Scouting Reports: Albany vs. Parkview Baptist/St. Helena (Video)
Albany Hornets Albany is a young team that has been busy through the early part of the season and I got a chance to check them out in their second game against St. Helena (video) and their last game of…
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Albany is a young team that has been busy through the early part of the season and I got a chance to check them out in their second game against St. Helena (video) and their last game of the Doyle Tournament against Parkview Baptist (video) before the Thanksgiving break on November 22.
2017 G Sean Sykes lit up both teams scoring 31 and 33 points and he also had 39 in the opener against Lakeshore. The 6-foot-1 guard continues to score at a high clip and joined the 1,000-point club during last year’s playoff game against Lusher.
Albany had a trio of seniors around Sykes last year but the Hornets will need every point the senior can produce in 2016-17. He has a versatile scoring repertoire that includes consistent range beyond the 3-point line, a strong midrange game, speed, quickness and ball handling that allow him to get in the lane and keen concentration around the rim.
Sykes also shows a knack for seeing passing lanes but his intangibles may be what separate him the most. No one competes harder than Sykes on both ends and his will to win is evident in every game. He scored 14 in the fourth quarter to bring Albany back against St. Helena in a 77-71 victory and had 22 in the second half against Parkview Baptist to help erase a 41-28 halftime deficit.
Sykes will have Albany in contention for the District 7-3A title and he’s also getting some help from 2019 6-foot-1 G Damien Mcalister and 2019 F Tyler Quamme.
Parkview Baptist Eagles
I got a glimpse of Parkview Baptist against Albany and the Eagles have a solid collection of kids. 2017 6-foot-3 G Griffin Tiede shot the lights out draining 7 3-pointers in a 23-point performance. He was most effective as a set shooter burying most of his shots on the wings and 2018 PG Jag Guidroz was the set-up man more times than not.
The shifty 5-foot-6 Guidroz showed off a tight handle and also finished with 8 points. 2017 6-foot-3 W/F Kevin Smith followed Tiede in scoring with 20 and did most of his damage in the paint. 2018 G De’Marius Shropshire had 8 points, which included the game-winning layup just before time expired in the game after a miss by Sykes on the previous possession.
Parkview Baptist won all three of its games in the Doyle Tournament against Springfield (52-43), Albany (70-68) and Doyle (60-26) after losing its first two games against St. Paul’s (81-63) and Hammond (65-61).
St. Helena Hawks
St. Helena is far from a traditional basketball power and the Hawks are hoping to put together a respectable season. They’re not off to a great start towards achieving that goal, however, and are 0-4 so far this season but two of those losses were only by six points to Independence, 61-55, and Albany, 77-71.
2017 6-foot G Tyrone Burton and 2018 5-foot-11 G Kedron Martin are the team’s top two players and both have had big games this season. Burton put in 25 against Albany and the sharpshooting Martin had 24 against both the Hornets and Amite draining a total of 7 3-pointers in the two games.