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Donofrio Classic Report: Wednesday, April 8

04/09/2015, 1:30am EDT

By Jeff Neiburg, Tom Reifsnyder

DeAndre Hunter drives to the rim. (Photo: Mark Jordan)

Tom Reifsnyder (@tom_reifsnyder) &
Jeff Neiburg (@Jeff_Neiburg)
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Here’s a report from Donofrio Classic action at the Fellowship House (515 Harry St., Conshohocken) on Wednesday, April 8:

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Game One: Team Philly 94, WE R1 68
The game got a little ugly at the end, with Team Philly’s Mike Watkins (2015/Phelps) and WE R1’s Nysier Brooks (2016/Life Center) being ejected after both teams came together in a brief late-game skirmish. But at that point, the game was well in hand and Team Philly was putting the finishing touches on a dominant performance yet again. Samir Doughty (2015/MCS) led the way for Team Philly with 20 points. Wagner commit Devin Liggeons (2015/Imhotep) added 18, future FIU guard Kimar Williams (2015/Constitution) tallied 14 and Watkins and Devon Goodman (2016/Germantown Academy) each had 13. Trey Duval (2017/St. Benedict’s) led WE R1 with 21 points while Quade Green (2017/Neumann-Goretti) added 18.

Game Two: Raw Sports 116, Waterview Triple Threat 77
This one was a complete blowout from the very beginning as Raw Sports jumped all over Triple Threat in the first half, leading by 30-plus points at the break. Raw Sports’ Lonnie Walker (2017/Reading HS) put on an absolute clinic from behind the arc, knocking down four of his game-high five triples and scoring 22 of his 27 points through the first 20 minutes. Milik Gantz (2015/Bishop McDevitt) led Raw Sports in scoring with a game-high 28 points while Jahaad Proctor (2015/Harrisburg) and Caesar Dejesus (2015/Impact Academy) poured in 21 and 20 respectively. David Beatty (2017/Archbishop Carroll) led the way for Triple Threat with 23 points, followed by DeAndre Hunter (2016/Friends’ Central) who tallied an even 20. Malik Jackson (2015/Penn Wood) was the only other player in double-figures for Triple Threat with 11.

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April much different for Hunter in 2015
A year ago around this time, 6-foot-7 Friends’ Central wing DeAndre Hunter should have been gearing up for a crucial live recruiting period as his Philly Pride group was playing out in Pittsburgh at the Under Armor Association tournament at the Pitt Jam Fest.

But the talented high-major target was still recovering from a broken left tibia.

This year, as the first April live recruiting period looms this weekend, Hunter is as healthy as ever coming off of a 20 ppg year in the Friends League.

“I feel like I’m actually ready for this live period,” Hunter said. “Last live period [in July] I was just coming off of injury and couldn’t really play as best as I could. It will be a different me this year.”

Hunter already has a slew of offers to his name, with the likes of Oklahoma State, North Carolina State and Penn State leading the way in terms of ‘high-major’ suitors. Temple, Saint Joseph’s, La Salle and Rhode Island have also extended scholarship offers.

With a healthy Hunter hitting the AAU circuit this summer, that list is bound to grow as he heads toward his senior year of high school.

“I’m just going to go out there and play my game. Whatever happens, happens,” Hunter said.

Hunter tallied 20 points in Wednesday’s action, showing off a versatile skill set. But that was only a warm up for what this weekend has in store. His Philly Pride 17U team will be heading to New Orleans Thursday for the UAA tournament.

“I heard it’s warm,” joked Hunter, who’s never been to New Orleans.

He’s looking forward to showing off for college coaches all the areas he’s improved in over the last year.

“I feel like I got faster, got stronger,” Hunter said. “I just tried to do the little things to help [Friends’ Central] win. We had a pretty solid season.”

“I still have to get stronger, work on my hops, dribbling, shooting, everything.”

Warren looking to prove athleticism, pick up first offer
Josh Warren and Downingtown West took the Ches-Mont League by storm this past season as the Whippets won the league championship en route to a 24-6 record and a top 40 state rank.

Warren, who starred alongside fellow junior Ryan Betley, had his way with the majority of the defenders that drew his matchup this season. But the 6-foot-9, 220-pound power forward knows this summer will be a bit different, to say the least.

“I've just got to get used to the different pace,” Warren said. “The kids are a lot bigger, faster, stronger...so just adjusting to that different tempo is what I've got to do.”

Another adjustment that Warren will have to make this summer regards his playing time. Although he’s accustomed to playing starter’s minutes at West, he’ll have to work hard to carve out his role on a talented WE R1 roster that features a frontcourt of high-major prospects like Sedee Keita (2016/22 Feet Academy, S.C.) and Nysier Brooks (2016/Life Center Academy, N.J.).

