Bounce is wrapping up the 20256 Summit Summer League but doing things a bit different this week than I have in the past weeks. Took my time to come up with this wrap up of the league, so follow along!
Bounce is naming some UNOFFICIAL awards for the league based on my own personal opinion. The league itself didn’t have a champion or award winners, but I am here to pick it up and name my own award winners of a fantastic four weeks that wrapped up this past Wednesday.
So, for full disclosure, these awards are all of my own opinion and not necessarily those of the league’s operators.
Bounce has his own opinions and I stick to them fiercely.
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
Week 4 needed to be the deciding factor in Bounce’s decision here and with the league’s two leading scorers coming into the week on the same team in Week 4, it could have made things interesting.
But on Court A, away from those two players, Huntington North’s Titus Schultz put a stamp on this decision and one he may not have been in the front row up heading into the last week. He started the night by hitting two threes in the first 90 seconds of game one (out of 5 total threes hit in that game in the first minute and a half) and he didn’t take his foot off the gas all night long in Week 4. Outside of that though, Schultz rebounded hard, got out on the break and lead his teammates with passes and was just all around the clear best player. Schultz averaged 34 points per game in Week 4, setting the SSL’s single game scoring record twice with 31 and 37; he also averaged 13.5 rebounds per game in Week 4.
But Week 4 doesn’t make a Most Valuable Player of a four week league.
Schultz scored in double figures in 7 of his 8 games, of course led by Week 4’s efforts, but also scored 18 and had a pair of 16 point games along the way. Schultz’s 17 rebounds in a Week 2 game was also a league best in 2026 and he had a co-league best 6 assist outing this year as well.
He led the league in scoring, rebounding and blocks while ranking in the top 5 in assists and made three pointers as well.
BEST BOUNCE BACK
This is a fun one every year and one that I kind of put out there in the atmosphere in my column heading into Week 4. Someone always steps up in a big way the last week. It could be a steady hand who plays out of their mind in the closing week, it could be someone completely under the radar.
But Week 4 has always been like its own little bubble in a lot of ways in the Summit Summer League; so who stepped up and made that big final impression?
World, meet Gibson Grieser. Yes. I have talked about the Bluffton junior at other times during the Summit Summer League, but he catapulted himself up as one of Week 4’s best players in the league overall. In Week 4, Grieser averaged 10.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.5 steals and was just about everywhere during Team Prokop’s 2-0 effort. To see a guard come out and put up back-to-back double doubles like Grieser did is rare and he certainly put an exclamation point on his SSL, which was good throughout but nothing like the last week.
His five steal effort in game one of Week 4 ties the second most steals in a game in league history.
WHO GENERATED THE MOST INTEREST HEADING TO SCHOOL SEASON?
This fall work is all prep right? Prep for the season ahead. So generated interest AND improving a skill set against a new look of opposition is always important.
You may have known the name Tayvon Stidams prior to this four week Summit Summer League, but if you followed along with the league in any way, be it through yours truly, through social media, on Summit City Sports or by attending league games, you have to be pretty intrigued by the scoring and shooting prowess of Stidams, a Bishop Luers junior.
The Knights are going to look a lot different. They graduated some, they lost a key player to a transfer…new guys were going to have to step up this coming winter in a variety of new ways. Stidams has proven over the last four weeks that he could be not only one of those guys stepping up, but a major player for the Knights and potentially in the SAC a a whole.
Elliot Cummings stepped up big after a slow Week 1 and really became one of the best workhorses in the league. With big changes afoot at Blackhawk Christian, his continued drive offensively is important.
Landon Kralis shifted some expectation by yours truly that he is part of Warsaw’s post brigade to really being a diverse offensive threat. He spread the defense out in the SSL by hitting some timely shots from deep, but when the time came that he needed to be assertive inside, he dominated at times there too. Warsaw needs some more breakout guys to replace the toll of graduation and Kralis has alot of attention for the season ahead now.
NOW YOU KNOW THE NAME
This is a category over the years in my wrap up column that has really been led by young guys and/or guys that are either on the fringe of OTH’s coverage area or even outside of it. Names like Preston McCann of Mississienwa or Owen Prater of Rochester have popped out here.
