Premier Summer Championships: Top Shooters

There was certainly no shortage of quality shooting at the Premier Summer Championships at The Hoop in Salem this past weekend. Here are some of the best that we saw that filled it up from long range.

RaeQuan Battle (2019 Marysville-Pilchuck HS/Seattle Rotary Select) - Playing on a team with the likes of Jaden McDaniels and Paolo Banchero, Battle can be overlooked - but he uses that to his advantage. He has a very quick release on the long ball and he sank plenty of threes in the four games Rotary played before leaving the tournament. Overall he shot 9-for-15 from beyond the arc, hitting 4-for-5 in two separate games. There is no question he will be a three-point threat for the Washington Huskies.

Kenny Curtis (2019 Rainier Beach HS/Seattle Rotary Select) - Curtis has played the role of three-point sniper off the bench all AAU season and that was no different this past weekend. Despite his lack of stature at 5-foot-8, he knows how to get open for shots and the way he shot it, pretty much every attempt looked like it had a chance. Overall he shot 8-for-17 from three and especially lit it up in the Rotary's first game against Deep III hitting 4-for-6.

Stevie Schlabach (2019 Tigard/Team Fly White) - As always, any list of shooters from an event will include Schlabach if he is in the building. The rising senior simply went about his business with his ability to efficiently get to spots and knock down shots with his quick release. Schlabach isn't just a standstill shooter either as he has the ability to create and pull up off the dribble.

Braeden Nowlin (2019 Dayton HS/Oregon Basketball Club Gold) - OBC Gold is essentially a team of five guards, so Nowlin's role is to spot up for kick-out threes off penetration. In the one game we saw, an upset win over the Rose City Rebels, Nowlin found himself open often and knocked 'em down, 4-for-5 from three-point range, including one four-point play. At 5-foot-7 his size may be diminuitive but his shot obviously is not.

Cole Alton (2019 Boise HS/FLITE 17U Black) - Alton has a rugged frame and an all-around game - in addition to a nice outside touch he can take it to the basket and finish at the rim - but he makes the top shooters list because he definitely filled it up from three in the two games we saw. In the team's bracket elimination game against Seattle Rotary, he knocked down five threes - all in the second half.

Andy Ford (2019 Timberline HS/FLITE 17U Black) - Ford shoots the ball - and shoots it from deep. Teams quickly learned they had to step up to guard Ford not long after he crossed the mid-court line as he was more than willing to let it fly from that range - and hit it too. In the team's final game against Rotary he sank a total of seven threes, with several of them from a few feet behind the line to compensate for his lack of stature at 5-foot-11 versus Rotary's larger guards.