Recruiting Report: Alex Chen (2016)
Five games into Alex Chen’s senior season at Model High School in Richmond, the Patriots are still looking to work some kinks out, he said. But Chen’s play in the post has helped Model along in the early going. Listed…
Access all of Prep Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingFive games into Alex Chen’s senior season at Model High School in Richmond, the Patriots are still looking to work some kinks out, he said.
But Chen’s play in the post has helped Model along in the early going.
Listed at 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, Chen is the Patriots’ second-leading scorer at 17.6 points per game and leads Model on the glass, with 11.8 rebounds a night.
“I feel like we’re doing pretty good,” Chen said. “We’ve had our ups and downs, but we’re still trying to figure things out.”
Chen, connecting on 55.1 percent of his field goals on the season, complements senior guard Ephraim Otieno (24.4 ppg) down low.
“I feel like my strength is rebounding and low-post scoring,” Chen said.
And defensively?
“I’m mostly guarding (opponents’) best post player,” Chen said. “I can step out and guard (away from the basket) if I need to, but my coach (Wes Scarberry) mainly asks me to guard their best post player.”
Chen doesn’t have any offers yet, he said, to play at the next level.
“I’m just waiting to see what happens (in my senior year),” Chen said.
Chen knows he isn’t overly big as college post players go, so he’s working on turning that into a potential advantage.
“Since I’m a shorter post player, I’m trying to work on ballhandling and my jump shot a little bit,” he said.
Model (2-3) participates in the ultra-competitive Lexington-based 11th Region, typically making life difficult in the postseason, but the Patriots believe they can make some noise in the region All “A” Classic, Chen said.
“Our coach always asks us to play hard, and we really think that we can do some stuff this year,” he said, “especially in the All ‘A.’”
Off the floor, Chen was selected to Tom Leach’s 2015 All-Resilient Team. After missing his freshman year with a knee injury, he lost his mother to pancreatic cancer, according to the release, and helps care for a brother with Down’s Syndrome.