But there weren’t an overabundance of out of area guys this year.
But here is one from the area: Camden Keyser from Huntington North. The Vikings are going to be dangerously deep again and in this league, Keyser established himself as a name to know that you probably didn’t before. His 9.5 rebounds per game were a defining part of his game as he was super tough on the inside, where he scored in bunches too. He’s actually the only player in the league that didn’t lose a game this year, going 6-0 before missing the last week of league play.
Also get to know his new teammate, freshman Cohen Sorg, who shot the ball well at times but really stood out due to his offensive effort and energy. Is Sorg going to get varsity minutes as a freshman? That is to be seen but he sure looked every bit like he belonged among the big guys in these four weeks.
After his last week of games, tack Jayden Phillips of Angola onto the list to of a name you should know now. Phillips hit some big shots throughout the league, but in the final week, he strapped up with six made three pointers in a game, tying the league record for most triples made in a game. And did he ever look smooth doing it.
OTH’S OPINION: ALL-LEAGUE TEAM
CAMDEN KEYSER, HUNTINGTON NORTH
Keyser missing out on Week 4 makes us with we knew if he could have averaged 10 boards per game, but co-leading the league at 9.5 is solid too. Keyser also averaged 12.2 points per game. He had three double doubles in six games.
LANDON KRALIS, WARSAW
Kralis was a double double nightmare too and while his name didn’t appear on more than one of the SSL’s Top statistical categories, his consistency and physicality was something every team enjoyed having. Kralis averaged 11.9 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. He had two double doubles.
ANDREW MCCUTCHEON, HUNTINGTON NORTH
McCutcheon was among the league’s most consistent scorers throughout, finishing with 11.5 points per game. When he did miss double figures it was with 9, 9 and 8 points. He was also one of just 12 players to hit double figure steals.
CARTER MIDDLETON, CARROLL
Middleton’s slow start made way for some hot shooting as he finished with a league co-second best 16 triples with games of 4 and 3 along the way. Middleton scored 23 points in the final week in a game and averaged 13.4 ppg for the league.
WYATT SCHROLL, MANCHESTER
Schroll was a speedster that made a lot of things happen, tallying a league best 19 steals, though he was second in steals per game average. He had a five steal game in there, but not to undersell that he had a 22 point game in the final week and also had a 5 assist game this summer.
TITUS SCHULTZ, HUNTINGTON NORTH
As mentioned above, Schultz shined every week in about every way. He finished leading the league in scoring (18.3 ppg) and blocks (1.5) and shared the top of the heap in rebounds per game (9.5). His final two games (31 and 37) are the top two scoring games in SSL history, as is his 17 rebound effort this year.
TAYVON STIDAMS, BISHOP LUERS
Right up until the last week, Stidams led the league in scoring. He still finished second at 17.4 points per game, one of the top scoring averages in SSL history. Stidams led the SSL with 17 three point makes and had three games scoring in the 20s or higher with double digit scoring in 7 of 8 games and his 30 point total in one game is the 3rd best in a single game in SSL history.
ZEN SZAFERSKI, BISHOP LUERS
Szaferski played in 6 of the 8 games this season, missing a week due to an injury, but was a game changer when he was there, leading the SSL in steals (2.5) and assists (3.7), two categories he just missed leading in last year. Szaferski added 9 points per game, including a week 3 20 point outing.
GEORGE POIRY, BISHOP DWENGER
Poiry started hot with back to back 20 point games in week one and finished third in scoring at 16.4 ppg including a 24 point game in Week 3. Poiry dialed up a league second best 16 three pointers during the 2026 SSL.
CARSON WALTKE, EAST NOBLE
Waltke was one of just four players to score double digits in 7 of 8 games, but to his credit, his one game not there was with 9 points, better than the other three in the category. Waltke had a high of 21 points on his way to 15.3 per game as a consistent high scorer. He also had games of 13 rebounds, 5 assists, 6 steals and 3 blocks to showcase his diversity.
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
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