I-95 Coalition Saturday AM Standout Guards

Colby Giacubeno August 15, 2020 @ 12:15 PM

It was Week 2 for the I-95 Coalition league held at The St. James in Springfield, VA. This league offers a routine slate of games with no shortage of talent from the 15-17U age groups. With two courts of action, I focused on three games for the morning slate in which these standouts will come from: New World 16U 50 vs Team Richmond 16U 47 Team Melo 16U 62 vs Team Durant 16U 55 Phily Pride 17U 71 vs Team Richmond 17U 64 Here are the standout guards from this slate. [player_tooltip player_id="990935" first="Stevie" last="Mitchell"] | 6’2 | Philly Pride ’21 Mitchell had his fingerprints all over Team Philly’s win. He went on multiple individual scoring runs and did so in just about every fashion. In transition he finished with craft against guards and high off the glass against contesting bigs. He broke his man down off the dribble to get into mid-range jumpers and knocked down catch-and-shoot three’s. Mitchell also made solid reads as a distributor finding open teammates. They didn’t always convert, but it was the right play. There’s a reason folks made a big deal when he committed to Marquette and he proved why this morning. He finished with 20 points on 9-of-16 shooting, seven rebounds and three assists Collin Smith | 6’2 | Team Richmond ’22<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2020/08/Collin-Smith-rotated.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1034778 alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2020/08/Collin-Smith-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" /></a> Smith handled the ball for Team Richmond, who seemed to be very skinny at the point guard position. Smith is a 6-foot-2 lefty who won’t provide much flash or athletic finishes, but he’s a heady point guard who handles the ball well against pressure. Multiple time he would bait his defender into fouls and once getting them on his hip, would attack the basket for strong lay ups. He sees the floor well in ball-screen actions even to weakside corner shooters.Smith contributed in multiple ways as shown by his stat line of nine points, six rebounds and five assists. [player_tooltip player_id="777090" first="Kyle" last="Gaskins"] | 6’0 | New World ’22 Gaskins is no stranger to filling up the scoring column and he reminded us this morning. He nailed the game-winning three as time expired to finish with 18 points and six rebounds. The 6-foot guard has a quick first step where he takes advantage of driving lanes and finished with both hands. Gaskins had a couple of occasions where he pulled up in the mid-range and converted. He also provided good energy defensively pressuring the ball without fouling. Keishawn Pulley | 6’2 | Team Richmond ’22 Provided the outside shooting that Team Richmond needed. Most of his makes came off of transition where he filled the lane and got into rhythm off solid finds from Smith. The 6-foot-2 guard finished with 11 points and four rebounds while many of his buckets were in a timely manner late in the game for Team Richmond. [player_tooltip player_id="837919" first="Tyson" last="Commander"] | 6’3 | Team Melo ’22 As usual, Commander made his presence felt from three early on and forced Durant to put their tall, longer defenders on him to contest shots. In the second half he operated more off the bounce where he got into the paint and found cutting teammates. He’s a player that must be accounted for at all times whether it be transition or half court play. Commander scored 16 points and knocked down four of his seven looks from deep in the win. [player_tooltip player_id="904663" first="Rob" last="Lawson"] | 6’0 | Team Durant ’22 Lawson pushed the pace for Team Durant and took advantage of driving lanes. He’s a quick-twitch slippery guard who knows how to finish at the basket and took good control of the floor as a point guard. Durant struggled to score the ball as a team, but along with ’22 [player_tooltip player_id="904624" first="Christian" last="Watson"], Lawson was the other main scorer as he finished with 10 points.