King James Shooting Stars Classic-Day 1 Report

Trejan Didier, Seth Goodson & Alex Heath

The King James Shooting Stars Classic in Akron, Ohio has been a premier event for many years, and the 2014 edition appears that it will live up to that grand tradition. On Friday night a number of Ohio-based teams were in action. I arrived in Akron in time to catch the game between Ohio’s Another Level and Indy Speiece Heat Red (2018). Although Another Level would race to 6-0 lead, and lead 11-6 by the 11:05 mark in the opening half, Indy’s superior size and skill would start to pay dividends, and Indy would later close the lead to 14-10 with about 9 minutes left. By halftime, Speice held a 29-20 lead.  In the second half, Speice would capture then later extend the lead to-29-49 with 7:55 left in the game. By the time the horn sounded, the Heat was ahead 35-59.  The star of the game for Indy was Trejean Didier (6’1 SG Ft Wayne) who paced his team with 9 points. Didier was productive at both getting to the rim and knocking down the outside jumper. Alex Heath (5’3 PG Euclid) was a standout for Another Level, and although he did not put up big numbers, he did a good job of penetrating and finding open teammates.

Ed Lysh’s Buckeye Prep team got off to a great start to the tune of a 56-17 blowout win over Illinois Speed Black. From what I understand, the outcome of the game was never in doubt, as Buckeye Prep jumped out to a big lead and never looked back.  The leading scorer in the game was Gahanna’s Seth Goodson who finished with 12 points, followed by Garret Tipton (10), Teon Jennings (10) and Chase Rankin (9).  Next up for Buckeye Prep is Tier 1 Sports Tomorrow’s action should be competitive, as pool play concludes and the first 2 rounds of bracket play tips off.