Nike Grassroots Day II Recap

C. Guess, C. Stringer, D Holloway, C. Woodside, A. Harris, T. Watkins, S. Cherry, B. Fort & C. Rankin

We spent the day at Reynoldsburg High School for day II of the Nike Grassroots Tournament. Early, we watched an 8^th grade EBA Hoops team, pull out a close 56-56 win over a Columbus-based Garver Grizzlies. The stars of the game were Storm Cherry (5’5/PG/2019/Akron) and Andre Harris (6’0/P/SG/2019/Cleveland), who finished with 14 and 15 points, respectively.  We were really impressed with Coach Chris Anthony’s 2019 Ohio Bulldogs squad.  The team is well constructed with solid guard play, scoring wings and quality bigs. The game wasn’t much to watch as the Bulldogs easily defeated Pittsburgh, PA-based GPU, but we were impressed with the play of Dorian Holloway (6’0/WF/2019/Columbus), Treohn Watkins (5’9/SG/Columbus) and Ben Fort (6’0/PG/Reynoldsburg).  We have heard good things about each of these players previously, and what we saw on Saturday confirmed they are quality players.

Buckeye Prep-Lyshe started slow against Ohio Legacy (2018), but stepped on the gas late and pulled away to collect a comfortable 47-24 win. Collin Woodside (6’5/PF/2018/Lancaster) was a beast in the paint and finished with a game high 13 points, while Chase Rankin (5’9/PG/2018/Gahanna) stayed in the paint, drew fouls and hit his free throws to the tune of 12 points.  Buckeye Prep would go on to win their second game of the day to finish second in their pool and advance to bracket play.  All-Ohio Red’s 2019 team had an easy go against All-Ohio Lima Northwest. Chris’Sean Stringer (6’3/WF/2019/Cincinnati) was the high man in the win. Finally, All-Ohio’s 2018 team cruised to a lopsided win over CG4L.  The story of the game was the explosive play of Christian Guess (6’4/SG/2018/Cleveland), who logged in a highlight video type performance.  Guess is athletically gifted and plays above the rim.  The final day match-ups should be competitive and up for grabs in several divisions.