Elijah really impressed with his on-ball defense, consistently locking down opposing guards all weekend. He’s tenacious on the defensive end and makes things difficult for ball-handlers with his pressure and activity. Offensively, he’s very unselfish and distributes the ball well, keeping teammates involved. He played a key role in the championship game by forcing turnovers and turning them into transition layups.

8p 5r 3s 2a 1 charge drawn vs Blair

-The senior didn’t score to his normal level but did back up his reputation as a stat sheet stuffer throughout the evening to contribute in different areas. Madhi always seems to be around the ball (3 steals to go with several forced TOs), flying around defensively for his team to generate stops and beating opponents to 50/50 ball with relative ease due to a combination of quickness and a turned up sense of urgency. He avoided committing an offensive foul by taking a well-executed hopstep around the defender before finishing at the rim, chipped in on the glass to close out several possessions late in the game with defensive rebounds, and had two big FTs late to keep the Blair lead within one basket late in the game.

Mahdi is an absolute blur with the ball and it doesn’t matter if it’s in transition or in the half court. If the defense isn’t dialed in as a unit, Mahdi can get from half court to the bucket in the blink of an eye. There isn’t much wasted movement in his attack either. Once he sees a driving lane, his burst allows him to expose the advantage and he’s able to allude defenders with euros or side-steps while maintaining nice balance on the finishes. He and Oyekan fueled the effort in the big win, as four of his 19 points came in the overtime frame. Mahdi also grabbed five boards and recorded five assists.

23p 5r 1a 3s vs Bowie

-Tenacious downhill driving guard that put constant pressure on the rim, utilizing ball screens to get bigs switched onto him before going to work. Mahdi scored off a gut drive from wing for the hanging double clutch lay to start things off, curled around a pair of elbow screens to catch the drop off and lay it off the window for 2 points. His ability to draw fouls at the rim was crucial for Laurel to claw their way back into the game, with the closest margin coming off a made floater from Madhi off the window to tie it with 1 min left. His assertive and aggressive play really sets the tone for this Laurel team.