The 2025 edition of the Summit Summer League tipped off Wednesday night with four games.
For the still 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 30-shot clock and an Elam Ending to close the games out. What is the Elam Ending? After the second half ends, seven points is added to the winning team’s score; that total becomes the target score that needs to be hit to achieve victory.
Now that we are fully into this at the halfway point of the league, what went down in week number two?
IT IS TIME TO ADMIRE CARSON WALTKE
If there was a true breakout player of week two, it was clearly Carson Waltke (East Noble) as he helped lead Team Vance to a 2-0 week with 20 and 14 point wins.
Waltke, as I mentioned in a column during the summer, is a bit of an unknown tot he common fan at this point. He transferred to East Noble during last season as a sophomore after starting his career at Angola. That transfer has him still not playing school ball until sometime this December, so leagues like this provide such value for opportunity and exposure and Waltke took full advantage in week 2.
He is not a true post by any estimation and has a quality shot on him as well. But when Waltke goes to work at the rim, either as a post up or getting downhill, he is a hard one to stop. He is aggressive and tenacious rebounding the basketball and, lets face it, there are times that he looks like he just wants it more than other players. That, as we all know, is half the battle.
Waltke scored 11 points in the week 2 win over Team Deming, which was probably a poignant start against his AAU coach/high school assistant. In game two, he was THE dominating factor in a win over Team Abram, scoring 19 points basically any way he wanted. That was the second highest scoring game of the league so far this fall and the fact that Waltke just bodied his way into points so seemlessly was impressive.
ANSWERING MY OWN QUESTION
For those that didn’t read my week 2 preview column on Tuesday, I presented the question: In a league like this, what is more valuable, inside presence or three point shooting?
After watching Week 2 games, I have my answer.
The interior is more important, at least in my mind, than the three point shot. And that takes a lot to say because often the three point shot is the great equalizer. And there were ALOT of triple hit on Wednesday, so lets not pretend that they were not important.
59 three pointers were hit in week two, compared to 50 in the opening week; 37 of those threes coming in the 7 pm opening hour. Nick McBride (Norwell) hit six threes over the night for Team Prokop, including four in their opening loss to Team Abram, to lead all shooters. Behind him was a five three-point night from Team Deming’s Tayvon Stidams (Bishop Luers). Team Deming’s Cam Schimmele (Bishop Luers), who hit five in the opening week, hit three more this week. Titus Schultz (Huntington North) and Cam Abbring (Homestead) of Team Vance, Dom Keferl (Carroll) and Brody Bolen (Huntington North) of Team Deming also hit three triples each over the week. The threes flew…but it was such an interior week, that it even opened up the big men to hit deep shots.
In the opening game on Court 1, Team Vance’s Stephen Akase (Wawasee) and Team Deming’s Avery MacFarlane (Lakewood Park) went to war. Akase ended with 13 points and 5 rebounds in the win, with his strong physical play inside pulling the defense back enough that he hit some good jumpers, including a volleyball line three for the win during the Elam Ending. MacFarlane finished that game with 15 points and 6 rebounds, only to turn around and have 14 points and 11 rebounds in the 8 p.m. hour game.
Caden Rice (DeKalb) pushed out an 11 point, 11 rebound effort for Team Prokop in the opening game of the night as he went to war with Mason Pearson (NorthWood) of Team Abram who ended with 9 points and 12 rebounds.
We get to a point, now at the halfway point of the league, that of the eight players who are averaging double digit scoring, probably only two (George Poiry and Nick McBride) are classified as guards, with Jayden Moore a stretch forward. But at the top, MacFarlane leads the scoring with Akase, Rice, Pearson and Carson Waltke all joining him in double digit scoring. MacFarlane, Rice and McBride are the only three players to have double digit scoring in all four games played so far.
So while the threes help and the threes have been big, the meat of scoring comes with interior work. Some of it set up well, some of it coming with the big boys making things happen off of offensive rebounds, something that MacFarlane, Pearson and Ryan Stuckey (Angola) looked really sharp with in week 2 games.
GET TO KNOW SOME NAMES
One of the brightest highlights out of week two games was Bishop Luers sophomore Zen Szaferski, who did not play in the league in week one. Szaferski looked comfortable immediately in his first game, looking to score from the onset. But it was his week two game, a win for Team Deming over Team Abram that really let Szaferski shine. In that win, he had 13 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and a league single game best six steals. It was his defensive effort that helped pull Team Deming back from two deficits including trailing by as many as 11 points. Szaferski’s steal and score with six seconds left in regulation gave Team Deming a 63-62 lead heading into the Elam Ending, just a big highlight piece for a major night.
That game was also a standout early for Team Abram’s George Poiry (Bishop Dwenger) and Team Deming’s Dom Keferl (Carroll). The two went at it early with Team Abram holding a 7-5 lead thanks to points scored exclusively by these two. After a first game that lacked some activity for Keferl, he came into game two firing and was reliable and efficient most of the game but his aggression as Poiry fired back set the tone for the game that was arguably the best game of the SSL so far. Team Deming had to come back big twice, and eventually won 70-64.
Jayden Phillips (Angola) also played his best ball so far in the SSL for Team Abram this week. He made a lot of good moves to get his shots, including an up and under late in the aforementioned game that helped Team Abram extend a lead and push back against another Team Deming run.
Team Vance’s Isaac Baker (Bellmont) was not someone who poured into the stats highly, but his defensive pressure and poise on offense were important pieces as Team Vance went 2-0, so far the only team to secure a two-win week. While the likes of Carson Waltke and Titus Schultz shined for Team Vance, Baker was a great calm presence again this week. Also strong for Team Vance was Gavin Wells (Homestead), who was clutch in getting to his spot and tearing teams up with his midrange jumper. He also took over early in Game two with 7 of Team Vance’s first 9 points, adding three steals during that first six minute run of the the game.
CHECK OUT THE GAMES
Miss the games this week but want to see what Bounce’s excitement is about? The games are available to watch in replay on the Summit City Sports YouTube.
Check back next Tuesday as we preview week three of the league that will run every Wednesday in August.
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