City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- The first-ever Hoop Group Atlantic City Jam Fest took over the AC Convention Center this weekend, with 14 courts hosting teams from 14U through 17U for a weekend-long tournament that also serves as the championship for the Hoop Group Summer League.

Here’s a notebook featuring content from showcase games on Friday night and Saturday morning/early afternoon:

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Caleb Matthews (2019/Mt. Zion Prep, Md.)

One of the top players in the First State the last couple years as a standout guard at Smyrna (Del.), Matthews found that Division I scholarships were just out of his reach. Despite winning the Gatorade Player of the Year award for Delaware, the only schools to offer scholarships were high-level D-IIs.

But once he made the decision after his senior season ended to take a prep year at Mt. Zion, it didn’t take long for that first D-I offer to come in.

“As soon as I announced prep, the next day, NJIT [offered],“ Matthews said. “They had been recruiting me since the first day they could contact me, so they said if I took a prep year, your offer’s on the table.”

It also didn’t take long for NJIT to have company, as both Binghamton and then Virginia Military Institute also offered the 6-foot-3 point guard during the April live periods. All like his size at the lead guard position, his strong outside shooting ability and general on-court presence, playing at a collegiate tempo and making plays all over the floor.

So now, running with the Jersey Force on the AAU circuit this summer, Matthews is trying to soak up a few more looks -- but even if he doesn’t, he’s already achieved his goal.

“Last summer, I felt like I was forcing a lot of stuff,” he said. “Just because the weight is lifted off my shoulders, I can just go out here and play, I don’t have to worry about scoring all the points, I can go out here and play my game...the pressure’s off me now.”

Matthews said he intends on making his commitment this fall and signing in the early period in November, so he can focus on getting stronger and physically ready for college during his prep year at Mt. Zion. But before that, he’ll have

He recently visited both Binghamton and NJIT unofficially, and plans on seeing VMI at some point this fall; the rest of his visits will be determined if any other offers come in over the next few weeks. Though Matthews didn’t mention any other schools that had specifically said in touch, Jersey Force coach Joe Stein said schools like Drexel, Delaware, Siena, FDU and others had promised to come watch during this month.

Matthews said that the military aspect of VMI is “something he’d have to look at,” but his two non-military options are plenty intriguing enough.

“Love both the schools, both of them,” he said. “It’s going to be a hard choice when I decide, because I love both of those schools, both of them feel like family...VMI seems the same way too, just talking with the coach.”

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Ryan Ems (2019/Eastern, N.J.)

Before Ems even saw the campus of the University of Scranton — actually saw it, that is — he already had a strange notion about the school.

“Like two years ago I looked up a virtual tour, and I just had a gut feeling that was the place,” the 6-7 forward said. “I saw the facilities for the PT [physical therapy] and that really, like…I really wanted to go there.

“I just started talking to them over the [last] two years, and recently I just knew going into the live period it would be a lot of pressure off, knowing that I could just play basketball and go to a school I really want to go to for physical therapy.”

Ems became quite possibly the first Division III commitment for the 2019 class last week, Tweeting out that he had decided on attending Scranton next fall. He’d been hearing from a variety of other D-III types as well, including Gettysburg, Arcadia, Ithaca and Ursinus, but to Ems none felt like Scranton.

Scranton’s physical therapy program, was clearly a major part of his decision, and Ems said a career as a physical therapist was something he’s been seriously interested in for the last two years. He’s already dealt with several major injuries in his high school career, including an arm issue before his sophomore year of high school, and a pelvic avulsion fracture — where the hamstring actually pulls a piece of bone away from the leg — a year prior.

“I’m thankful for the PTs that I’ve had that have helped me get back to playing the game I loved,” Ems said, giving special credit to Nick Nolan and Dan Pinto at Breakthru PT in South Jersey. “I’ve known for about two years I wanted to; I’ve been doing observations at PT places around my town, so I’ve known for a while.”

Technically, Ems still has to be admitted to Scranton, whose application period officially opens Sep. 1. But he’s confident he’ll be admitted to the PT program, which allows students to apply directly into the seven-year doctoral program instead of having to re-apply after four years.

Until then, he’ll be finishing out his summer with the SJ Hoops Elite AAU program before heading into his senior year at Eastern, where he’ll be a key player yet again on a team that won 20 games and advanced to the South Jersey Group 4 semifinals this spring.

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John McCoy (2019/Tilton School, N.H.)

