The Holiday Classic: Friday’s Best All-Around

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>SAN DIEGO — The Holiday Classic at Torrey Pines high school is consistently among the best post-Holiday high school basketball tournaments in the country. This year's edition featured 80 teams hailing from 10 different states that were divided among the five divisions. We were able to make the trek down to San Diego on the final day of action at The Holiday Classic where we got to see all of the National Division participants as well as the American Division championship game. Here's a look at the best all-around performers.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>[player_tooltip player_id='950925' first='Blake' last='Hudson'], Dougherty Valley</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hudson fits in perfectly to what DVHS does offensively and defensively. The 6-foot-3 senior is a high motor player, elite vertical and lateral athlete that allows him to defend multiple positions. With the Wildcats playing a roster on the smaller side of things, Hudson's defensive versatility is important to team's success. Offensively, Hudson is always in attack mode in transition and is a crafty and dynamic finisher around the rim.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>[player_tooltip player_id='1380769' first='Connor' last='Sevilla'], Dougherty Valley</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sevilla has a mix of gritty and glue-guy qualities but also possesses some star power which leads him to be the ideal companion to one of the state's best scorers, [player_tooltip player_id='950790' first='Ryan' last='Beasley']. Sevilla is a dribble, pass and shoot guard who can play-make for himself and teammates off the bounce. The senior showed his shot-making ability from three-point and mid-range in addition to his driving and finishing through contact.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Daquan Davis, St. John's Collegiate (DC)</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Davis has dynamic scoring ability in both transition and half-court settings. The 6-foot-1 junior gets great lift on his jump shot, which allows him to elevate and shoot over the top of defenders. Davis uses his athleticism and ability to change speeds and direction to create space off the dribble to get clean looks on his jump shot. Davis scores in bunches and had multiple 20-plus scoring outputs throughout the tournament.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Donavan Freeman, St. John's Collegiate (DC)</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Versatility is the name of the game for Freeman, whose 18-point, 14-rebound performance in the National Division title game put an exclamation point on his Holiday Classic Tournament MVP performance. The 6-foot-9 forward is a long, wiry forward who can stretch the floor to three-point range, make plays for himself and teammates off the dribble and has the mobility and fluid athleticism to run the floor and finish off transition opportunities.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>[player_tooltip player_id='1450484' first='Jacob' last='Cofie'], Eastside Catholic (WA)</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cofie was one of the better big men in this event. At 6-feet-9 with great defensive and rebounding instincts, the junior has his biggest impact in his rim protecting and ability to board, outlet and start the break. Offensively, Cofie has great hands and soft touch around the basket and showed that he can face-up and make a rip and drive move to the rim or hit an open perimeter shot with time and space. Cofie scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the third place game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>[player_tooltip player_id='992479' first='Jurian' last='Dixon'], St. Augustine</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dixon has been one of SoCal's best kept secrets and hopefully his performance at The Holiday Classic earns him an uptick in his recruitment. The 6-foot-4 wing is a jack of all trades type of player who rebounds, defends multiple positions, has the basketball IQ and ball handling ability to play some point guard and possesses back to the basket scoring feel that allows him to expose mismatches. Dixon did everything he could to pace St. Augustine in the National Division Championship as he scored 23 points with nine rebounds in the close loss to St. John's Collegiate.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>[player_tooltip player_id='923132' first='Mason' last='Williams'], O'Dea (WA)</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Williams is a high IQ playmaker who not only can control pace and tempo in a half-court style of game but he has the dynamic open court feel to be a transition savant. The 6-foot-4 Eastern Washington-bound point guard has a smooth three-point shooting stroke, uses his size to finish well around the basket and has great court vision and passing IQ when he gets into the lane.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->