A running account of the Augusta area’s basketball and football scene. This is the blog. Go to @AugBball on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for live coverage.
I've heard people call overtime on football Sundays "free football." When the North Atlanta Flight homeschool basketball team had the second leg of its double-header cancelled, they found a willing opponent and host in Alleluia, the #5 ranked team in my AugBball Preseason Top 11 series. So thanks to chance and to the good people involved, we got some "free basketball" Saturday, both in the sense that it came unexpectedly and one week before any other high school tip-off, and because the hosts at Alleluia waved Saturday's admission charge.
I realize it's November 7. But you wouldn't know it watching these teams play offense. Alleluia's
Elliot Balducci has made huge strides and has become another dangerous weapon available to coach Dennis McBride. His second quarter tip-dunk charged up the home crowd. Elliot was impressive stroking jump shots and finishing around the basket.
Teammate Hayden Hebert, a 6'5" match up nightmare who shoots and drives like a guard and scores in the paint using good athleticism and footwork, was the most consistent scorer and ultimately the deciding factor in the Angels' 77-64 win. Hebert tallied 23 points to lead all scorers.
Alleluia's Ben Dresser eyes a teammate in Alleluia's season opener.
After the Angels leaped to a 14-7 lead behind a fast start by Hebert and a deep bomb by Ben Dresser, North Atlanta shot its way to a first half lead before the teams traded baskets throughout the first three quarters.
The Flight are a fundamentally sound bunch that shoots, handles, and shares the ball very well, much like their opponents. But after building a 58-51 lead with less than 6 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Angels spread the floor and patiently used the clock, seeking layups and passing up chances to launch from deep, something I haven't seen from this bunch of bombers.
In addition to Hebert's 23 points, Dresser added 18, Mac McBride scored 14, and Balducci chipped in 12.
North Atlanta was led by Oliver Oden's 21 points. Chandler Minton and Killien Glover each added 12.
Saturday's free high school basketball was a treat. I'm ready for more, free or not!
The Columbia County middle school race got more interesting Friday. Evans put together two halves of timely shooting and bruising inside play en route to a 38-30 win over Greenbrier that put the Knights in a tie with Columbia Middle for second place in the standings as we near the season's halfway point.
Evans fell behind early to a disciplined Greenbrier team that is led by scrappy point guard Cyrus Wilder, who got Greenbrier's offense on track early. Wilder penetrated the paint, made floaters, and found teammates inside. The Wolfpack led 14-5 with less than 2 minutes remaining in the second quarter.
Mackenzie Norman (left) and Cole Anderson battle for position Friday. Norman led all scorers with 15 points.
But Evans' perimeter trio of Mackenzie Norman and seventh graders Brandon Brown and Cameron Warren gradually heated up and quickly erased the deficit before halftime. The teams traded baskets and leads throughout the third quarter. But Evans forward Cameron Bridell, another seventh grader, established an inside presence that, along with the perimeter shooting barrage, was too much for Greenbrier to overcome.
Norman led all scorers with 14 points. Wilder scored 8 points to pace the Wolfpack.
Evans improves to 3-1 and stands tied with Columbia one game behind Grovetown. The Knights face Riverside and Stallings Island next week. Greenbrier falls to 3-1 and faces a brutal week with games against Columbia and Grovetown.
Grovetown, Columbia, Evans, and Greenbrier have carved out spots in the top half of the 8 team Columbia County field. But with ten games remaining, there is plenty of time for those teams to come back to the pack, and for the teams that haven't sprinted out to a fast start to get moving.
The Augusta University Jaguars 2015-16 team is a fascinating group. Returning All American Keshun Sherrill is the best and most exciting player we'll see in person this season.
See his "AugBball Player Profile" here.
Freshman Aaron Byrd scored 14 in
Augusta's first exhibition game.
Link to game report: Augusta vs All Army
The rest of the team is relatively young. In its first exhibition game, three freshmen made significant contributions. Aaron Byrd and Jashawn Brooks scored 14 and 13 points, respectively, to add to Sherrill's 29 point burst.
