Week 1: Kansas/Missouri Tournament Week Review

With virtual streaming becoming the way to watch hoops during these times, the opportunities arise to watch multiple games during the evening which made the start of the high school season this week in both Kansas and Missouri great. The amount of quality teams, matchups, and players playing in tournaments all around the Kansas City area this week has been top tier, lets take a looks at some of the notes and reviews from around the area.

Top Performances

Brooks Langrehr, 6’4 Wing, Harrisonville, 2021: The long active wing made a statement against University Academy this week scoring the first 10 points of the game in a 2 minute stretch and finished with 26 points in the win. His active hands led to a ton of deflections and steals and his effort and willingness to run the floor got him easy opportunity after easy opportunity. He showed off his great cutting ability, scoring off of multiple backdoor cuts with a variety of finishes in the tool box.

Xavier Sykes Xavier Sykes 5'10" | PG Rock Bridge | 2021 State MO , 5’9 Guard, Rock Bridge, 2021: Helping lead his squad to a Van Horn tournament championship win in an absolute barn burner, Sykes dropped 24 points in the championship game. He is also a great playmaker and crafty with ball, creating for himself and for his teammates. Sykes got to the foul line quite a bit as well throughout the week creating a ton of pressure for defenses.

Jaden Monday Jaden Monday 6'0" | PG Van Horn | 2021 State MO , 6’ Guard, Van Horn, 2021: The Washburn signee started off his senior campaign putting together three 20 plus performances on the week helping lead the Falcons to their home tournament championship game. His athleticism, competitiveness, and ability with the ball in his hands make him a stand out guard. 

Tavion Banks Tavion Banks 6'5" | PF Ruskin | 2021 State MO , 6’5 Wing, Ruskin, 2021: For 3 and half quarters against Staley this week, Banks was an absolute force on the floor, impacting the game in so many ways. His athleticism shined on both ends of the floor, scoring off tips, in transition, driving the ball, and on defense blocking shots, getting deflections, and flying around. Banks also knocked down a couple of threes to go along with his rim attacking.

Kyan Evans Kyan Evans 6'2" | PG Staley | 2023 State MO , 5’11 Point Guard, Staley High School, 2023: During an early struggle for Staley against Ruskin, Evans did just enough to keep Staley in the game to eventually get them ahead and pull off the win. Evans in only a sophmore but his poise running the show for Staley really stood out. He has “game” to him, does a great job of getting into gaps and finishing around the rim, also showed off a nice mid range game as well. With plenty of time left in his career, Evans is going to be a good one.

A Pair of “Trios” Standout

Van Horn: Jaden Monday Jaden Monday 6'0" | PG Van Horn | 2021 State MO was not the only Falcon guard to piece together great weeks. The emergence of 2022’s Jeremy Paige and Brycen Dean will be key to the teams success this season. Dean made a statement in game two of the week scoring 25 points in the win, thriving in transition and showing off his playmaking ability. Paige brings the intensity and consistent effort with him in every contest and not only does he do a little bit of everything for the counting stats, he does all of the “little things” that keep players on the court. Paige’s best performance saw him piece together a 16 point, 4 rebound, 6 assists, and 4 steals stat line.

Kansas City East Christian Academy: In a huge win against St Thomas Aquinas on Thursday the Lions trio of 2023 G John Magnuson, 2024 G Garyson Polloack, and 2023 F Isaiah Koppang put together tremendous performances to pull off the 3 point victory. Magnuson set the tone from the point guard spot and has the tools to be a tremendous point guard. Magnuson lived at the foul line and drove the ball extremely well, finishing the game with multiple winning plays. Polloack was one of the best shooters I saw this week, the lefty has a great looking shot off the catch knocking down a couple threes early and a huge one in the fourth quarter. Like Magnuson setting the tone form the guard spot, Koppang took that honors in the paint, really making a living against Aquinas from 15 ft in.

St Thomas Aquinas is Young, but has Pieces

Although they lost two really close contests in their opening tournament day, the young Saints team had some players stand out and flash their ability that show with some growing pains and learning, they have pieces to really make some noise down the road.

Will Rost Will Rost 6'3" | SG Aquinas | 2023 State KS , 6’4 Wing/Forward, 2023: In their first matchup against KC Christian East, Rost was steady throughout the game, and hit some big shots down the stretch. He plays extremely hard on every possession and rebounded the ball well on both ends

Darius Mall, 5’9 Guard, 2022: Mall has tremendous athletic capability and showed on Thursday his great defensive instinct and ability. He is great at plugging gaps and guarding the ball.

Other Notables

-2023 F Kayden Fish and 2022 F Emmanuel Byrd at Staley are going to be really good Forwards and impact players in the area. Started to figure out the varsity speed of the game and get comfortable on the court.

-Jalen Dunn the senior point guard and guard DeAngelo Woods for Ruskin High School are great in their roles and brought tremendous energy to both ends for the floor. Really active on the defense end and have solid offensive games especially handling the ball and making plays.