Myers Park gets payback at Hoodie’s House. Final day scores, stars, champions
Monday’s #BIG5 Performers
Elijah Gray, Carmel Christian: 6-8 sophomore forward had 18 points, on 7-of-9 shooting, and 11 rebounds in the Cougars’ 81-69 win over Henry Clay (KY) in the third place game.
Evan Hurst, Milton (GA): 20 points, three rebounds, two assists in a 69-52 win over United Faith for fifth place. Hurst made 8-of-12 field goals, including 4-of-7 3-point shots.
Drake Maye, Myers Park: 19 points, including 18 in the second half, plus 11 rebounds and four assists in a 51-34 win over Rocky River in the local/regional division.
Jaden Walker, Core 4 (GA): 31 points, nine rebounds, four assists, three steals in a 70-51 local/regional division win over Lancaster.
Bangala Zaba, St. Benedict’s (NJ): 14 points, 10 reobunds, two assists in a 44-42 win over Orlando (Fla.) Christian in the national championship brackete. Zaba made 6-of-10 field goal attempts.
Myers Park beats Rocky River in feature local game
The Myers Park Mustangs used their final game of the 2019 Hoodie’s House High School Hoops Classic to extract some revenge. Earlier in December, the Rocky River Ravens handed the Mustangs a Southwestern 4A regular-season loss.
With strong games from junior Drake Maye, senior Kameron Mack and freshman Elijah Strong, the Mustangs turned the tables with a 51-34 non-conference win over Rocky River in the final game of the Hoodie’s Classic for local teams. A strong fourth quarter by Myers Park in outscoring the Ravens 17-5 helped the Mustangs win by 17.
“Defensively we had to get some stops,” said Myers Park coach Scott Taylor on one of the big keys to the win. “Today we did a nice job of switching some things up, giving them some different looks and rebounding that led to some efficient offense on the other end.”
After only scoring one point in the first half, Maye posted an 18-point second half to lead all scorers with 19 points. Maye, an Alabama Crimson Tide football recruit, also had a game-high 11 rebounds to go along with four assists. Mack, on the strength of six free throw baskets, finished with 11 and Strong 9.
Trailing most of the first half of a low-scoring contest, Rocky River took its first lead of the game with four minutes left in the first half at 15-12 on a 3-pointer by Tobias Forte. The Mustangs didn’t score a point in the first five minutes of second quarter before going on an 8-2 run to close the first half and lead 17-14.
THREE WHO MATTERED:
Drake Maye, Myers Park – Helped the Mustangs take control in the second half with 18 of his game-high 19 points in the half, including 12 in the fourth quarter. Maye also a game-high 11 rebounds and led Myers Park with four assists.
Calik Thomas, Rocky River – Junior guard led the Ravens in scoring with 12 points including a pair of 3-pointers.
Kameron Mack, Myers Park – Went 6-of-6 from the free-throw line and besides Maye was the only other Mustangs’ player to finish in double figures with 11.
WORTH MENTIONING:
Rocky River went 1-2 at the Hoodies Classic with losses to Core 4 Academy of Georgia (51-40) and Monday’s 51-34 loss to Myers Park.
Myers Park ended up 1-2 with losses to Core 4 Academy of Georgia (62-52) and Lancaster (60-55) to go with Monday’s 51-34 victory over Rocky River.
WHAT’S NEXT: Myers Park will play next at home Tuesday, January 7 against Hickory Ridge, while Rocky River will also play Tuesday, January 7 when it hosts East Mecklenburg.
THEY SAID IT: “Coach’s speech, it’s always the coach’s speech. He inspired us and gave us enthusiasm to get on the court and play harder than we did in the first half.” Myers Park forward Elijah Strong on what the difference was that led to the Mustangs’ big second half.
RECORDS: Myers Park (8-4); Rocky River (5-5)
-- Tim Donelli
Monday’s Boxscores
CHAMPIONSHIP
ST. BENEDICT’S 44, ORLANDO CHRISTIAN 42
St. Benedict’s 14 6 11 13 -- 44
Orlando Christian 9 6 13 14 -- 42
ST BENEDICT’S 44 -- Johnson 2, Bakarae Adetokunbo 2, Bangala Zaba 10, Njie 6, Hima 8, Evans 2
ORLANDO CHRISTIAN 42 -- Reese 8, Ven Allen Lubin 11, Brown 9, Sam Ihekwoba 10, Hastings 2, Acevedo
THIRD PLACE
Carmel Christian 81, Henry Clay (KY) 69
Carmel Christian 25 19 20 17 -- 81
Henry Clay 17 21 12 19 -- 69
CARMEL CHRISTIAN 81 -- Justin Taylor 10, Myles Hunter 16, Bynum 9, Kenny Gwynn 11, Elijah Gray 18, Green 2, Pisacano 6, Bean 9
HENRY CLAY 69 -- Huges 1, Warrick 19, Dillard 6, Henderson 14, Machey 12, Blackwell 3, Miller 4, Holman 10
FIFTH PLACE
MILTON (GA) 69, UNITED FAITH 52
MILTON 69 -- Evan Hurst 20, Thornton 6, Cameron Walker 11, LT Overton 11, Kanaan Carlyle 14, Fitzgerald 4, Farrell 2, Clipper 2
UNITED FAITH 52 -- Dudley 2, Cedric Patterson 10, Johnson 8, Anjay Cortez 16, Quick 2, Gilbert 2, Charlie Hester 12
SEVENTH PLACE
LINCOLN (NY) 70, NORTHSIDE CHRISTIAN 61
Lincoln 15 13 20 22 -- 70
Northside 13 19 12 17 -- 61
LINCOLN 70 --Spencer 12, Leon 2, Spratles 13, Shepard 16, King 4, Sharp 12, Williams 11
NORTHSIDE 61 -- Collins 2, Najir Underwood 12, Wesley Tubbs 16, Solomon Tucker 17, Sun 6, M. Brown 2, J. Brown 4, MItchell 2
LOCAL/REGIONAL DIVISION
MYERS PARK 51, ROCKY RIVER 34
Myers Park 12 8 14 17 -- 51
Rocky River 7 10 12 5 -- 34
MYERS PARK 51 -- Drake Maye 19, Kameron Mack 11, Strong 9, Elasaar 6, Henry 6.
ROCKY RIVER 34 -- Calik Thomas 12, Richards 8, McNair 3, Rudisell 3, Burns 3, Forte 3, Austin 2.
CORE 4 (GA) 70, LANCASTER 51
Core 4 10 23 17 20 -- 70
Lancaster 4 21 15 11 -- 51
CORE 4 (70) -- Green 3, Jaden Walker 31, Achor 8, Wells 8, Lee 5, Deng 8
LANCASTER 51 -- Tinsley 24, Pittman 10, McCree 8, Ealy 2, Stevens 4, Mickens 3
This story was originally published December 31, 2019 at 12:08 AM.
