Newark 39 @ Worthington Christian 44 Recap

<p>In the most intense game of the season for myself, Worthington Christian advanced to 6-0 on the season by grinding out a victory over the [player_tooltip player_id="919013" first="Kade" last="Bafford"] less Newark Wildcats. Despite not having their senior leader, Newark at times looked suffocating defensively in the half-court. Worthington Christian eventually used their zone defense to force live-ball turnovers to start transition opportunities. This game had a lot of emotion from both sides of fans and both teams have a lot of upperclassmen, it was refreshing to see a game where you could tell both teams really wanted to win and fought in the fourth quarter for it. Here were the top performers from the game</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="809594" first="DJ" last="Moore"], 6’3 PG Worthington Christian 2022: Moore looked like a high-major prospect on Thursday night. Morre was unbelievable as he controlled the game offensively and took great care of the basketball. He’s becoming more confident putting defenders on skates as he caused two defenders to almost fall and another few times defenders were sliding around the court. Moore is one of the top prospects in the state and looked like it with this magnificent performance, showing great growth from last season with his self-creation and outside scoring.</p> [caption id="attachment_954160" align="alignright" width="300"]<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2020/03/Drew-Ballinger.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-954160" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2020/03/Drew-Ballinger-300x196.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="196" /></a> [player_tooltip player_id="919039" first="Drew" last="Ballinger"] had an impressive performance on Thursday night on the road without his senior point guard.[/caption] <p>[player_tooltip player_id="919039" first="Drew" last="Ballinger"], 6’3 SF Newark 2021: Ballinger works well in the Newark offensive system, being shot-ready off ball from 3-point range. Ballinger provides decent size off-ball and the lefty is patient with the basketball. Newark plays an offense centered around ball movement, which helps Ballinger who is best utilized moving off-ball instead of isolation situations. If a small college program is looking for a wing shooter with size who is coming from a high-school program that gets kids ready to compete at a college program then Ballinger is your guy.</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="967135" first="Elijah" last="Hinton"], 6’6 C Newark 2021: Hinton dominated on the interior in this one, doing a nice job finishing around the basket with both hands. Hinton almost posted a double double with his efforts on the glass as well according to 270 Hoops stats. Hinton has very limited range on offense and doesn’t seem to have a lot of freedom in the offense. Hinton moves from block to the high post and back to the block, looking for the basketball. He understands where he’s supposed to be on offense to make himself available but isn’t comfortable away from structure.</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="805209" first="Kobe" last="Buford"] 6’4 SF Worthington Christian 2021: Buford did what it takes to win in this game, playing like a senior. Buford scored three points but took FOUR charges in this one. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how many points you put on the scoreboard if you do the little things that help your team win and that’s exactly what Buford did on Thursday to help keep his team unbeaten. Some players believe that they need to score to receive praise for their play from media outlets, but Buford is a prime example of if you play the game the right way, your efforts will be praised.</p>