“I feel like I’m going to need to be an energy player, high energy all the time, and be a post threat,” Warren said. “We got a lot of big guys that have their own skills but we need some post scoring so I feel like that’s an area that I can help in.”

Warren, who currently possesses no collegiate offers, is well aware of how important this summer is to his recruitment. He mentions Boston University and Holy Cross as the main Patriot League schools expressing interest, in addition to three Ivy League schools: Princeton, Penn, and Columbia.

With his first live-period tournament coming up this weekend in New Orleans, Warren is out to prove that he’s more than just a talented big.

“I actually got to prove my athleticism ‘cause that’s an area that I’ve been told I need to improve on,” he said. “So I just need to prove that I’ve worked on it, I got more athletic, and I’ll be fine from there.”

Warren knows the competition will be fierce this summer, but he’s excited to see how it will impact he and Betley’s performance at Downingtown West next season.

“It definitely helps,” he said. “Like I was saying, the pace is so much different that when we get back to Downingtown it’s almost like a completely different kind of basketball.

“And if we’re used to bigger, faster, stronger kids, we’ll be able to dominate.”

Koby Thomas talks Imhotep transfer, big summer ahead
After helping Mastery Charter North make the quarterfinals of the PIAA Class AA state playoffs in the program’s first-ever time in the tournament, sophomore wing Koby Thomas announced last week that he’d be transferring to Imhotep Charter for his junior year.

The 6-foot-5, 180-pound Thomas, who will play with Team Philly’s 17U team this summer, said the opportunity to win was a big reason. Imhotep was this year’s Public League champion and made it all the way to the AAA state semi’s before losing to eventual champion, Neumann-Goretti.

“They win a lot, obviously,” Thomas said of Imhotep. “I come from a school where we really don’t win much. We had a good little run. I’m trying to have my own little run and make some history myself in the Pub. I want a championship.”

Thomas said the season he and his teammates had at Mastery was fun, and something that was great for the school.

“It was good because it put the school on the map and just showed people that it doesn’t matter who you are or who you play with,” Thomas said. “All you need to do is hustle.”

He’ll get the chance to do a lot of hustling next season, as Imhotep already features one of the area’s top guards in fellow sophomore point guard Daron Russell.

“He’s a real cool guy,” Thomas said. “I have a lot of classes with him and I’m going to love playing with him. He’s fast in transition. When he finds me, there’s gonna be a lot of dunks.”

Thomas had a ferocious dunk of his own at Wednesday’s Donofrio Classic, finishing off an alley oop from another Pub point guard, Constitution senior Kimar Williams in Team Philly’s rout.

A superb athlete, Thomas should have plenty of schools jumping in the mix on his recruiting trail throughout the summer.

Gantz feeling confident after strong junior season
Kobe Gantz and J.P. McCaskey High School were a force to be reckoned with this season, going 23-11 and making it all the way to the PIAA Class AAAA semifinals before being knocked out by eventual champion Roman Catholic.

Gantz led the Red Tornado in scoring at 17.8 points per game and gave Roman all they could handle in the final game of his junior season, scoring 26 points in a 69-66 loss.

Coming off an exceptional high school campaign, Gantz is ready to carry his breakout year straight into the summer.

“It’s a confidence booster going into the summer,” Gantz said of his successful junior season with McCaskey. “Playing with a different team now I have to get involved and get in where I fit in. It’s going to be a process but it’s going to be good for me.”

Gantz claims to have received interest from a handful of area schools, including La Salle, Drexel, Temple and St. Joseph’s. And he also has “a lot more coaches coming down” to his first live-period tournament in New Orleans this weekend.

At this stage of his recruiting process, he claims to have no preference when it comes to choosing a school.

“I just want to go to college for free, get my education, that’s all,” he said.

As far as his AAU team, Philly Pride, is concerned, Gantz feels similarly, claiming to be open to “anything” in regards to his role.

“I pretty much do whatever the coach needs me to do,” he said. “If he wants me to be a point guard, I’ll do that. If he wants me to score, I can do that.

“It doesn’t really matter to me. I’ll do anything.”

Gantz’s cousin Milik, a senior at Bishop McDevitt, is also participating in the Donofrio Classic. In fact, Milik scored a game-high 28 points to help Raw Sports defeat Triple Threat in tonight’s quarterfinal matchup.

Milik is just months away from graduation, but Gantz is still unsure of his cousin’s future plans at the moment.

“I have no idea,” he said. “He’s been taking a lot of visits lately to a bunch of different schools. Hopefully I could see him go to a school and get to watch his games sometime.”

Gantz originally planned on teaming up with his cousin on Raw Sports, but opted to play with Triple Threat in Donofrio to “get the chemistry down” for AAU season with teammates DeAndre Hunter, Stevie Jordan , LaPri McCray-Pace and David Beatty.