And the team is dotted with Augusta raised talent. Brooks was the senior captain of last year's 29-2 Laney Wildcats. The sharpshooter reached three final fours as a starter on the wing.
Senior transfer Tommie Williams starred for Richmond Academy and also carried the Musketeers deep into state playoff action. He scored 9 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in Sunday's exhibition game.
Augusta's local connection: Brooks (left),
Fields (center), Williams (right)
And sophomore Tamyrik Fields, who played at Aquinas in high school, looks ready to build on a solid freshman campaign.
The Jags play another exhibition game before everything starts to count. November 14 (4 P.M. at Christenberry Fieldhouse) is the inaugural "Legends Game," a game between the current Jags and a group of former players. I'll coach the former players. I suppose I'll need to put my camera down for that!
2) Taylor and Moore meet in Connecticut
It should surprise no one that Jaylen Taylor, a 6'7" Tampa University freshman, threw down a two handed tip dunk in his team's first exhibition game, an 88-72 loss at national powerhouse UConn. Jaylen scored 4 points and grabbed 6 rebounds in 14 minutes of action. The Laney graduate made quite a name for himself the past few seasons flying through the lane and over defenders, as you can see in the video below.
Taylor wasn't the only Augusta native participating in Connecticut Sunday. Ricky Moore, a 1995 Westside graduate, is an assistant coach at UConn. In 1999, Ricky starred on the Huskies' first of four national championship teams. He probably had the most impressive high school basketball career of any player in our area's history as a four year starter who led Westside to a state championship and the #9 spot in USA Today's 1995 ranking of the nation's best high school teams.
3) More from Laney's Class of 2015
Brooks and Taylor weren't the only graduates from Laney's class of 2015 who showed promise early in their freshman campaigns. Jervon Walker scored 15 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, and threw down a 2 handed alley-oop dunk in his first game with the Mott Bears, a 112-84 win.
And Aliyah Collier started Clemson's first exhibition game, tallying 9 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 assists. That is an impressive stat line for a freshman in the ACC. It brings to mind her last stat line at Laney... But first let's watch maybe my favorite video from last season, which I recorded off Georgia Public Television's live broadcast of last season's Lady Wildcat state championship:
A live interview can be difficult for an 18 year old. But she nailed it! And the stat line on the bottom of the screen... Well in case you can't read it, here it is: 24 points, 19 rebounds, 8 assists, and 5 steals. She made 16 of 20 free throw attempts. No wonder she was my favorite high school player, boys and girls included, last season.
4) Webb appears to be an NBA draft prospect
It seems like every few days I see something saying James Webb is a possible NBA draft choice. The 6'9" junior who is a former Curtis Baptist Crusader and current Boise State Bronco, scored 11 points and tallied 8 rebounds per game last season. His Broncos play at 12th ranked Arizona November 19. I have that game circled on my calendar.
5) Richmond's Williams will be a Redbird
In my first "AugBball's 10 things" post, I noted the college commitments of Laney teammates Zep Jasper (College of Charleston) and Christian Keeling (Charleston Southern). Madison Williams has joined them as the third player from our area to commit to a division I college, Illinois State University. The Redbirds are getting an elite athlete with a nice stroke. I look forward to seeing Madison's Richmond Musketeers play three consecutive Tuesdays in December against Laney (Dec 1), Glenn Hills (Dec 8), and Westside (Dec 15). These early season matchups pit 3A (our area's strongest region) teams against my preseason pick for our area's best 5A team.
6) Columbia County's Youth Development
After coaching in Gerald White's middle school all star game last Spring, watching Team Power's 2019 team last summer, and following Columbia County's middle school action recently, I am wondering if Columbia County is gaining an edge on producing the area's best players. Richard Crawford (freshman, Greenbrier); Kalen Williams (freshman, Lakeside); Cameron Cabarrus (freshman, Evans); Legend Barrett (freshman, Greenbrier); Chris Williams (8th grader, Grovetown), Christian Chambers (8th grader, Columbia); and Ricky McGhee (7th grade, Grovetown) are all as good as anyone I've seen area wide in their respective classes.
