Five Takeaways: Hughes vs. Moeller
Friday night was a showcase for Cincinnati prep basketball with the Queen City Play by Play Classic at Princeton High School. And in the first game it was a case of big brother vs. little brother, with Moeller being the…
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Continue ReadingFriday night was a showcase for Cincinnati prep basketball with the Queen City Play by Play Classic at Princeton High School. And in the first game it was a case of big brother vs. little brother, with Moeller being the former and Hughes being the latter. And the defending state champs reminded everyone in attendance exactly why they are who they are with a very, very convincing 89-45 win over Big Red. The Crusaders had three players score in double-digits led by Bellarmine commit senior Alec Pfreim 20 points to go along with 6 rebounds and 5 assists. He was helped by West Virginia commit senior Miles McBride who finished with 15 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists in the victory.
Big Red was led by freshman phenom Paul McMillan IV who finished with 19 points in the loss. 2021 G Cameron McKenzie and 2019 G AB Harouna finished with 10 points a piece for Hughes. Here are our Five Takeaways from the action.
Five Takeaways
- As fellow PHO writer Anthony Garcia (@nthonyCgarcia on Twitter) stated Moeller is good at basketball, it’s that simple. You want to speed the pace up they can do that, want to slow the pace down they can do that. They can give it to you however you want it.
- Hughes is not nearly as bad as this score indicates, it’s just that Moeller is that good. When you lose one of the best starting fives in the state, as Coach Wyant did after last season, there is a good chance of growing pains the following season. By the time the playoffs come around Big Red will be a problem in whatever D-II bracket they end up in.
- Forward Alex Williams (2021) is another underclassman on the Crusaders that next level programs will want to start tracking. Williams was aggressive on his post-ups, finishing strong at the rim while also showing a nice touch from behind the arch. Defensively he showed an ability and willingness to switch onto smaller players and did a good job moving his feet.
- Expect this Moeller train to continue for the foreseeable future. There next two classes are stacked with talent when you think about the likes of Max Land (2020 PHO #32) and Jake Youkin (2020 PHO #29) included in the junior class and Logan Duncomb (PHO #5) and the before mentioned Alex Williams (PHO #85) among the class of 2021. There reign as the best D-I team in the state may not stop anytime soon.
- Hughes has to get more from 6’9 senior Kenny Jackson. The big man did not record a point in the contest and was not a factor defensively nor on the boards. While I am not saying that he could have carried them to a victory, he must play better as the season goes on for Hughes to be at there best.