Three Takeaways: Loyola/St. Paul’s

Colby Giacubeno November 23, 2021 @ 12:13 PM

My coverage here on Prep Hoops will be slightly different from past years. While I’ll be providing insight on games with individual articles for certain games, I’ll have more of a later week release where I break down the number of prospects that I had the chance to see over the following days. Yesterday Loyola hosted St. Paul’s for a MIAA A vs B Conference showdown. St. Paul’s got off to a quick start but struggled to make shots in the second half. The Dons gained control and never looked back as they went onto win 64-50 to improve to 2-0 on the season. St. Paul’s drops to 0-1 with the loss. Loyola Seniors Lead Forward [player_tooltip player_id="904648" first="Gavin" last="Walsh"] and guard Owen Fischer led the Dons with 18 points each. 10 of Walsh’s 18 points came by way of the free throw line as a result of his aggressive drives to the rim. St. Paul’s didn’t have anyone to match up with Walsh’s size and his ability to get into the paint caused issues for their defense. Fischer was extremely efficient with his looks and whether it was finding his spots in the mid-range off one or two dribbles, spotting up for catch-and-shoot three’s or streaking in transition for layups, the 6-foot-3 guard was thorough in his attack. Charley Hepting didn’t light up the scoring column, but he made his impact felt early on the defensive end by blocking three shots in the first quarter. He recorded four blocks for the game, rebounded at a nice rate and had a few important finishes inside late in the game to help seal the win. St. Paul’s Trio of Guards The Crusaders have three guards who are solid building blocks for the next two seasons and beyond. Starting with 2023 [player_tooltip player_id="1164828" first="Tyler" last="Pelkey"] who led the way with 13 points in the loss. The 6-foot-3 guard cashed in on a couple three’s and had a few floaters that finished to exhibit his soft touch. He still needs to be more confident in his approach, but I walked away pleased with what I saw out of the junior. 2024 guard Jeremiah Douglas has a lot of tools that coaches need in a point guard. He’s quick off the bounce, shifty in isolations and knows how to get to his spots with minimal dribbles. Continued reps with his jumper are needed going forward to become more consistent and as he matures, I’m hoping the game starts to slow down for him to make the necessary reads in ball screen scenarios. 2025 guard Marquel Paschal was my find for the evening. He’s a sharpshooting freshman guard who nailed four three’s last night all off catch-and-shoot scenarios. Paschal shoots with supreme confidence, has good form and can get it going in a hurry. Outlook Going Forward for Both Teams My concern with Loyola is their point guard position. I like 2022 [player_tooltip player_id="1280966" first="Ryan" last="Johnson"], who starts and and plays majority (if not all) of the minutes as the lead guard. He’s a quick twitch ball handler who gets into the paint and has good feel for who will be open following the defense’s rotation. After Johnson however, there isn’t many players at this point who could accept that role. In the MIAA/BCL where the point guard position is loaded, if Johnson were to get in early foul trouble it could create some major issues for the Dons. I do like their options everywhere else and another player that you can expect for me to rave about in my end of the week scouting write-up will be 2024 wing J’Lin Brown. St. Paul’s should fare well in the B Conference given their talent, but where they’ll struggle will be in the frontcourt with their lack of true size. 2024 Ernest Willor is a rough, rugged 6-foot-4 (nearing 6-foot-5) forward who brings physicality from the football field and a nice overall skill set to the hardwood, but against teams such as St. Mary’s who has good size throughout their lineup, it could present problems.