Five Takeaways from the Jan. 11-12 weekend in NEO

<p>The weekend that was in Northeast Ohio prep basketball. Brush remained undefeated and Lorain and St. Edward did nothing to take them out of my top four NEO teams.</p> <p>Here then are the takeaways from Friday and Saturday’s games.</p> <p><strong>Lorain is more than just Devon Grant</strong></p> <p>The Titans went on the road and picked up a big win over Lake Erie League rival Cleveland Heights.</p> <p>Grant, the PG deluxe and Miami (Ohio) commit, scored 28 points for the Titans, but he received plenty of help. <strong>Taevon Pierre-Louis (2019)</strong>, an undersized point power forward, scored 12 and grabbed 12 rebounds while guard <strong>Deonte Benejan (2020)</strong> scored 15 for Lorain, which improved to 10-1. <strong>Jordan Jackson (2020) finished with 10 points.</strong></p> <p><strong>Big Night for the Big Man</strong></p> <p><strong>John Hugley IV (2020) </strong> continues to be recognized as one of the best big men in the state in the class of 2020. The 6-9 Hugley scored 27 including five 3-pointers in the Arcs 73-57 win over Kenston. Brush plays Spire on Jan. 15.</p> <p><strong>Watch out for VASJ</strong></p> <p>The Vikings have a really nice backcourt led by point guard <strong>Jaden Hameed (2021)</strong>. He scored 27 in a 95-83 win over Benedictine that improved Villa Angela-St. Joseph to 9-2. Latrace Jackson scored 16 and Graham Koppelman scored 18 for the Vikings.</p> <p><strong>Howes he doing it?</strong></p> <p>One of the more underrated players in NEO arguably is<strong> Luke Howes (2020)</strong> of Fairview. Howes lit up another opponent on Jan. 11 as he scored 35 in an 82-55 win over Lutheran West. Howes connected on six threes during his big night. He’s averaging 25.2 points per game and scored a season-high 42 points in a win over Columbia in December.</p> <p><strong>Eagles keep pace</strong></p> <p>St. Edward big man <strong>Devontae Blanton’s</strong> stock continues to be on the rise. Blanton (2020), a 6-6 junior, scored 19 points to lead the Eagles to an easy 87-64 win over rival St. Ignatius. <strong>Grant Huffman (2020)</strong> scored 17 for the Eagles.</p> <p>Warrensville Heights got a big night from its big two as it knocked off Garfield. <strong>Brandon Rush (2019</strong>), who has committed to Farleigh Dickinson, scored 33 points and <strong>Ramelle Arnold (2021)</strong>, another highly touted sophomore, scored 20 points or the Tigers, who improved to 7-3 with the win.</p> <p><strong>Brison Waller (2019)</strong>, an athletic 6-9 post player, scored 19 for Garfield. <strong>Meechie Johnson Jr. (2021)</strong> scored 19 and <strong>Sonny Johnson Jr. (2022)</strong> scored 15.</p>