Greater Houston: 2nd Half Season 4/5/6A Emerging Prospects

This year in high school basketball has been a fun season to watch, especially in greater Houston. New prospects have been emerging across 4A ,5A, and 6A all year and I've had the chance to watch several entertaining games over the last month or so. Several teams are battling to clinch playoff spots in their districts, and this only serves to make the competition fiercer. Let's look at some hoopers I've had my eye on over the latter end of January/beginning of February.    A big and physical guard who can function at every position, Brady had 19 points in a huge district win at home against Tompkins to put the Katy Tigers firmly in second place. Willis contributes on the glass with his strong frame, and he also can make the defense pay if he is left open from deep range, especially in the corners.     Fola was an aggressive post presence and had 21 points and 14 rebounds in the close loss for Tompkins to Katy on the road. Sodipo helps out with ballhandling when needed in a half-court setting and can isolate himself and get to the rim against any matchup he has guarding him. Fola doesn't hesitate to take jumpers over closing out defenders and his motor is relentless for loose balls and second chance rebounds.     [player_tooltip player_id='2556692' first='Evan' last='Egans'] was a complete dog on both ends of the court in Crosby's 58-43 win over the West Fork Gators. Egans came away with 19 points and lit up the defense from three-point range to get off to a fast start, hitting 5 of his first 6 long range shots. Evan is a playmaker who is quick on his feet and can create for himself as well as his teammates in open space. He has good wherewithal on offense to find the right play and get his team key opportunities for easy buckets.     Nukias is an offensive catalyst for West Fork who can get buckets from all three levels on offense, and he uses speed and a quick first step to beat defenders to his hot spots or the basket. He is aggressive on the perimeter during defense, not afraid to be physical with opposing players and this allows him to get several steals and convert for the Gators in transition. He had 13 points and 5 assists in the game against Crosby at home.     James was a lights-out shooter in the Falcon's home win over Livingston to help them stay in the district fight for playoffs. Briggs came away with 21 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists and made his presence known from the perimeter as well as cashing in consistently at the free throw stripe when he was fouled. His hustle in transition is good as well as his ability to fill lane correctly on fastbreaks and offense.     Troy had a total of 27 points in the close road loss to Hargrave and demonstrated an exceptional ability to score at all levels for the Livingston Lions. Garner has a variety of dribble moves he uses to create shots for himself off the dribble and can find open teammates with good court awareness and high IQ. He also played passing lanes on defense and came away with 3 steals this game leading to key momentum-changing transition buckets.

This year in high school basketball has been a fun season to watch, especially in greater Houston. New prospects have been emerging across 4A ,5A, and 6A all year and I've had the chance to watch several entertaining games over the last month or so. Several teams are battling to clinch playoff spots in their districts, and this only serves to make the competition fiercer. Let's look at some hoopers I've had my eye on over the latter end of January/beginning of February.