After missing almost all of his junior season with a stress fracture in his back, McCoy made up for it as a senior, helping lead the way as Mansfield High School (Mass.) capture its first state championship in school history. For his efforts -- including 18 points and 11 rebounds in the state title game -- he was named MVP of the Hockomock League, and also received honors from the Boston Globe.

Just a couple months later, he’s accomplished another impressive feat -- Division I commit. McCoy jumped on his first and only D-I offer, giving Delaware head coach Martin Ingelsby his pledge on Independence Day.

The offer had first come during the April live periods, when the second-year UDel head coach had grown intrigued by McCoy’s 6-5, 180-pound frame and shooting ability with the Middlesex Magic AAU program.

“Two weeks ago I went down on a visit to the campus, I loved it,” McCoy said. “The assistant coaches, coach Corey [McCrae], coach [Bill] Phillips and of course coach Ingelsby, we just kind of clicked and I felt at home there, so I said to myself I can see myself spending the next four years here and that’s why I jumped the gun.”

McCoy had one other scholarship offer at the time of his commitment, from D-II Pace (N.Y.), with interest from several Ivy League programs and a bunch of D-II NE-10 schools. A chance to play in the Colonial Athletic Association under the former Notre Dame assistant presented a substantial step forward.

“I just wanted to take some of the pressure off, now I can just go out and play my game,” he said. “I just thought to myself, I don’t think I’m going to get a better offer than Delaware.”

McCoy is the first commitment for Delaware’s 2019 class. Before he gets there, he’ll spend a prep year at the Tilton School (N.H.), where he’ll follow in the footsteps of his cousin, Ryan Layman, now a sophomore at Bryant. While prepping, McCoy said he wants to work on his body and strength, and also “a little bit” on academics.

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Quick Hits

-- Teammates on both the AAU circuit as well as at high school, Babatunde Ajike and Uche Okafor helped power Team Speed to a 47-45 win over DC Premier Black on Friday night in a non-HGSL showcase game. The two rising seniors at Camden Catholic, whose story was told terrifically by Philadelphia Inquirer’s Phil Anatasia in a March feature story combined for 23 points in the win, which saw both teams struggle to get much flow going in a foul-heavy contest.

Both the 6-5 Ajike and 6-7 Okafor are scholarship-level prospects. Okafor has one offer, from Delaware State, where former Camden Catholic and Team Speed player Demola Onifade will be a senior this fall; Team Speed assistant Dr. Earl Pearsall, Okafor’s guardian, cited interest from several Ivy League schools as well as high-academic D-III programs who were interested in Okafor. Ajike’s lone scholarship offer at this point is from USciences, but he’s got D-I interest from the likes of Boston U and Holy Cross.

Also holding a scholarship offer is Haddonfield (N.J.) point guard Mike DePersia, a 5-11 point guard, who picked up a USciences offer last week; he’s also hearing from several other D-II and D-III programs, including Rowan, where his older brothers Rob and Nick DePersia will be seniors this fall.

-- PK Flash picked up two key wins, one each on Friday and Saturday, to make a nice jump up the HGSL standings before bracket play began on Saturday evening. With only 16 of the 24 HGSL teams qualifying for the top bracket, the western PA-based program began the tournament near the cut line but moved safely away from it by beating Metro Boston to open their weekend before downing the Jersey Shore Warriors 63-52 on Saturday morning to approach the top half of the standings.

Leading the way in both games was Greater Latrobe (Pa.) 2019 Reed Fenton, a 6-4, 170-pound wing who was all over the court for the Flash. Against the Warriors, Fenton went for 19 points and five rebounds, hitting three 3-pointers and all sorts of tough pull-up jumpers, coming up with a couple assists and steals to boot. Drake, NJIT and Navy had already offered Fenton, who added one from Dartmouth on Saturday; he said he’s hearing from Holy Cross, American, Princeton and Penn; he also was on Iowa’s campus during a recent visit where he also saw Drake.

Fenton’s certainly not the only scholarship level on the team. Also enjoying a strong two games was big man Ethan Porterfield, a 6-8, 220-pound forward from Sharon (Pa.), who knocked down multiple 3-point shots in both outings while also battling tough on the glass against Jersey Shore forward Kyle Young, a Division I recruit. D-II Walsh (Ohio) has already offered Porterfield, who had further interest from D-IIs Seton Hill and West Liberty heading into the weekend but might find himself with some D-Is poking around if he continues to stretch the floor and play tough around the rim. Wing Thomas Melonja (Lincoln Park), and guards Dan Petcash (Pine-Richland) and Bryce Butler (Greater Latrobe) are all scholarship-level as well.