Watson-Gayle and Dukes emerge as possibly area's top tandem - AugBball Game of the Day Preview

Today's AugBball Game of the Day features one of the town's hottest teams, Westminster, in its Garden City Classic championship game matchup against rival Augusta Christian at 4:30 P.M. at Augusta Prep. The Wildcats are defending their Classic title, won last season against Prep, the host school.

Weeks ago in part one of my AugBball High School Hoops Preview, area hoops junkies debated, through Twitter, which area duo would be most likely to replace Laney's Zep Jasper and Christian Keeling as the town's top tandem. Daron Lewis, an Augusta Prep graduate who coaches now, deserves credit for identifying Westminster's Jelani Watson-Gayle and Michael Dukes as the most likely pair to combine scoring and winning play in a way that distinguishes them, and their team, from the area pack.

The tandem has averaged a combined 40 points per game, nearly 80% of the team's total offense, for the 4-1 Wildcats. But they have done so in a way that keeps Westminster's solid supporting cast, which includes 6'5" McKay Stackley, 6'4" Noah Kershner, and 6'1" Larkin Ison, involved and productive.

In the audio behind the video highlights above from Friday's 52-33 semifinal win over Fox Creek Friday, Coach Mark Tebbs talked about his talented guards and how they are able to score so effectively while playing within Westminster's well designed offense: