Seth Lundy (2019/Roman Catholic) dropped 20 points to go along with his seven rebounds. A 6-7 forward, Lundy holds offers from UConn., VCU, and Temple, among others, and added one from Oregon on Thursday night.

-- After breaking his foot in November of this past year, Thornton Scott wasn’t able to return to play until January for Holy Trinity High School on Long Island, New York. Since he feels he has unfinished business, Scott will do a prep year at Gould Academy (ME). Scott currently holds offers from Loyola (MD), Boston, UMBC, Fairleigh Dickinson, and Iona. Loyola (MD) has stuck out as a favorite, but Scott will wait to trim his list and take visits after the AAU season. A 6-5 point guard, Scott is a true floor general who can shoot the three and find open teammates.

-- Hazleton Area (Pa.) rising senior Josh Samec was walking on the Atlantic City boardwalk before his first game on Thursday when he got a text from the head coach at Chowan (N.C.), a D-II school down in the Tar Heel State. Suddenly, his amount of offers had doubled, as the Hawks joined East Stroudsburg (Pa.) on the 6-8 forward’s list. He followed that up with a 22-point, nine-rebound effort to help JB Hoops to a 13-point first-round win over #coastalstrong, the summer version of Coastal Academy (N.J.).

“So yeah,” Samec said, “It was a good day.”

A pop-forward with an inside-out scoring game, Samec displayed his smooth shooting stroke with a trio of 3-pointers in the win, and he also got work done on the low block. While only two schools have offered so far, he said several other PSAC schools are putting together their packages for him; he named Bloomsburg and West Chester specifically as those that had been in touch, along with Assumption (Mass.). Samec’s in no rush to make his decision: “[I’ll wait] as far as I can into the season before I have to make my decision,” he said. “Until schools start telling me that they need to know by (a certain) date, I’ll make my decision.”


HS Coverage:

Recruiting News:

Tag(s): Home  Old HS  Recruiting  Josh Verlin  Austin Petolillo  Tyler Sandora