Saturday’s first Hoopfest session featured three more games following the Carterville and Marshall County girl’s game. The reigning Mississippi 6A State Champion’s Columbus took on Curie, IL. in the second game of the morning.
Tied 14-14 at the end of the first quarter, Curie took a 26-21 halftime lead but Columbus went on to out-score Curie 17-7 in third quarter to take a 38-33 lead into the fourth quarter, going on to win 54-46 behind 22 points from game MVP Robert Woodard who has committed to play for Mississippi State.
Currie was led in scoring by Chattanooga commit Maurice Commander with 15 points. Currie’s Treavon and Tyree Martin are entertaining offers from Tulsa, Chicago State and University of Illinois at Chicago.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | Final | |
| Curie | 14 | 26 | 33 | 46 |
| Columbus | 14 | 21 | 38 | 54 |
SCORING
Curie: Commander 15, Gordon 8, Treavon Martin 6, Graham 6, Walker 5, Gasby 2, Tyree Martin 2, Hinton 2
Columbus: Woodard 22, Harris 13, Smith 8, Deloach 6, King 3, Johnson 2
Curie: FG 17/43, 3 pt 9/21, FT 3/5, Reb 20, Fouls 16, AST 8, TO 7, ST 5
Columbus: FG 21/40, 3 pt 2/9, FT 10/15, Reb 28, Fouls 10, AST 4, TO 9, ST 5
Findley Prep, NV defeated Aspire Academy out of Louisville in one of the more closely contested games on Saturday with 10 lead changes and nine ties. The difference in the game came at the free throw line, where Findley Prep made 22 of 25 attempts. This was Findley Prep’s second win of the Hoopfest after beating Orangeville Prep 67-48 Friday.
Bol Bol led Findley Prep with 14 points, Kyler Edwards, who has committed to Texas Tech added 13 points and MVP Reggie Chaney had 10 points and seven rebounds. Conner Vanover, a 7’3″ center who has committed to Memphis, scored nine points and Spencer Washington, young brother of UK’s PJ Washington scored two points for Findley Prep.
Joel Ntawbwe led Aspire Academy with 19 points and Charles Bassey, the #3 ranked junior according to ESPN, added 16 points and 13 rebounds. Bassey has several schools attention, including Kentucky and Duke.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | Final | |
| Aspire Academy | 13 | 21 | 39 | 53 |
| Findley Prep | 11 | 19 | 37 | 56 |
SCORING
Aspire Academy: Ntawbwe 19, Bassey 16, Allen-Eikens 7, Russell 4, Maisonneuve 3, Smith 2, Kalle 2
Findley Prep: Bol 14, Dewards 13, Chaney 10, Vanover 9, Moss 7, Washington 2, Schwietz 1
Aspire Academy: FG 18/41, 3 pt 1/9, FT 16/28, Reb 32, Fouls 20, AST 7, TO 17, ST 7
Findley Prep: FG 15/39, 3 pt 4/13, FT 22/25, Reb 23, Fouls 15, AST 3, TO 13, ST 9
St. Benedicts, NJ also picked up their second win of the Hoopfest, beating Hillcrest Prep, AZ 68-57. They were led by Nigeria native, Precious Achiuwa, with 38 points and 10 rebounds, earning MVP honors. Achiuwa, a junior, has several offers already from schools that include Kansas and Syracuse. Lester Quinones, who has an offer from Western Kentucky University, added 13 points.
Kyree Walker, who had committed to Arizona, led Hillcrest Prep with 32 points. KJ Hymes, a Nevada commit, added eight points and Demarius Jacobs, who has an offer from Western Kentucky, finished with seven points.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | Final | |
| St. Benedicts | 24 | 33 | 48 | 68 |
| Hillcrest Prep | 11 | 27 | 42 | 57 |
