Recruiting report: Hezekiah Goodwin (2016)
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — You simply won’t find many tougher competitors than Raytown South 2016 guard Hezekiah Goodwin. At 5-foot-10, Goodwin has been hampered throughout his high school career by injury. He missed nearly all of his junior season due to…
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Continue ReadingINDEPENDENCE, Mo. — You simply won’t find many tougher competitors than Raytown South 2016 guard Hezekiah Goodwin.
At 5-foot-10, Goodwin has been hampered throughout his high school career by injury. He missed nearly all of his junior season due to injury, then was out the first semester of his senior season due to a slightly torn meniscus in his knee.
In a testament to his toughness, he is playing through the injury in 2016 and on Saturday, he showed off a deep shooting range, the ability to drive and make plays, and toughness and intensity that is rare in the high school game.
Goodwin went scoreless in the first quarter against Grandview in a Class 4 District 14 championship game, but scored eight points in the second quarter, including a buzzer beater from 30 feet.
“Those shots I took, I feel like I had to,” he said. “I am glad I knocked them in. I was practicing them yesterday, all day.
“I just want to go hard and want to do everything in the game to get our team to a win. That is what I do every time.
“(The district championship) means a lot. It is gonna put Raytown South back on the map.”
Not only did Goodwin score 25 points over the final three quarters, but relished a matchup at 5-foot-10 against Grandview’s leading scorer, 6-foot-5 wing Tyrese Davis. The two players went toe-to-toe with each getting the better of the other at times.
But it was Goodwin who came up with a pair of critical steals, taking the ball away from Davis late in the game to help turn the momentum and spark a Raytown South comeback.
After one of those steals, Goodwin went in for a breakaway layup, which Davis blocked off the glass and Goodwin went down in a heap on the baseline with severe cramps with just a few minutes to play. He left the game, only to return to help Raytown South pull out its second district title in as many years.
“He plays with a lot of passion,” Raytown South head coach Aaron Ihm said. “We didn’t have them for the first quarter of the year. He has made a huge change in our team. He pays with such a passion, it is fun. We got to reign him in sometimes, but him and Jabril Cox have been great leaders and just carried us. I wouldn’t trade him for anybody.”
Goodwin didn’t play AAU basketball, and says he doesn’t have any offers and hasn’t even drawn much interest from any colleges at this point. But that might change soon, according to his coach.
“He got hurt last year for a while and he got hurt this year for a while,” Ihm said. “He is going to be one of those guys that a lot of (colleges) will come onto late.”