The Summit Summer League continued on Wednesday night and again provided a couple of exciting endings, major impact games and quality breakout like performances.
For the uninitiated, each week the teams will change and players will play with different teammates under different coaches. The games are played in two 20-minute halves with a 35-shot clock and an Elam Ending to close the games out. What is the Elam Ending? The clock in the second half is stopped at two minutes and seven points is added to the winning team’s score; that total becomes the target score that needs to be hit to achieve victory.
Potential and how people play to it has been the biggest thing. Each team has some inexperienced guys, each team has some role players and each team has some high end guys with a few that have seen themselves be killers each week. But, you never know when those high end guys could really go off or when a newer face can catch you off guard with their ability.
So what went down in Week 2 that you should know about?
BALANCE IS THE KEY TO 2-0
Team Prokop pulled off the 2-0 week with their big game one victory over Team Deming and then a wire to wire battle with Team Durnell.
And both times, Team Prokop just played the role of being the most well balanced team, with Tayvon Stidams, the freshman from Bishop Luers left as the player with a double figure scoring average for his team, putting up 14.5 points per game with an early barrage of four three pointers leading Team Prokop to their lead over Team Deming. He would continue his consistency into the game two win and knocked down seven total threes on the day; hitting the most triples of any player on Wednesday.
Caden Rice (DeKalb) scored to win game one 74-55 for Team Prokop, part of a steady workman night for the DeKalb junior in which he averaged nine points and five rebounds in two games.
Prokop sealed their second win what was the best game of the day as the closing act against Team Durnell. Despite Durnell leading most of the way, Prokop took the lead late and went into the Elam Ending leading 56-54 after a buzzer beating three from Michael Raudenbush (Homestead) for Team Durnell.
In the extra frame, Kohen Smith (Garrett) tied the game for Team Durnell at 60, before Nathan Bowker put Prokop ahead for good on a left side, right hand reverse layup. Durnell had their chances at the line with Prokop opting to foul instead of giving Durnell a chance to draw up a three-point look but Kyle Hartsough (Lakeland) hit just one free throw of two. Down 62-61, Team Durnell got Dom Keferl (Carroll) to the line for two shots, but he missed them both, allowing Prokop to get the ball back and leading to a Landon Lybarger (Heritage) pull up midrange to win the game 64-61.
Lybarger was another guy who just brought consistency to the Prokop lineup. He secured 15 points in the opening game and added eight in the win over Team Durnell.
A DOMINANT DUO
Team Abram was so close to a 2-0 day, falling 65-61 in their first game against Team Durnell despite a big Isaiah King (Fort Wayne Hawks) and-one three pointer that cut it to 63-61 before Owen Prater‘s backdoor pass to Michael Raudenbush (Homestead) gave Durnell the win.
But Abram and his group didn’t leave much to chance in game two, winning on a Jake Coolman (Homestead) three in a dominant effort.
But along the way, it was just too hard to slow down the combo of King and Stephen Akase (Tippecanoe Valley). Akase posted the league’s first double double night this year, averaging 15 points and 10 rebounds with two steals per game as Team Abram went 1-1. King, who led the league in scoring week one, upped his game in week two averaging 21 points per game while pushing his rebounding to 8.5 per contest. When you get 36 points and 18.5 rebounds per game out of two guys in your lineup, there isn’t a lot many teams can do with it.
Akase was very physical around the rim this week, very dialed in and seemed more attention detailed than week one. He was cerebral with his post ups and fought tenaciously every time he was around the rim. King continued to be more free flowing and diverse and came oh so close to throwing down a dunk so vicious in Team Abrams’ loss to Team Durnell that the whole place was ready to come out of their seats.
OUT ON THE BREAK
Part of this could be mentioned in the first breakaway about Team Prokop, but it was great to see lead guards getting on the break and their big men running with them consistently.
It was something that propelled Team Prokop in their early win over Team Deming as Nathan Bowker (East Noble) and Oliver Adams (Woodlan) got out and ran well together with so many of Bowker’s league high 16 assists on the week coming to Adams in transition, with Caden Rice (DeKalb) and Wyatt Weaver (Homestead) also running the court with him some while Landon Lybarger (Heritage) and Tayvon Stidams (Bishop Luers) spotting up for other Bowker options. But that Bowker to Adams combo has been lethal for two straight weeks now.
The same could be said for Team Abrams’ Davis Cowan (Tippecanoe Valley), who played lead guard really well in his team’s 1-1 day. While his connections with high school teammate Stephen Akase were no surprise, Cowan also gelled quickly with Isaiah King (Fort Wayne Hawks) and it makes sense how that duo ended up leading the league in scoring this week. Cowan looking to score in transition is too a dangerous animal and it opens up how he can run the floor with others.
While Team Deming was a bit different in their makeup, Mason Pearson (NorthWood), Parker Reed (Garrett) and Justin Carlson (Lakeland) each took their turns getting out and being the passer in transition.
Team Durnell had a bit of it too with Kyle Hartsough (Lakeland) and Dom Keferl (Carroll) leading the charge. The guards league wide can really get up and down the court, but with bigs running with them, it can be a game changer.
FRESH FACES / OTHER STANDOUTS
We got to see a couple of new faces to the league this week, but none better than Lavell Ledbetter. The New Haven sophomore averaged nine points and 3.5 rebounds per game, but immediately asserted himself for Team Deming, who despite leading both games early, fell to 0-2 this week.
While they aren’t fresh faces to the league, Bishop Luers freshmen Tayvon Stidams and Jayden Moore are really making names for themselves. Stidams was one of the league’s top players and performers with his shot being on point this week for Team Prokop with a well formed quick trigger shot; Stidams scored 29 total points this week after getting just eight in the opening two games week one. Moore, playing for Team Durnell, was incredibly active everywhere he was on the court. Sure, he scored 14 points and looked really good in game one, but he had really assertive energy throughout and forced several tough shots out of the opposing offenses.
Two Garrett players in Parker Reed and Kohen Smith had shining moments throughout the night. Reed had a great start for Team Deming including a rip around rebound just 90 seconds into the night, running the floor, exploring his options and finding Mason Pearson (NorthWood) for a basket and the foul. His 13 points and seven rebounds per game this week led Team Deming. Smith had a stellar came one for Team Durnell with 16 points in a win that saw his jump shot be valuable.
And we can’t end the week without talking about Owen Prater (Rochester), who rightfully should be the talk of the gym so often. The kid just works all of the time to clean up up messes. He rarely is a guy that is getting the ball out of the natural motion of the offense, but he always there to work the boards, back down sometimes bigger but less physical defenders and do the hard work. Prater is always the most physical guy on the floor and he clearly prides himself on that; he finished with 11.5 points and seven rebounds per game this week.
These opinions represent those of Bounce and Outside the Huddle. No opinions expressed on Outside the Huddle represent those of any of our advertisers. Follow Bounce on Twitter at Bounce_OTH
Be the first to comment