Philly Live II: New Jersey's Friday Eye Catchers Part II

Philly Live is a top-tier scholastic live period showcase hosted in Philadelphia, PA, at the Alan Horwitz Sixth Man Center and Jefferson University. This past weekend, the second session of the event featured some of the nation's premier high school basketball talent — with a strong showing from New Jersey prospects who held their own against elite competition. As a key evaluation stop during the NCAA live recruiting period, Philly Live provided college coaches and scouts a prime opportunity to assess both rising stars and established players. The second session showcased standout performances from emerging prospects whose stock is on the rise, as well as from seasoned recruits who reaffirmed their status among the state's best. Here's a look at several players who made a strong impression on Friday, the opening day of action in Philadelphia.    Possessing an interesting blend of positional size, offensive versatility, and excellent feel for the game [player_tooltip player_id='2202020' first='Avery' last='Lynch'] continued to demonstrate the different ways he can consistently impact winning, on both sides of the floor. Lynch got in a nice rhythm offensively early knocking down a handful of open threes while also, and as the game went on, attacking closeouts and getting to the rim, operating as an additional initiator of offense, and crashing the offensive and defensive glass and coming down with rebounds.     An extremely reliable and confident table setting point guard, [player_tooltip player_id='2504904' first='Izayah' last='Cooper'] excelled at taking what the defense gave him and mixing it up between getting to his spots and creating scoring opportunities for his teammates. Quick with the ball in his hands in combination with his excellent court vision, Cooper excelled at demonstrating his ability to be a trustworthy decision maker— very often spraying out to open shooters or cutters moving to open space when getting deep in the paint. Defensively, Cooper did a good job of wearing down opposing ball handlers and pressuring the ball the length of the court.     [player_tooltip player_id='2347936' first='Devin' last='Williams'] absolutely torched the nets from three point distance Friday evening, erupting for a total nine made threes against State College Area High (PA). A confident shooter that doesn't need much space to get his shot off, Williams demonstrated his versatility as a perimeter shooter— knocking down open three point shots off the catch, off the move, and coming off different screens. Catching fire early, Williams maintained his rhythm throughout the course of the whole game mixing it up by also getting in the mid range area off the bounce.     Operating as the primary ball handler for Linden's offense, [player_tooltip player_id='1595681' first='Jaren' last='Barnett'] excelled at setting the table and running the offense Friday afternoon. Barnett showed poise and composure as a strong and confident ball handler, controlling the pace of the game and often times making the right read against opposing pressure. Barnett also provided timely offense down the stretch, behind a 10 point second half in an OT victory over Imhotep (PA) with efficient shot making and strong rim finishing.     The engine behind Central Regional's offense, Derek Roth displayed his ability to score the basketball from different areas on the floor, creating off the bounce and getting to his spots with efficiency. Roth is poised with the ball in his hands and demonstrated his ability to rarely get rattled. Roth excelled at getting to the basket finishing both with strength through contact and with craftiness in traffic. Roth also showcased his ability to be a good facilitator of the basketball, finding open teammates when defenses sent help defense at him.     Incredibly raw but still offering plenty of promising upside, [player_tooltip player_id='2405359' first='Toussaint' last='Malukila'] demonstrated a lot of intangibles that immediately stood out. Possessing elite length, Malukila used his long arms to impact the game on both ends of the floor— finishing around the basket with length and improving touch while blocking and altering shot attempts at the rim on the defensive end of the floor. Malukila's activity around the basket as well as on the offensive glass awarded him ample trips to the free throw line, demonstrating his improvement as a free throw shooter.     A strong scoring performance to open up Friday afternoon saw [player_tooltip player_id='2952656' first='Jasir' last='Ross'], despite being undersized, make a living in the paint. Ross thrived at using his quickness and an array of hesitation dribbles to get by his defender and finish with craftiness around traffic and through contact around the basket. To balance out his aggressive attack of the basket, Ross also knocked down a few outside shots from three point range off the catch. Patient with the ball in his hands, Ross also excelled as a facilitator— hitting pocket passes in PnR situations and spraying out to open shooters when collapsing the defense. Defensively, Ross was extremely active as on ball defender at the POA.     A strong showing in Hudson Catholic's second game against Audenreid (PA), [player_tooltip player_id='2201960' first='Rashad' last='Robinson'] demonstrated his ability to be effective at the two guard spot both against zone and man defenses— knocking down shots in the mid range area in the middle of Audenreid's zone, while also attacking the rim on dribble drives, absorbing contact, and getting to the free throw line against Audenreid's man defense. Robinson also excelled on the defensive end of the floor, pressuring the ball the length of the court and making it difficult for opposing ball handlers.

Philly Live is a top-tier scholastic live period showcase hosted in Philadelphia, PA, at the Alan Horwitz Sixth Man Center and Jefferson University. This past weekend, the second session of the event featured some of the nation's premier high school basketball talent — with a strong showing from New Jersey prospects who held their own against elite competition. As a key evaluation stop during the NCAA live recruiting period, Philly Live provided college coaches and scouts a prime opportunity to assess both rising stars and established players. The second session showcased standout performances from emerging prospects whose stock is on the rise, as well as from seasoned recruits who reaffirmed their status among the state's best. Here's a look at several players who made a strong impression on Friday, the opening day of action in Philadelphia.