But Richmond County has dominated area basketball for as long as I can remember. So it's possible I am mistaken. I'll get a much better read starting this Monday when I visit Langford Middle School to see the Lions host Hornsby in my first look this season at middle school basketball outside Columbia County.
7) More AugBball coverage schedule details
I recently released this "AugBball Coverage Preview," which outlines the key November and December, non league games that jumped off the page when I reviewed the schedules of the teams I'll follow. And here is my actual AugBball calendar for the month of November. This schedule is subject to change at any moment without notice. Feel free to make suggestions. I welcome and appreciate feedback!
8) Happy I stumbled into covering the middle schools
This is a video playlist of the three middle school games I covered at the end of October.
One week ago I posted the AugBball Coverage Preview. I mapped out the season and made plans to follow almost 30 teams. Hours later I followed my friend Will Avery's advice and watched Grovetown Middle open its season against Columbia Middle. I enjoyed it so much I decided to add the (Columbia County and Richmond County) middle school teams to my schedule. So although I don't always make detailed plans, it seems that when I do, I like to immediately change them. But hopefully that helps keep things interesting.
My middle school plans are aided by the fact that their schedules start early. The high schools and colleges don't play regular season games until mid November so I aim to get up to speed with the young AugBballers in the next few weeks.
9) A chance to make a splash
I started my preseason hoops coverage ranking the top 11 high school teams in my coverage area. Two teams I didn't place in that grouping, but have early season chances to prove they belong, are Greenbrier and Aquinas. Greenbrier's high scoring senior duo of Justen Hartfield and Jakob Nelson give Casey Heckathorn's group the experience and firepower needed to rebound from last season's disappointing showing.
Aquinas's Tre Gomillion had the best fall league of any player competing. Gomillion and Hephzibah transfers Gerald Merriweather and Cameron Gardner, all sophomores, form a promising young trio.
The Wolfpack and the Fighting Irish face Laney, my pick for the area's best team, at the Wolfpack Challenge at Greenbrier November 20 and 21, respectively.
10) Steph Curry. Enough said.
I just don't feel right about posting 10 things about basketball without making one of them about the most skilled player I have ever seen, Mr. Steph Curry, who is on quite a roll in the association. I think we can all agree to make him an honorary AugBballer!
This info graphic at JaguarsRoar.com shows the accolades Augusta University star Keshun Sherrill has earned in just two years of action. This is almost impressive enough to prove correct my belief he is the best college guard within a few hours drive of here.
Sherrill is a returning All-American, a returning first team All Peach Belt player,
and the preseason Peach Belt Player of the year. There is no better player to
feature first in my "Players to Watch" series.
But individual honors aren't what make me such a fan. I like watching him win. Four of last season's games leap to mind as examples of his doing whatever was needed to get the Jags timely victories. Although he shot a very conservative 12 times (scoring an insanely efficient 18 ppg in so few attempts!) per outing last season, he poured in the points in the most adverse conditions, as you can see in this player profile video:
On the road in a sold out HEAL Center against city rival Paine, Sherrill scored 25 points, all in the game's final 25 minutes, to secure bragging rights for his Jags in an exciting rivalry game.
At then undefeated Lander, Sherrill again scored 25 points in the final 25 minutes to even the Jags' league record at the time at 3-3. Sherrill was magnificent during a second half when the Jags' fate was very much in doubt. Down 4 in the final minute of regulation, he scored twice, the second time seemingly against the entire defense, to force overtime in the closing seconds. This is the game that made me nickname Keshun "Superman!"
The win preceded a 13-1 finish in league play and the eventual number one seed of the Peach Belt East division in the conference tournament. Two of those wins were heavily influenced by Sherrill as well. With the Jags trailing 65-60 at Young Harris, Sherrill buried a three with 1:50 remaining and another at the :17 mark to give Augusta a 66-65 lead and eventually a key road win. And while senior Devon Wright-Nelson nursed an injury versus then east division leader UNC Pembroke, Keshun carried the offensive load and eventually provided more late game heroics. This time he sank a three late to keep the Jags close before getting to the free throw line on the last possession, where he made two to seal the win at home.
