10 Best: Blue Valley Northwest (60), Vashon (56)
10 Best: Blue Valley Northwest (60), Vashon (56) SPRINGFIELD — The showcase game of the Ozark Mountain Shootout hosted by Glendale High School in Springfield lived up to its billing on Saturday as Blue Valley Northwest, the top ranked team…
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Continue Reading10 Best: Blue Valley Northwest (60), Vashon (56)
SPRINGFIELD — The showcase game of the Ozark Mountain Shootout hosted by Glendale High School in Springfield lived up to its billing on Saturday as Blue Valley Northwest, the top ranked team in Kansas, held off Vashon, the top ranked team in Missouri Class 4, for a 60-56 win.
It featured everything you would imagine, from high flying dunks, to trash talk, to terrific plays and players. By our count, no less than a dozen future college players took the court with BVNWs Darien Jackson and Vashon’s Levi Stockard headlining.
Scouting report
Shawnee Mission South: These guys have to be in the conversation as one of the region’s top teams. Not only are they extremely talented, they are well coached and disciplined. Their starting five is five future college players, and they played without two significant pieces in junior guard Sam Ward and junior forward Jackson Heath.
Vashon: It’s going to take a special performance to knock Vashon off in the Class 4 state playoffs this season. They are a heavy favorite to win it all. On Saturday, they simply ran into a great team that outplayed them down the stretch. Vashon really struggled with its perimeter shot and while they finished with four 3s, they missed a lot of opportunities from behind the arc. They have a tremendous interior player in Kansas State recruit Levi Stockard, length, athleticism, great guard play in Daniel Farris, Koray Gilbert and Casey Cody-Jackson, a terrific wing player with 6’8 length in Joseph Reece, and depth that no team in the state can match. They brought a future high major recruit in Mario McKinney off the bench.
MVP: Darien Jackson (BVNW). He can really play. Jackson finished with 18 and scored in all manner, drives to the bucket, a thunderous slam, 3-pointers and mid-range jumpers. He can handle it, shoot it, lead a team and is a first-rate competitor. Jackson holds several Division I offers and it’s easy to see why.
Best offensive performance: Levi Stockard (Vashon). Tough call here because several players had good games, but Stockard was a load in the paint, putting up 20 points and coming up with a pair of impressive slams in traffic. A Kansas State recruit, Stockard is arguably the best interior player in Missouri.
Best defensive performance: Parker Braun (BVNW). A long, rangy 6’8 2018 forward, Braun did his best to hold Stockard in check. And while Stockard put up 20, trust us when we say that holding him to that number wasn’t easy. Braun needs to get stronger, but he challenged Stockard inside with his length and gave him a battle. At the offensive end, Braun has a smooth jumper that translates to the next level well.
Best shooter: JaMichael Morgan (BVNW). Again, this was tough as well as despite the high level nature of the game, not many players shot the ball especially well from the outside. Morgan made a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter that really helped give BVNW some momentum. And he had the biggest “shot” of the game. See below.
Best rebounder: Levi Stockard (Vashon). This was an easy one: Stockard was all over the glass at both ends, snagging 14 boards. He’s an animal, and even in a game with a host of high level athletes, his length and size gives him a significant advantage on the boards.
Best passer: AJ Pleasant (BVNW). One of the better point guards you’ll see at the high school level, Pleasant controls the tempo, is impossible to take the ball from and is terrific at setting up teammates. Some of the other players on BVNW get a lot of attention, for good reason, but Pleasant is a really important piece to their success.
Best underclassman: Mario McKinney (Vashon). McKinny is a high-major recruit with numerous Division I offers. He has really improved his outside shot and is now a threat to stick perimeter jumpers. He is still impressive in the open court attacking the basket, but his mid-range game has a chance to be special as he grows as a player. He gets tremendous elevation and lift on his shot, which makes it tough to challenge.
Name to remember: Kobe Clark and Armoni Ward (Vashon). Anytime you see a freshman get significant run in a game this high level, you know they have the chance to be special. Neither player really contributed much, but they were out there competing in a game that probably featured a dozen future college players. That’s significant. Clark (6’4) and Ward (6’2) are both long, rangy guards and while they weren’t asked to do a lot, they played with poise and you wouldn’t have known they were freshmen without checking the roster.
Play of the game: JaMichael Morgan’s baseline slam over a Vashon player in the third quarter brought down the house. A 6’4 2017 wing, Morgan is a high level athlete that added another impressive dunk in the fourth quarter. His first dunk was matched at the other end by Stockard, who threw down a dunk over a BVNW player with authority. Both plays were impressive.