Metro Classic Friday guard standouts

The Metro Classic continued with another action-packed day of games on Friday at Stockton College. After taking in several games, here are a few standout backcourt performers from the evening.    Hill School played easily the game of the night, coming back from 10 points down in the final minutes to force OT and ultimately come up with a win over a talented SPIRE International team. The Blues were led throughout the second half and OT by Natal, a post-grad guard who scored 19 of his 22 points after halftime. Helping overcome a significant size advantage as a team, the Central York (PA) product made a living operating off the dribble, dragging out the opposing bigs and blowing by for crafty finishes at the rim. It was the type of tough-nosed clutch performance that would make the right D1 coach think long and hard about letting Natal walk away without an offer.     Jameson continued a stellar senior season with a career-high 31 points, capped off by a left-wing 3 with 15 seconds on the clock to vault Hill ahead by four and ice the win. It was Jameson's seventh triple of the night, with the 3-point sniper consistently managing to find his way to open space in both the halfcourt and transition before displaying his textbook quick release. The Carnegie Mellon commit, who recently scored his 1,000th career point, plays the type of hard-nosed floor game to go along with his sharpshooting that should see him emerge as a valuable piece at the D3 level.     Coming in with a target on his back as Hill's only D1 commit and one of the top players in the state, Johnston had to work hard for his buckets but still managed his way to 21 points on the night to help engineer the comeback win. The New York native and Marquette commit was effective using his size and herky-jerky dribble-drive game to work his way to the rim off the bounce and finish effectively through contact. He was also important on the other end where he used his size and athleticism to help contend with a bigger SPIRE frontcourt. With the outcome in the balance in overtime, Johnston knocked down a 3 from the right wing that would put Hill ahead for good. It was the type of well-rounded effort that endeared the Golden Eagles staff to Johnston to begin with.     Despite leaving with a narrow loss in overtime, Hyatt impressed for the second straight night with a 20-plus point effort while leading his SPIRE squad down the stretch of the game. What he lacks in physical strength he makes up for in flair and moxie, weaving around defenders with a shifty handle and punishing rotating defenses with crafty reads on the move. He also shows to be an effective shooter both in the pullup game and sliding off-ball for spotups. Hyatt may need time to adjust to college-level physicality but the North Carolina native looks like a clearcut scholarship-level prospect who D1 programs may want to check in on heading into the spring.     Facing off against a big and talented Crestwood Prep team from Canada, St. Joseph emerged with the win behind the 1-2 punch of Carter and junior wing [player_tooltip player_id='2201945' first='Andrew' last='Kretkowski']. Shaking off an uncharacteristically slow first half, Carter got going in the second as the Falcons took control. On his way to 21 points, the jumbo guard showed his herky-jerky handle, crafty footwork, and tough shotmaking ability while attacking a variety of matchups in 1v1 situations. His ability to create offense at nothing at his size makes him such an intriguing long-term prospect as he continues rounding out his floor game.

The Metro Classic continued with another action-packed day of games on Friday at Stockton College. After taking in several games, here are a few standout backcourt performers from the evening.