10 Best: Southfield Christian vs Goodrich
This Tuesday, Southfield Christian hosted Goodrich in a game that would feature some of the state’s top guards. Southfield Christian’s own Bryce Washington and Harlond Beverly both have multiple D1 offers up to the high major level. Goodrich, on the other hand, has some of the state’s top young guards: 2020s Trell Fordham and Kevin David-Rice both have received D1 offers in addition to leading scorer Tyson Davis, who’s bursted onto the scene as one of the best freshmen in the state.
To start the game, Beverly went on a 7-0 run by himself to help Southfield Christian jump out to an early double-digit lead. However, Goodrich answered with a run of their own – the score after the first was 18-16. Southfield Christian went on another run to open the second quarter and would never look back. The game ended in a final score of 91-58, Southfield Christian. Perhaps the best 1-2 punch in the state, Beverly and Washington proved too much to handle for Goodrich, finishing with 24 and 22 points, respectively. For Goodrich, freshman Tyson Davis had a great game with 27 points.
Here are my 10 best from the game:
MVP: Harlond Beverly (2019)
Beverly set the tone with a hot start from the tip and continued his effective play throughout the game. He had 16 of his 24 points in the first half, which is relevant given the fact that the 4th quarter was casually competitive due to the blowout. A top-5 player in the 2019 class, he showed his ability to score from all three levels effectively as he knocked down multiple trey balls in addition to a couple smooth finishes at the rack.
Best Offensive Performance: Tyson Davis (2021)
Davis did all he could to give his team the win. He was solid in every aspect of the game (except for free throw shooting, perhaps). There was a stretch in the third quarter when Southfield started to really pull away where Davis got a bucket in approximately 4 straight possessions. He would finish with 27 points despite sitting the final couple minutes due to the blowout.
Best Defensive Performance: Jacob Fergan (2018)
Fergan did what he does best: play with a ton of effort and toughness. While he may not have completely dominated blocking shots or locking up 1v1, he was huge in the rebounding category. He helped Southfield limit Goodrich’s second-chance opportunities by working hard and cleaning the glass. As we all know, good defense is worthless if you can’t rebound the missed shot.
Best Shooter: Dajion Humphrey (2020)
Humphrey was Southfield’s third-leading scorer with 10 points with two threes. While this may not seem eye-popping, no other player hit more than two threes in the game except Beverly, who took more shots to get just one more make than Humphrey. He has a smooth, good-looking stroke that looks well polished – in a game where the three point shooting was spread out among all the players, he stood out as perhaps the “best shooter.”
Unsung Hero: Jacob Fergan (2018)
Fergan is key for Southfield given the role he plays. On a team with no true bigs, Fergan handles all the responsibilities in the paint including rebounding, protecting the paint and finishing around the rim. He plays tough and consistently with good energy/motor – it doesn’t matter if he gets a single shot or not. Such was the case in this game.
Best Underclassman: Tyson Davis (2021)
The youngest player on the court was arguably the best player on the court in this game. Davis was relatively unstoppable, getting to the rim and finishing at will. He also knocked down a couple trey balls to go with his finishing at the rim. Defensively he was solid as well.
Best Second-Half Player: Bryce Washington (2018)
Washington had a fairly quiet first half as he spent extended time on the bench with two fouls. The second half, however, was a different story as Washington came out firing. He scored 17 of his 22 points in the first half, 15 of which came in the third quarter. While Southfield was starting to run away with the game towards the end of the second quarter, Washington put the nail in the coffin to secure the win.
Best Handles: Caleb Hunter (2019)
I’ve made the argument that Hunter is in the conversation for best handles in the state before and would again after this game. As Southfield’s primary ball-handler, he is responsible for setting up the majority of the plays. He also runs a majority of the pick-and-roll possessions for his squad. There was a play in this game where Hunter was getting trapped in the corner and was able to dribble out of the trap while making one of the Goodrich defenders fall.
Best Player Off The Bench: Colby Wiggins (2020)
Since this game was a blowout, both teams played their bench players for the final couple minutes. In these minutes, Wiggins was able to do some damage. He showed some solid handles, an ability to shoot the three, get to the rack, as well as facilitate for his teammates. Wiggins had a couple buckets in the first quarter when things were still competitive, to go with more points in the 4th for a total of 12 points off the bench.