By Jason Hickman
MaxPreps.com
USA Basketball Finalizes Hoop Summit Roster
Future North Carolina Tar Heels Wayne Ellington, Tywon Lawson, and Brandan Wright were among 10 high school players named to USA Basketball's 2006 Men's Junior National Select Team, which will compete in the Nike Hoop Summit April 8 in Memphis.
Joining Ellington (Episcopal Academy, Pa.), Lawson (Oak Hill Academy, Va.), and Wright (Brentwood Academy, Tenn.) will be Kevin Durant (Montrose Christian, Md.), Paul Harris (Notre Dame Prep, Mass.), Spencer Hawes (Seattle Prep, Wash.), Gerald Henderson (Episcopal Academy, Pa.), Vernon Macklin (Hargrave Military Academy, Va.), John Scheyer (Glenbrook North, Ill.), and Thaddeus Young (Mitchell, Tenn.).
Team USA will face the as of yet unannounced World Team, which has featured current NBA standouts Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, and Vladimir Radmanovic in past years.
Team USA won the 2005 Hoop Summit, also played in Memphis, 106-98, and holds a 5-3 advantage in the series dating back to 1995.
Knight Time
Brandon Knight
of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., may be the next big thing in high school basketball. But the 6-2, 160-pound guard will have to wait until next year to officially claim that title.
Knight led Pine Crest, one of Florida's top academic schools, in scoring at 18.8 points per game this season despite only being an eighth-grader.
"He is phenomenal. He can play point guard or shooting guard and brought the ball up for us a lot this year," Pine Crest assistant coach Ian Singer said. "He broke the school assist record with 10 in a game and we had the winningest season in school history."
But the basketball court isn't the only place Knight excels, pulling down straight-A's at the challenging Pine Crest School.
"Pine Crest is a very prestigious academic institution," Singer said. "That is one of the big reasons Brandon decided to come here."
The Eagles' second leading scorer during the 2005-2006 season, 6-4 post player Edward Waite, was just a freshman and broke the school record with 32 rebounds in a game while averaging 15.4 points per contest.
"It's been really special. Pine Crest has always been a decent basketball program, but these kids have come in and taken it by storm," Singer said.
Pine Crest finished the season 23-3, but had things come to a close in an upset loss to Pompano Beach in the district playoffs.
Dynasty at Douglas
Staying in Florida, Douglas High in Parkland became the Sunshine State's first public school girl's soccer team to capture four-straight state titles by beating Lake Mary 2-1 in double overtime Saturday in Fort Lauderdale.
The Eagles, who compiled a 23-1-1 record on the season, used a goal by senior Brianna Schooley in the 99th minute to seal the historic "four-peat".
Jason Hickman: (253) 376-5905 or jrhickman@maxpreps.com