All “A” Classic ~ Thursday’s Top Performers, Pt. 3

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Prep Hoops Staff was in attendance for the opening round of the 33rd Annual All A Classic State Tournament hosted at Paul S. McBrayer Arena on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University. All 16 teams played in the opening round on Thursday. We have a collection of the best performances from the afternoon and evening games.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>University Heights - Senior Guard, [player_tooltip player_id='1765890' first='Lemar' last='Northington']</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Northington is a bonafide scorer at all three levels. He possesses a smooth jump shot and impressive athletic acumen. He had a nice transition dunk, multiple creative drives in the paint, and put the Blazers ahead for good with back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>University Heights - Sophomore Forward, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1318185' first='Elijah' last='Walton']</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Every coach in Kentucky would love to have a player like Walton. He plays with a ton of energy and movement. He rarely has offensive plays called for him yet he routinely finds ways to score the ball. Walton led his team in scoring &amp; rebounding finishing with 21 points and 7 rebounds (6 offensive!). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Raceland - Senior Guard, Landyn Newman</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It was a tough matchup for the Rams guards against the pesky, athletic Blazers but Newman provided enough offensive to keep his team alive. Newman finished with 12 points.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Raceland - Junior Guard, Christian Large</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Large came into the game as one of the best scorers in the 16th region averaging over 17 points per game. Although the offensive was hard to come by, he played through adversity and showcased why he is a pure scorer at every level. Large finished the game 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cumberland County - Sophomore Guard, Bryen Crawley</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Crawley is a slashing guard that looks to score by his activity off the ball. Despite only receiving a few opportunities while the game was in contention, he is a player to keep an eye on as the season progresses. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cumberland County - Sophomore Forward, Zach Harwood</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Harwood is a smooth looking forward with the tools to be a solid player for the Panthers. Unfortunately, their offense struggled to get going so Harwood couldn't string together enough plays in this game. Harwood led his team in scoring and finished with 8 points. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Owensboro Catholic- Senior Guard, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='801607' first='Brian' last='Griffith']</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Despite playing in the latest game with a tip-time of 9:55pm, Griffith looked good in warm-ups and kept it going in the game. The Aces led the game wire to wire largely in part to Griffith dominating the first half. He scored from all over the court, knocking down outside shots off the dribble and off the catch-and-shoot. Griffith finished the game with 17 points in 16 minutes.  </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><br><strong>Make sure you are following</strong><a href="https://twitter.com/prephoopsky"><strong> @PrepHoopsKY</strong></a><strong> on Twitter for weekly top games &amp; top performers!</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->