St. Vincent-St. Mary meet-up with Lorain at PBP Classic is a reunion

Michael Fitzpatrick

January 5, 2019 @ 10:16 AM

Former teammates who tore it up on the youth basketball circuit will renew acquaintances on Sunday, Jan. 6 when Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary meets Lorain at 3 p.m. at Elyria Catholic High as part of the Hopskip 11th Annual Play-By-Play Classic. Seth Wilson of St. V, one of the top 10 players in the state in the class of 2021 returns to Lorain County to take on highly-touted and undefeated Lorain. Lorain starters Devon Grant and Taevon Pierre-Louis as well as Jordan Jackson, Kam Davis and Aaron Whitehead all played with Seth when they were kids growing up in and around Lorain. St. V (6-2) is coming off a nice win over Garfield at a holiday tournament and Wilson is averaging around 15 a game for the Irish and is getting looks from many Division I schools. He went to 7th and 8th grade at a middle school in Westlake and he and his family currently live in Westlake and Seth commutes daily to St. Vincent-St. Mary. The group started playing in tournaments when Wilson was in first grade and Grant, AKA Tae Tae, and Pierre-Louis, AKA Dae Dae, were in the third grade. The youth team was coached by parents of many of the current Lorain players including, Donovan Wilson, who is Seth’s father. He helped run the program until the players all graduated to middle school, said Donovan, and it was a time he’ll always remember fondly. “They thought we were crazy taking kids from (out of the city and) taking them out of state to play. Everyone thought we were nuts, like, what are you doing?” the older Wilson said. Statewide, Lorain has been amongst the most exciting teams to watch on the floor thus far this early season. They scored between 80 and into the 90s on multiple occasions. Grant, a point guard, who just recently signed with Miami, is scoring at a blistering clip of 28.3 points per game. The Titans (8-0) also have a very good junior guard <stDeonte Benejan, who transferred from New York and is averaging 16.4 ppg, while Pierre-Louis is averaging 16.3 ppg., an six rebounds a game. St. V will run out a slew of D-I level talent, with sophomore small forward Malaki Branham, who at 6-5, is developing rapidly. He’s developed a nice outside shot and has been more aggressive going to the basket. The Irish also have senior Lunden McDay, who at 6-3 is headed to Ohio and has a very well-rounded game as he can shoot it off the dribble-and-catch, get to the basket and rebound.