National High School HoopFest Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Every year Separation Sports hosts a great event with national teams at DeMatha Catholic for exhibition-style matchup games. This year's field includes 20 teams from 10 different states with DeMatha Catholic(MD), St. John's(DC), Westfield(VA), Bishop McNamara(MD), Nicolet(WI), Archbishop Carroll(DC), Canyon International(AZ), Bishop O'Connell(VA), St. Raymond's(NY), Campbell Hall(CA), Sidwell Friends(DC), John Marshall(VA), Paul VI(VA), Myers Park(NC), St. Andrew's(MD), Good Counsel(MD), Springdale Prep(MD), IMG Academy (FL), Bullis (MD), and Archbishop Wood (PA). The two-day event runs from noon to about 10:30 PM, attracting college coaches, fans, and scouts from all over the country.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Most intriguing matchup:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sidwell Friends vs John Marshall</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>-The two teams match up and play similar brands of basketball, very disciplined and well-coached with balanced offensive production from a top 3. Aidan Argabright will play his first game back in the DMV after transferring to the RVA powerhouse, looking forward to seeing how the offensive fireworks between two of the area's best scorers in Argabright and Sidwell CG [player_tooltip player_id='1225257' first='Acaden' last='Lewis']. [player_tooltip player_id='1370497' first='Caleb' last='Gillus'] will have his hands full defensively against Damon Thompson, and the [player_tooltip player_id='2194756' first='Caleb' last='Williams'] vs Marcus Jackson/Latrell Allmond will for sure include some smoke. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Best heavyweight matchup:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Paul VI vs Myers Park</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>-Sadiq White and Bishop Boswell come into Hyattsville to matchup up with one of the area's best teams in PVI. I think it will be interesting to see if PVI puts Jordan Smith Jr on Boswell in an attempt to disrupt their offensive flow. Isaiah Abraham will likely matchup with the 6'9 White as the two battle it out on the perimeter. The point guard tandem of Ant Brown/Ben Hammond will have to limit their turnovers against a team that gets up and down in transition.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Best individual matchup:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1370514' first='Malcolm' last='Thomas'] (DeMatha) vs James Bass (Campbell Hall)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>-Battle of the 6'9 physical bigs should be interesting, as both do most of their damage from the low block but can also stretch out to the three point line. Keeping their big out of foul trouble will be imperative for both teams as both serve as the lynchpin defensively.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Biggest X factor:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1367431' first='Adrien' last='Stevens'] vs Bullis</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>-I almost included his teammate [player_tooltip player_id='1955967' first='Eric' last='Reibe'] here, but Stevens will need to prove that he can score at a high level against elite wing defenders and he has the perfect opportunity to do so here. Will be interesting to see if IMG deploys Amari Allen or Khani Rooths against him or if they throw a guard at Stevens to slow him down</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->