Hoophall: Findlay notches second win

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.) coach Michael Peck challenged Winston Shepard to become an interior presence the Pilots have been lacking for most of the season.

On Monday, the 6-foot-8 forward announced his presence by throwing down an emphatic one-handed slam during a 17-0 run as the Pilots (19-2) won their second consecutive game in as many days 68-59 over Lincoln (Dallas, Texas) (21-2) as part of the Spalding Hoophall Classic on the campus of Springfield College.

"I just wanted to make a statement," Shepard said.

Shepard's throw down followed a tip-in that broke open a 40-37 ballgame in the third quarter as Findlay held Lincoln scoreless for a stretch of six minutes during the third and fourth quarters.



Peck, who called this a "huge turning point" for Shepard's confidence, made some adjustments at halftime with his team holding a 35-31 lead in hopes of taking advantage of his team's conditioning against the larger Tigers.

"We had to come out and initiate our offense in a rested position," Peck said. "Let them burn a little of the 30 second shot clock and make them feel a little bit more hurried and rushed."

However, Lincoln coach Leonard Bishop felt it was more of a lack of execution on the Tigers part.

"I really don't think it's what they did so much as what we didn't do," Bishop said. "We didn't run our offense correctly and didn't score. They did a great job of running their system."

For the second consecutive game, senior Nick Johnson (19 points) shutdown another future Division I talent when Peck had the 6-3 guard defend Lincoln's 6-7 forward LeBryan Nash.

The future Arizona Wildcat held Nash (Oklahoma State) to 23 points on 6-of-19 shooting. Johnson held both Nash and future Syracuse Orangeman Michael Carter-Williams of St. Andrew's (Barrington, R.I.) to 14-of-41 (34 percent) from the field.



"They both went for 20," Johnson said. "My job is to make them work for every shot and I believe I did that."

Nash knew they had a game plan for him; he just didn't know it was going to be Nick Johnson.

"I thought I should have taken it to the hole more and got more calls but that's part of the game," Nash said. "We weren't ready for them. We thought we could come in here, play our game and just go out there and walk away with a win."

Shepard, who finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds, admitted playing against Nash, a good friend, gave him extra motivation to perform at the highest level. He also believes the two wins at the Hoophall Classic will propel Findlay toward a strong finish over the season's final haul.

"This is a big momentum game for us," Shepard said. "We were coming off a loss [68-66 to Norcom] and we wanted to get that off our backs. We got that, and we're going to be pushing forward."
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St. Patrick (Elizabeth, N.J.) 79, Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) 63

Austin Rivers of Winter Park went for 38 points Friday against St. Patrick and Shabazz Muhammad of Bishop Gorman went for 28 Monday, but neither player could out-duel the Celtic trio of Michael Gilchrist, Derrick Gordon and Chris Martin.



The seniors combined for 69 points as St. Patrick (10-0), No. 2 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 national rankings, solidified themselves as the No. 1 team in the nation with Monday's victory after top-ranked Oak Hill Academy's 75-69 loss to Milton (Ga.) Saturday.

"We did an overall good job on defense but we still need to pick it up on offensive rebounds," Gordon said. "But we're number one in the country right now so we're just trying to celebrate."

Gilchrist scored eight of his 27 points unanswered in the second quarter to break a 22-22 tie and swung the game's momentum back in St. Patrick's favor as the Celtics never trailed the rest of the game.

St. Patrick coach Kevin Boyle pulled his star player out of the game in the first half to rest Gilchrist, who told his coach he was tired. Boyle admitted it's been a tough stretch for the players because of the recent travel and study hall sessions for midterm exams.

Muhammad struggled in the first half with three fouls but showed off his talents in the second with two beautiful layups through a series of St. Patrick defenders.

In the third quarter, the junior sprinted through the paint and connected on a left-handed layup over Gilchrist and Gordon. He later threw down a left-handed slam.



"It was great going against Mike," Muhammad said. "He's a player. Number one in the country and you saw that tonight. He plays hard and all out. I tried to match his intensity."

Gilchrist, who also had 10 rebounds, and the rest of the Celtic trio were just too much said Bishop Gorman coach Grant Rice.

"Everybody knows what kind of player Gilchrist is, but when you have two wings like Gordon and Chris Martin shooting the ball that's really hard to stop," Rice said. "Every time we get a stop it seemed like Chris Martin was hitting a shot from the corner or Gordon was attacking the basket."

Gordon finished with 24 points and Martin (18 points) was 4-of-7 from beyond the arc before leaving the game with an unofficial concussion, according to Boyle. Martin hit the James Naismith Court hard on a foul by Ronnie Stanley with 6:14 remaining in the game.

Gordon said it does not matter if St. Patrick's gains the new No. 1 ranking.

"We still have a target on our backs," Gordon said. "Every game we have to come out and show everybody that by the end of the season we will be number one."
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Boys & Girls (Brooklyn, N.Y.) 47, Academy of the New Church (Bryn Athyn, Pa.) 45



Antione Slaughter was one of the shortest players in the 2011 Hoophall Classic but he had the biggest shot of the four-day event when he made a right-handed runner with 2.1 seconds remaining to lead the Kangaroos to an upset victory over No. 17 Academy of the New Church.

Boys & Girls rallied from a 16-point deficit with 7:51 remaining and defeated the Lions despite shooting just 22.1 percent from the field.

The Kangaroos won in large part by holding Rakeem Christmas to three points as the forward struggled all night with foul trouble. The senior missed a potential game-tying jumper at the end of overtime. Christmas was also called for traveling with 19.8 seconds remaining in regulation and the game tied at 44.

Malik Nichols (16 points) tied the game at 44 with 2:16 remaining by making a left-handed shot while being fouled and then netting the game-tying free throw for the three-point play.

Savon Lloyd-Goodman had 16 points and 16 rebounds for ANC in defeat.

St. John's Prep (Danvers, Mass.) 62, Perspectives Charter (Chicago, Ill.) 53

Pat Connaughton (Notre Dame) soared through the paint and dunked home an offensive rebound to tie the game at 51 and then drilled a 3-pointer over the outstretched hands of 6-10 forward Anthony Davis to give the Eagles their first lead of the game as St. John's Prep rallied for the victory.



Connaughton finished with 19 points and five steals and Steve Haladyna had a strong 25 points as St. John's Prep outscored Perspectives 29-11 in the fourth quarter.

Davis, a Kentucky signee, injured his right thumb with under three minutes remaining when he was fouled driving hard to the basket and left the game.

The forward led all scorers with 30 points and 16 rebounds despite managing foul trouble.

HOOPHALL NOTES: Omar Calhoun had 23 points, 10 rebounds and six assists as Christ the King defeated Deuce Bello (22 points) and Westchester Country Day (N.C.) 73-65. Bello, a YouTube sensation, had a couple of dunks to get the crowd on their feet…Anthony Davis was charged with three offensive fouls in Perspective's loss Monday and struggled defensively against pump fakes. St. John's was victorious despite shooting 30.9 percent from the field…Northampton (Mass.) solidified themselves as one of the top teams in Western Massachusetts by holding East Longmeadow to single-digit scoring in all four quarters of a 75-30 victory. Jake Laga led the Blue Devils with 16 points and Jared Murphy had 10 rebounds.