Sherrill now stands as the Jaguar with the most experience. By a mile. Speaking about the Jaguars' preseason rankings (#23 and #17 in recent polls), coach Dip Metress pointed out the truth that most of the key players from the Jags' two straight trips to NCAA tournaments the past two seasons are gone. But Sherrill still has two seasons remaining. He has proven he is the type of player who leads championship teams. So I get what the voters in the preseason polls are thinking. And I agree.
Rickey McGhee and the Grovetown Patriots continue to roll.
Corey Warren, the coach of both the Riverside boys and girls teams, is coming off county championships with both after his Eagles squads posted a combined record of 28-0 last season. But it was clear early in Tuesday's game at Grovetown that the title of best boys middle school team in Columbia County will be changing hands this season.
Grovetown improved to 3-0 with a 63-16 win over the Eagles. The Patriots host Stallings Island Friday.
Grovetown is the most likely candidate to unseat Riverside as county champs. After hearing Columbia topped Stallings Island 50-24 tonight, I predict the Raiders are the most likely to challenge the Patriots for the county's crown. Columbia was impressive in a heart breaking loss at Grovetown a week ago. And AJ Gregory, who led the Raiders in scoring today with 11 points, didn't play in that game. Today's 50 point Raider burst makes me look forward to the next time these teams meet again.
But before I make too many assumptions, I will break my plans to follow Grovetown until the season's halfway point. By my count, there is one more undefeated team: Greenbrier. So Friday's feature game will be the Wolfpack's (3-0) invasion of Evans Middle (2-1).
Greenbrier beat Harlem 39-32 Tuesday. Jake Matthews scored 9 points to lead the Wolfpack.
The 2015-16 Augusta University Jaguars should be an exceptionally fun team to follow. Junior dynamo Keshun Sherrill is reason enough to qualify Jags games as must see hoops action. The returning NCAA Division II All American picked up Sunday where he left off last season, scoring 29 points in an 87-66 exhibition game victory over the All-Army team.
Augusta stood tall against a formidable All-Army team Sunday
Sherrill is joined by a mix of newcomers, mostly freshmen along with a senior transfer, who will have plenty of opportunities to make an impact. And a few did exactly that Sunday. Freshmen guards Aaron Byrd and Jashawn Brooks, a Laney graduate, scored 14 and 13 points, respectively. Senior transfer Tommie Williams, a former Richmond Academy Musketeer, scored eight points and snatched 9 rebounds. And freshman Tyvez Monroe made timely baskets.
The team also benefits from the leadership of reliable veterans. Michael Graham and Aquinas graduate Tamyrik Fields both contributed Sunday with key offensive rebounds and scores in transition. The combination of Sherrill's ability and experience, the promise of the incoming players, and the discipline that all Dip Metress coached teams possess should make the next several months of Augusta University action fascinating to watch.
Grovetown Middle School followed a dramatic home win over Columbia Tuesday with a decisive 33-23 win at Evans Middle Friday. Chris Williams, a 6'4" eighth grade center, and 6'2" seventh grade wing Rickey McGhee were again too much for the opponent to handle. Williams has been consistently impressive. He moves well and keeps opponents from getting good scoring opportunities. And he finishes almost everything around the paint with a soft shooting touch.
Chris Williams has towered above the competition in the season's first week.
As I explain and show in the video above, McGhee is very skilled with the ball. He is the only middle schooler I've seen these first two games who attacks the basket with his off hand. As Friday's game progressed, Rickey was more and more willing to finish his drives with a score, rather than pass to a teammate in no better position. His second half baskets helped the Patriots build a 28-16 lead on the scrappy Knights.
Many thanks to Columbia County for the October basketball last week. I plan to report on Grovetown's games until the season's halfway point (November 17), or until they are defeated, whichever comes first. Then I'll move to the next most impressive team I see. Before Thanksgiving, I plan to have seen and shared enough Columbia County and Richmond County (beginning November 9) middle school hoops action to show people why it's well worth following.
