Valley 10 District Tournament - Top Performers

The 1A Valley 10 District Tournament was held on the campus of Damascus Christian this past week and we had the opportunity to attend the semifinals and finals. In the finals on Saturday evening, Valor Christian defeated Open Door Christian, 54-46, and along with semifinalists Country Christian and North Clackamas Christian, the four squads were all ranked as Top 8 teams in the computer rankings going into the tournament.   Based on the action we watched, here are the top performers we saw - essentially our unofficial All-Tournament squad.    If we had a vote for MVP of the district tournament, it would have been Wu. The junior point guard was the clear leader for the champion Knights as the ball was in his hands the majority of the time. He was constantly in attack mode looking to get into the lane and create, using his quickness and strength to get past opponents and either finish at the hoop or draw contact - 17 of his 37 total points in two games came from the charity stripe. Defensively he excelled as an on-the-ball defender and emotionally led the squad as well.     Great all-around play on both the offensive and defensive ends from Sady this past weekend. The senior forward really hit the boards hard - 14 rebounds in the semifinals against North Clackamas Christian - and it was his ability to keep the ball alive on the offensive glass to give the Knights second and third opportunities. He averaged 11 points in the two games on a combination of buckets near the hoop and from the mid-range and was also a willing passer.     The man in the middle for Valor was Renner, who fully utilized his solid 6-foot-7 frame inside during the tournament. In the semifinals, he was virtually unstoppable around the hoop if he got the ball in position and he also showed the ability to step outside a bit by hitting some baseline jumpers. The senior also did a good job of passing out of the paint to shooters on the perimeter.     Zelenivskiy was one of the revelations of the event for us. Physically the 6-foot-5 forward is long and lanky, runs the floor extremely well, and showed great athleticism around the basket on both ends. The junior is extremely active and was an absolute force on the boards, especially in the semifinals where he grabbed 13, and used his quickness on the defensive end to both grab steals and block shots. While the majority of his points were scored down low, the form on his perimeter jumper looks to have potential.     Don't let his smaller frame fool you, Buzhduga can flat out play. The junior guard was super sharp with his perimeter shooting, destroying the zone defenses thrown at Open Door in the semis by knocking down four threes and nailing a number of other pull-up jumpers. While he excelled at the catch-and-shoot, he didn't force the issue and also made good decisions with his passing and finding teammates for open looks as well.     Between the two teams that lost in the semifinals, Lee was the one that likely shined the most. In the loss in the semis to Open Door, in the scorebook it may have looked empty in the first half for the sophomore guard as he didn't score any points but the truth was he was racking up stats in other categories with 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and a couple of steals. And when he finally got his first bucket with 2 minutes left in the third, he went on to score 11 points in 3 minutes and finished with a team-high 14. He ended up leading the Saints in scoring in the third place game too.

The 1A Valley 10 District Tournament was held on the campus of Damascus Christian this past week and we had the opportunity to attend the semifinals and finals. In the finals on Saturday evening, Valor Christian defeated Open Door Christian, 54-46, and along with semifinalists Country Christian and North Clackamas Christian, the four squads were all ranked as Top 8 teams in the computer rankings going into the tournament.