The Closed Session: Day II stock-boosters

<table style="width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: #ededed;"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="width: 100%; text-align: center;">[player_tooltip player_id="1015862" first="LJ" last="Gurley"] | 5’11" G | Choctaw (OK) ’21</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p>The shifty guard displayed fortitude, resilience and a rise-to-the-occasion fervor Saturday. Gurley’s on-ball talents were the focal point of his offensive game, while it was his adherence to ball-handlers that helped him defensively. With the rock in his hands, Gurley was able to make magic happen as he sank shots, converted on acrobatic finishes near the rim, passed with precision and more. Defensively, he was a nightmare of a matchup for numerous opposing players, many of whom ended up on the wrong end of a turnover forced by Gurley.</p> <table style="width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: #ededed;"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="width: 100%; text-align: center;">[player_tooltip player_id="745373" first="PJ" last="Johnson"] | 6’1" G | Casady (OK) ’21</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p>Johnson’s range-boosting, defense-stretching shooting desaturated opposing schemes on the perimeter, but they also helped Johnson’s case in the recruiting business. It’s no secret that Johnson, a member of Team Griffin’s 2019 E16 Championship squad, has typically been resigned to a subservient role in his spot on TG’s roster, but he was as ready as ever to make a mark Saturday -- and it wasn’t his shooting alone that helped him. Johnson also played with uncanny precision on the defensive side of the ball and excelled with limiting and thieving from ball-handlers of the highest caliber in the <del>region</del> nation.</p> <table style="width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: #ededed;"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="width: 100%; text-align: center;">Trent Pierce | 6’6" F | Union (OK) ’23</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p>Man. Pierce has the potential to be a <em>special </em>athlete. It only became clearer and clearer that Pierce prides himself not only in his athletic prowess, but his multi-talentedness on the hardwood. He shot the ball from deep with unprecedented accuracy, felt the game from the post and made keen decisions with the ball, competed for rebounds, and everything in-between. In relation to <em>most</em> of his contemporaries in the Oklahoma sophomore class, Pierce is well ahead of the curve in development, and his pairing of frame and skill may just put him in some surprising conversations next year. </p>