Jyare Davis, Sanford Win at Hoophall

For Albany, it was a mixed bag for future UConn Husky Andre Jackson. An elite athlete who has had a strong senior season, Jackson didn’t have his greatest game. He hit a few deep jumpers late, but between the second and third quarters while the game was in the balance he was relatively quiet. Looking forward, it’s always going to be a matter of whether or not he can be consistent.

Davis earned MVP honors for Saturday’s performance.

Congrats to Jyare Davis @jydavis13 of Sanford (DE) on being awarded the Most Outstanding Player after their victory over Albany Academy (NY) at the @HoophallClassic #HHClassic #DEHSBasketball pic.twitter.com/aFybTeVYHQ

— 1st State Sports (@1stStateSports) January 18, 2020

For Sanford MVP 6’8″ Jyare Davis (Providence) had 20pts 5reb 2asts, 6’2″ ’20 Corey Perkins had 16pts 4 treys 9asts 5reb 2stls, 5’10” ’20 Hassan Perkins had 16pts 4 treys 5asts and 6’9″ ’21 Nnanna Njoku added 14pts 9reb in the win.

— chick gillespie (@chickg3) January 18, 2020

Breed’s IMG team won a 100-95 thriller against Hargrave Military Academy at the Hoophall Prep Showcase on Friday night. Kenyon Martin Jr. was the star for IMG, but Breed was second on the team in scoring with 19 points on 7-11 shooting. Breed and IMG return to action on Saturday night to take on New Hampton at 6:30pm. That game will be streamed lived by Yurview New England.

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After watching the Sanford/Albany game this morning, here are a few notes:

Sanford led 21-9 after the first quarter. Davis made two of his three shots from the field, which included an open 3-pointer and a strong drive from beyond the arc. His lone miss came off of a pull-up just inside the 3-point line. Jackson, the UConn commit, did not score in the opening quarter and missed a handful of shots.

The second quarter belonged to Jackson, who finished on a pair of alley oops, threw down a vicious one-handed slam in transition, and showed a pretty Eurostep. Sanford led 34-31 at the break and the most impressive player on the floor might have been Nnanna Njoku, Sanford’s 6’10, 245 pound center. Njoku is a top 125 player who Providence offered last summer. What stood out most was his soft shooting touch from the free throw line and when facing up — shades of Ben Bentil, another Delaware native. Njoku is part of the class of 2021.

Albany appeared to be taking control of this one late in the third quarter. They had all of the momentum and led, 41-39, with about two minutes left in the quarter. That’s when Sanford countered with 3-pointers on three straight possessions. Davis grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled just before the end of the quarter, and made 1-2 at the line to put Sanford up 49-41 after three.

Sanford blew the game open in the fourth quarter, pushing their advantage to 17 points. The best sequence of the game for Davis came when he was fouled shooting a jump shot. He made the first free throw, grabbed his own miss on the second, and scored inside. On the ensuing possession, Davis finished with power at the rim for an and-1. He is a strong wing who did not force anything offensively against an Albany team that spent a majority of the day in zone.

Bossi was not high on Jackson, but there were certain things he did in this one that you can’t teach — specifically, athletically. He had a few misses from beyond the arc that barely grazed the rim, but made two deep ones. His athleticism in transition jumped out, however.