When Sides Collide: Evaluations Pt 2

<p>The When Sides Collide Shootout was this past weekend with a loaded field of prospects.  Time to start breaking them down in our scouting reports.  Here is <strong>When Sides Collide: Evaluations Pt 2</strong>!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="771516" first="AJ" last="Casey"] (Whitney Young – Miami)</strong></p> <p>One of the better performances I’ve witnessed from Casey. He seemed very focused on his matchup with Huff. AJ did most of his play above the rim. Connecting on several alley-oops either against the zone or off fast breaks. Casey made several plays in the mid-post area as well showing the ability to hit that shot with length in his face. AJ scored 20 points in the loss.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="863585" first="Xavier" last="Amos"] (Whitney Young – Northern Illinois)</strong></p> <p>Amos had a strong showing Saturday as one of the positives for the Dolphins. Xavier was able to find soft spots in the zone defense and capitalized off mistakes Glenbard West made when covering him. Amos had some strong face up plays where he shot faked and dribbled through contact and scored from the elbow area. Xavier is a heady wing player that is constantly evolving. He finished with 17 points.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="939057" first="Dalen" last="Davis"] (Whitney Young)</strong></p> <p>It wasn’t the best shooting performance from Davis but the Young guard was able to connect on a couple assists in the blowout loss to Glenbard West.  Dalen had a tough time with the length of the defense but we know better days are ahead for the 2023 guard. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1048306" first="Miles" last="Rubin"]  (Simeon)</strong></p> <p>With his twin brother Saturday out with an injury Miles did his best to fill the void on the inside that Simeon needed. Miles had an efficient game as he scored off all his touches around the rim. He did a good job at sealing the defense and scoring off jump hooks in the paint. Miles took full advantage of the extra minutes he was given.  He scored 12 points in the contest.  </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="771517" first="Jaylen" last="Drane"]  (Simeon)</strong></p> <p>Drane was another who didn’t have the best shooting night but his effort to do other things kept his team in the game. JRock was able to turn defense into points as he got after New Trier’s guards turning them and forcing them to commit turnovers. Jaylen figured out if he couldn’t hit shots that he needed to attack the rim and in the second half he did. If he didn’t score off layups he was fouled and got to the line. Drane finished with 12 points. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1048723" first="Nickolas" last="Robinson"] (Simeon)</strong></p> <p>Robinson doesn’t gets mentioned much but he does a lot of the dirty work for the Wolverines. At 6’6 he’s a tweener forward but is able to guard multiple positions.  In this game he took the task of trying to slow Martinelli down. In the process of guarding the best player on the court Nick was able to score some key buckets when his team needed them the most. A couple of and-1 buckets around the rim and being able to hold Martinelli to just three points in the second half could not go without notice. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="863613" first="AJ" last="Redd"] (St. Ignatius)</strong></p> <p>AJ is a steady guard who does his job and Saturday night was no difference he made a couple strong plays to get to the rim but didn’t do much after that. Redd is a capable talent that can do more to help his team win. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="989270" first="Richard" last="Barron"] (St. Ignatius)</strong></p> <p>Barron is a strong forward that spends a lot of his time on the wing searching for shots.  He made a few plays where he backed guys down in the inside. Richard can make shots from extended range but can be more effective on the high school level by bruising guys inside from slashing.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="925178" first="Kyle" last="Thomas"] (Benet – Eastern Illinois)</strong></p> <p>Thomas who recently committed to Eastern Illinois played very aggressive in the last contest. Kyle started out with two really good fadeaway baseline shots that looked similar to Patrick Ewing in his prime. He followed that up with a jump hook later on. Thomas battled hard on the glass pulling down his fair share of boards. He finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds.</p>