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Sanford School's impressive youngsters pull off win over Chester

12/23/2017, 1:00am EST
By Josh Verlin

Jyare Davis (above) scored 15 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter in overtime as Sanford School (Del.) beat Chester. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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CHESTER, Pa. -- Through the first three quarters of Sanford School’s game against Chester High School in the finale of the four-game Rondae Jefferson Classic, Jyare Davis had done just about nothing. That’s not typical for the 6-foot-5 sophomore guard, a burgeoning high-major prospect with offers already from Big East and ACC programs, who’s often his team’s leading scorer, rebounder and distributor despite his youth.

“I’m not really sure [why],” hey said afterwards. “(Chester) took me out of my groove early on, and I never got into a rhythm.”

Just when it looked like the Warriors were going to leave the Clip Joint still in search of their first win of the year, Davis snapped out of his funk. He scored eight points in the fourth quarter as Sanford mounted its comeback, including a game-tying 3-pointer to force an extra period. Two more Davis treys in overtime were a big reason the Warriors came away with a 68-59 win over the Clippers.

After scoring only two points through the game’s first 30 minutes, he finished with 17 -- plus five rebounds -- earning team MVP honors mostly for his late-game heroics.

“I was going to try to help us get a win,” he said. “I knew I wasn’t really scoring or doing anything, so I had to find a way to get us a ‘dub.’”

Opponents are going to do their best to frustrate Davis as much as possible this season, and though Sanford has only played two games thus far, he’s already picking up on differences compared to his impressive freshman season.

“I’m starting to get double-teamed all the time and stuff like that,” he said, “I have to get used to scoring in different ways in different situations, against different defenses.

“We always talk about I have to find ways to contribute more than scoring. And I didn’t do a great job of that tonight, but I have to make sure to do it moving forward.”

Davis only took four shots through the game’s first three periods, making one; he also was off on two third-quarter foul shots.

But thanks in large part to sophomore guard Hassan Perkins and freshman forward Nnanna Njoku, Sanford overcame a 12-point deficit in that third quarter to trail by three going into the fourth. That’s when Davis started to find his shot, knocking down one 3-pointer earlier in the quarter, part of a 19-5 stretch that gave Sanford a 47-45 lead with 4:41 left.

Chester retook a 3-point lead with two minutes to go, and again with a minute left. Davis made a layup with 50 seconds left to cut it to one; then, with five seconds left, he knocked down an open triple from the left wing to send it to overtime.

“Jy’s been battling an injury all season so he’s kind of hobbled right now, he’s probably about 75 percent of his best,” Waterman said. “But he made some big shots, and that’s what big-time players [do], make big-time shots, and he did that for us tonight.”

Sanford’s momentum -- and Davis’ -- rolled right into the extra session.

One of his triples put Sanford up that many early in the session; the second might have put it away. Davis went to the line with Sanford up three and 65 seconds left, making the first and missing the second. However, senior guard Sean Williams grabbed the miss and fed it right back to Davis on the wing, where he hit a shot from almost the exact same spot as his end-of-regulation triple to push it to a 64-57 lead with 1:01 to play.

The Warriors closed it out on the defensive end from there.

“Just a big win for us,” Waterman said. “We’ve been practicing for a while and we haven’t had many game opportunities. We were anxious a little bit and it showed, we were sloppy early on, but just to get out of here with a win, anytime you can come into Chester and win, that’s a bonus.”

Davis isn’t the only impressive youngster under the guidance of Waterman, who’s now in his 26th year at the Hockessin (Del.) private school.

Perkins, a 5-9 sophomore guard, had 19 points, five steals and three assists, going 8-for-8 from the foul line and 4-for-7 from the floor. His cousin, fellow sophomore Corey Perkins, had three points, three rebounds, four assists and two steals.

But certainly the most eye-opening performance came from freshman forward Nnanna Njoku. The 6-8 post with an already-chiseled frame had 20 points, seven rebounds and five blocks -- and if that wasn’t impressive enough, he began his night with a smooth left-wing 3-pointer before getting the rest of his production inside.

“He’s got a great skillset, he’s got a nice touch, he can shoot the 3, he finishes around the basket, right hand, left hand,” Waterman said. “We’ve got to get him to learn the game a little bit, and he’s got a chance to be scary good.”

Michael Smith won MVP honors for Chester (1-3) after scoring 17 points, to go along with four rebounds. Senior Brian Randolph III led the Clippers in scoring with 19 points.

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In the third of four games, Caleb Matthews led defending Delaware state champ Smyrna to a 65-53 win over Archbishop Ryan.

Matthews, a 6-3 senior guard, finished with 28 points on 6-of-14 shooting, going 16-for-17 from the line; he missed only his final attempt of the game, in the final minute after the outcome had already been decided. He also dished out seven assists and grabbed three rebounds, showing why he holds four Division II offers (Caldwell, St. Anselm’s, Adelphi and Wilmington) plus D-I interest from NJIT, Drexel and Penn.

Nalik Veasley, a 6-6 sophomore, had 12 points and nine rebounds for Smyrna, which improved to 6-0 with the win. The Eagles led at the end of each quarter, slowly increasing their lead from four at the half to nine after three quarters and held it there for the remainder of the action.

Archbishop Ryan (3-3) was led by a 16-point, three-rebound effort from junior guard Jaquill Stone, who was joined in double figures by classmate Amin Bryant (12 points, five rebounds). Also scoring 12 points was freshman forward Taleeq Robbins, who hit three 3-pointers on six attempts.

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For recaps of the first two games of the afternoon, click here


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