2020 Grantham Holiday Classic: home-school favorites

<p><b>Jaedon Eddens | 2022 OKC Storm C</b></p> <p>Eddens was on major cleanup duty for Storm, and he was excellent within his role.</p> <p>The 6-foot-4-inch Eddens rebounded competitively, and he was often tasked with guarding a taller or even stronger player..</p> <p>Offensively, the junior post scored 6 points in the fourth quarter in an effort to close the Storm deficit against Destiny. Though Storm was not triumphant, Eddens stepped up in big ways as a post scorer.</p> <hr /> <p><b>[player_tooltip player_id="931234" first="Elijah" last="Mason"] | 2021 HFC Warriors F</b></p> [caption id="attachment_1012168" align="alignright" width="300"]<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2020/07/Xavier-Alexander-Swarm-Elite-17U-_-Elijah-Mason.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1012168" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2020/07/Xavier-Alexander-Swarm-Elite-17U-_-Elijah-Mason-300x214.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="214" /></a> [player_tooltip player_id="931234" first="Elijah" last="Mason"] (Clare Reynolds/Prep Hoops).[/caption] <p>Mason notched 32 points and eight rebounds in a win against Jones Tuesday morning before turning around to play another game against Casady.</p> <p>The senior forward has diversified, solidified and polished his craft over the past couple years to the point where there is not much he isn’t capable of. His frame is solid, but not hefty, and he has great mobility for the power that comes with it.</p> <p>Mason can shoot the ball pretty well, also, but he is no stranger to taking it on the dribble and putting on a skinny maneuver to get the edge on defenders. With his back to the bucket, he is just as competent with spins, shakes and turn-arounds in his arsenal.</p> <p>Defensively, perhaps, Mason lends the most benefits. He is a tenacious shot-blocker, with great iQ for the game and anchoring skills to truly be a centerpiece for score-stopping.</p> <hr /> <p><b>[player_tooltip player_id="1036989" first="Jawan" last="Mukes"] | 2021 OKC Storm PG</b></p> <p>I really, really like the way the ball comes out of this kids’ hands.</p> <p>Mukes is legitimately a double-digit-assist type of player, and he has the ability, vision and eye discipline to flick the ball about his teammates in transition with ease. He is no stranger to drawing defenders near him before giving up a precise, accurate rocket down-court to an open cutter.</p> <p>And that is not all the senior guard can do.</p> <p>Mukes was impressive in an 11-point performance Tuesday afternoon against Destiny in which he finished very well at the rim, got to the free-throw line, helped teammates and pieced together a great performance in a tight loss.</p> <p>Defensively, he pursued and pressured passed to his man, picking off a quarter-dozen interceptions (and he was in the middle of as many more thieveries). Just as impressive, Mukes recorded a double-double by grabbing 10 boards for Storm.</p> <p>Mukes is like one of those guys you play against at the rec. center that just infuriates you with his speedy, efficient and mistake-adverse play-making skills.</p> <hr /> <p><b>Craylin Liberty | 2022 OKC Storm SG</b></p> <p>A pleasant find from Casady’s tournament was Liberty, a quick and shifty guard who is just as wired to score as he is clever with the ball in his hands..</p> <p>He has a very, very solid handle with a near-perfect hesitation move, and creating separation was truly the easy part of the equation for Liberty. He has great speed to him, but more importantly, his stop-and-go out of breaks set him apart from competition.</p> <p>The junior equaled Mukes with 11 points in the loss to Destiny as he finished quite well at the rack. He also passed the ball pretty well, and though he only finished the game with one assist, he had a half-dozen or so passes that set his teammates up for great scoring opportunities (some that resulted in missed shots, some that put them at the free-throw line).</p> <p>A bulk of Storm’s early plays were give-and-goes; plays set up for Liberty to score, which should tell you the type of player he is to have that level of trust from coach Jon Ellis.</p> <p>I also really liked the tempo he played with to push the ball down the court, oftentimes outpacing set defenders for an easy path to the rim in transition.</p>