Monday, January 18, 2010

Old Spice High School Showcase presented by Nike.



As you check out the games below, please note that all four games will be televised on Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the ESPN family of networks.

St. Benedict's (Newark, N.J.) -Bishop O'Connell (Arlington, Va.), 11 a.m.: Bishop O'Connell is a team that is struggling, suffering several setbacks in the month of December at the Beach Ball Classic in South Carolina, and is off to a rocky start in conference play to begin the New Year. North Carolina-bound guard Kendal Marshall (No. 19 in the ESPNU 100) is about all this team can count on to turn their losing streak into something positive.

On the opossing side, St. Benedict's is loaded with talent. The Gray Bees feature 6-7 Gil Biruta (Rutgers), 6-5 Aaron Brown (Temple), 6-5 Mike Poole, junior guard Myck Kabongo (Texas), 6-8 junior Sidiki Johnson (Arizona) and 6-10 J.P. Kambola. Poole has interest from several Atlantic 10 schools and Virginia, Providence and Rutgers.

In the second game of the day, we have.....St. Anthony (Jersey City, N.J.) -Westchester (Los Angeles), tipping at 1 p.m.: St. Anthony, a perennial power, needs a big game from 5-11 Eli Carter, who orchestrates the offense. Richmond-bound forward Derrick Williams is consistent but Jordan Quick needs to contribute as he did Sunday, scoring a season-high 13 points, against NIA Prep (Newark). The front line is decimated, with 6-8 Devon Collier (Oregon State) and 6-9 Ashton Pankey (Maryland) sidelined with an injury and poor grades, respectively.

Westchester's 6-7 wing Dwayne Polee is the nation's No. 78-ranked senior. He recently decommitted from USC and is looking at UNLV, Washington, Arizona, Arizona State and Oregon.


Westchester's own, Dwayne Polee

The Match-up between St. Patrick (Elizabeth, N.J.) -Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.), will tip off at 3 p.m, and that will be the third game of the afternoon. St. Patrick is playing lights-out and will receive a boost when do-everything junior Michael Gilchrist (No. 1 in the ESPNU Super 60) returns after missing parts of three games with a sprained knee. Duke-bound Kyrie Irving is making a case for the national player of the year.

No. 3 Findlay (20-1) won two games last weekend in Lexington, Ky., and continues its road-warrior mentality with a game Saturday in Ohio against Benedictine (Cleveland) before getting a crack at the Celtics. Senior point guard Cory Joseph is the catalyst, while Tristan Thompson clogs the middle. Senior guard Marko Petrovic is an emerging marksman from 3-point territory. Don't overlook senior Godwin Okonji, a steady player for the Pilots.

The fourth game of the evening will feature DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) -Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), tipping at 5 p.m.: Mater Dei's perimeter players Gary Franklin Jr. (California), Keala King (Arizona State) and Tyler Lamb (UCLA) are headed to Pac-10 schools while galvanizing the Monarchs. No. 4 DeMatha (15-0) -- which won the Gatorade Tournament in Puerto Rico -- is on a roll, having won 32 of its past 33 games. Junior Quinn Cook is the floor general, with 6-5 Victor Oladipo (Indiana) and 6-4 Jerian Grant (Notre Dame) on the wings. At 6-8, junior Mikael Hopkins legitimizes the Stags and has all the majors lined up for his services.

This concludes your game news set-up for the day, via espn.com

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