Top Guards From This Past Week

<p>This article is about the top guards I saw this past week. I went to Perrysburg Tuesday Night as they hosted Toledo Whitmer, then to St. John’s Jesuit both Friday and Saturday as they hosted Toledo Central Catholic and Lakewood St. Edward’s, and then finally Sunday at Coach Q’s Keewpee’s Holiday Classic. </p> <p class="p1">[player_tooltip player_id="921749" first="Michael" last="Bova"] (2022): PG, 6’1, Lakewood St. Edward’s<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/02/IMG-7904.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1131588 alignright" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/02/IMG-7904-300x163.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="163" /></a></p> <p class="p1">Bova has a great calmness when he has the ball in his hands. Their game against St. John’s Jesuit on Saturday night was a very fast-paced game as both teams full court pressured and Bova was one of the few on the floor I would trust with the ball as a coach. Bova’s game is very under control and has a tight handle with the ball. He attacks pressure and gets to the rack with ease. He is a great finisher with both hands and whenever he finds a crease to attack he exposes that crease quickly. I was very impressed with Bova’s body control when finishing through contact.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p class="p1">CJ Hornbeck (2023): G, 6’2. Toledo St. John’s Jesuit</p> <p class="p1">Hornbeck is in his third year of starting for St. John’s Jesuit and you can see the maturity and confidence. His body has developed, which gives him an extra tool in his bag when he drives as smaller guards do not stand much of a chance against him. Hornbeck is really good at getting to his spot as well. He will dribble and kind of lure the defender to sleep before darting to his spot. Hornbeck has a great midrange pull-up jumper along with a very creative and effective finishing bag. He finishes great with both hands and hit multiple tough floaters and finishes over the weekend. Hornbeck can flat out put the ball in the basket, he will easily become one of the few 1,000 point scorers in St. John’s Jesuit’s great history. I also loved his high basketball IQ as well, he set up screens and how to come off them very affective all night long. He is also a tough kid, attempting to take multiple charges against Central Catholic Friday night. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p class="p1">Maurice Purley (2022): PG, 5’6. Toledo Whitmer</p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Maurice Purley plays with incredible pace. He never gets sped up but has a great change of speed to get by defenders. His handle is impeccable as well. Purley stands only 5’6 but plays much bigger than that. He is a 4-year varsity player for Whitmer and has great confidence. As a coach, I would have all the trust in the world when Purley has the ball in his hands because he always makes the right decision. Never over-dribbles into tough situations and also knows when he needs to keep the dribble alive to get out of tough situations as well.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p>