Postseason Sharpshooters
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Shooters are going to shoot, and the next six players have shown why they have the green light to fire away. Here are some of the top shooters from early on this postseason. Talon Jenkins WA #30 SF #5 HEIGHT…
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Continue ReadingShooters are going to shoot, and the next six players have shown why they have the green light to fire away. Here are some of the top shooters from early on this postseason.
While Jenkins did light it up from long-range, it was how he got those looks that really impressed me. Early on he did some nice work inside, holding post position on ball reversals, stepping through doubles down low to get to the rim, but later on he found a rhythm from outside and was especially successful at getting defenders off their feet. I counted at least four different times he got defenders to fly by him with shot fakes around the arc, and each time he calmly reset and buried the shot. He was also successful coming off screens to catch and shoot, taking one to two dribbles to create space and pullup, and then showed some nice vision to hit rollers when multiple defenders blitzed him as he came off screens. It was a composed scoring performance from the Meridian shooter who now needs one more win to keep their season alive and advance to the state tournament.
Dress showed a lot of fight and determination in what ended up being a pretty lopsided loss to Gonzaga Prep last Saturday. The first quarter was a good microcosm of the game overall as Kamiakin struggled to get things going but Dress came through time and again with tough buckets. Things got a little easier for him as the night went on, but he had to be ultra-aggressive searching for his shot, and some of the success he was able to get inside came on the back of some deep contested 3s he was able to bury. It was an impressive performance as Dress was shooting over defenders, creating space with hard jabs, and mixing in shots at the rim with strong drives and a couple of quick spin moves when defenders overplayed his drives. He was able to get Kamiakin back in it and actually had the deficit down to single digits in the third quarter, but Gonzaga Prep owned the fourth and ran away with it. Dress and the Braves need to win their next two games to represent their district at the 4A tournament.
Highlights
The Quincy sophomore has put in a great year, taking home league MVP and now leading his team to within one game of the state tournament. He’s a kid who wants the big shots and wasn’t shy about taking them against Omak in a one-point victory. While he did deal with some foul trouble, when he was on the floor, he was a gamechanger. Bierlink hit three 3s in the first half but his biggest shot from downtown came with under three minutes to go in the fourth. His Jackrabbits were struggling and Omak had clawed back to take a one-point lead. Bierlink stepped up and buried a wing 3 to take the lead back, then sank 3-of-4 at the FT line to put them up four. He brings a big presence for a sophomore and did a great job picking up his teammates in important spots.
Highlights
The Gonzaga Prep forward is one of the smoother shooters in his class regardless of position. He came off screen after screen to splash down 3s from the top of the key in their win against Kamiakin. He’s fairly tall at 6-foot-5 but really gets his shot off quickly and while most of his shots came with good space created off the screens, he was also able to hit the contested shots and nailed a long 3 with a hand in his face at the end of the first quarter. While Groves was deadly from 3, he was also big inside with some nice seals and was good at creating contact with a little bump by the hoop to get touch shots to go inside. The Bullpups ended up beating Richland too, taking the District 8 tournament title and punching their ticket to the 4A tournament.
Gillespie was a huge driving force in an elimination game for Graham Kapowsin to force overtime against Mount Rainier. He came out with the quick trigger from 3PT, doing a great job relocating after drive and kicks to spot up for 3s, and also was one of their best shot creators off the bounce. He ate on a heavy dose of jumpers in the first half but still shot a good percentage. Then he opened up the second half with a smooth middy pullup and went right back to knocking down 3s in bunches. As the game went on, Gillespie only seemed to get more confident and while he mixed in some excellent finishes at the rim it was his outside shooting that nearly pushed GK over the edge to victory.
Highlights
Anthony Boddie
Anthony Boddie
Boddie wasn’t the flashiest player on the court, but the junior guard was indispensable to Sammamish’s effort against Renton in the KingCo tournament title game. He hit four 3s during the game and a lot of his makes were set up by great movement off the ball, patience to space the floor and stay committed to his job, and a readiness on the catch that allowed him to get shots off in a hurry. Sammamish is still alive in their hunt for a state title and any team that matches up with them will have to account for Boddie on the outside.