Hoophall Classic: Nevada teams score pair of big wins

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – It was a big day for teams from Nevada on Monday at the Spalding Hoophall Classic as both Findlay Prep (Henderson) and Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) won key showdowns.

Findlay Prep – ranked No. 2 in the MaxPreps Academy Top 10 – was too much for No. 1-ranked high school squad Simeon (Chicago), running away from the two-time defending Illinois state champs late for a 75-50 victory.

Bishop Gorman staved off a determined DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) squad for a win of its own. The Silver State powerhouses meet in a highly anticipated local showdown next Saturday at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas.

"Gorman is a different team now with (Ronnie) Stanley and Ben Carter back," Findlay Prep head coach Michael Peck said. "Their length and size obviously matches our length and size. That's another one where we are going to have to go in and gut it out."

Minus five-star power forward Anthony Bennett, who was out for the third-straight game with a hamstring injury, future Oregon Duck Dominic Artis picked up the slack for Findlay Prep (18-1) with 21 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.

"He's really turned a corner for us," Peck said about Artis.

Simeon (15-1), which received a game-high 24 points to go along with 12 rebounds from star junior Jabari Parker, struggled to keep pace with the Pilots from the opening tip. But the Wolverines scrapped and clawed to make it a 46-40 game heading into the fourth quarter.

Findlay Prep took complete control from there, outscoring Simeon 29-10 in the final eight minutes and shooting a blistering 69.6 percent (16-for-23) from the floor in the second half.

"We are still developing and growing up in that area, being able to handle a lead and close out games without making it a game," Peck said. "That's exactly what happened today, we kind of stumbled a little bit but were able to maintain a two-possession lead going into that fourth (quarter)."

Nigel Williams-Goss (18 points), Winston Shepard (16 points) and Brandon Ashley (13 points, nine rebounds) also finished in double figures for the Pilots.

Simeon couldn't find much production beyond Parker. The rest of the team hit just nine field goals and shot a collective 26.4 percent. The loss was the first for the Chicago school since Feb. 19 of last year.

Findlay Prep's win also means that for the second year in a row, Monday action at the Spalding Hoophall Classic will result in a new No. 1-ranked team in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 National Boys Basketball Rankings, presented by the Army National Guard.

A year ago it was then-No. 1 Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) falling to Milton (Ga.), ushering in St. Patrick (Elizabeth, N.J.) as the nation's top-ranked program. St. Anthony (Jersey City, N.J.) – a winner over Miller Grove (Lithonia, Ga.) on Monday in Springfield – is likely to replace Simeon in the Xcellent 25.

No. 24 Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) 73,
No. 3 DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) 63
Shabazz Muhammad scored 37 points and put an exclamation point on Bishop Gorman's win with a rousing windmill dunk in the final 30 seconds.

"We led from start to finish and we really wanted to make sure we came out strong and didn't get behind," Bishop Gorman head coach Grant Rice said. "I'm really happy with the way we maintained that lead. Got a little scary there a couple of times but I'm really proud of our guys."

Muhammad, a 6-foot-6 wing and the top-ranked senior prospect in the country, hit 12 of 22 field goal attempts while collecting six boards, pushing the Gaels to their biggest win of the season. Bishop Gorman (13-3) went 2-2 at the City of Palms Classic in Florida last month and fell in the semifinals of the Beach Ball Classic in South Carolina after Christmas.

The game was a rematch of the 2010 Les Schwab Invitational final in Oregon won by DeMatha.

Gorman also received 18 points and nine rebounds from 6-9 Stanford-bound wing Rosco Allen. Welcoming back Notre Dame football commitment Stanley (6-7, 285) and Oregon signee Carter (6-8, 220), the Gaels used six players standing 6-6 or taller, including 6-10 freshman Stephen Zimmerman.

Junior guard Jairus Lyles led DeMatha with 17 points, seven boards and four assists. Pittsburgh-bound point guard James Robinson added 13 points, six rebounds and four assists.

No. 2 St. Anthony (Jersey City, N.J.) 60,
Miller Grove (Lithonia, Ga.) 48
A stifling defensive effort by St. Anthony and the all-around game of senior point forward Kyle Anderson led the Friars to a win over three-time defending Georgia Class AAAA state champ Miller Grove in Monday's opener.

"This is as good a St. Anthony defensive team as we have had," legendary head coach Bob Hurley said. "We follow the scouting report pretty good and we have really good length so we don't give up a lot of easy stuff."

Anderson, a 6-7 UCLA pledge, finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and five steals as St. Anthony slowly pulled away in the second half after leading 30-26 at halftime.

The Friars made it a tough outing for Miller Grove star Tony Parker, a 6-8, 260-pound senior center who is one of the nation's top uncommitted prospects. Parker was limited to just six points on 1 of 7 shooting to go along with three rebounds.

"I think he kind of got frustrated," Hurley said. "Jerome (Frink) did a great job on him. Jerome played great angles, made him work really hard to get it. We kept him off the offensive boards and the perimeter guys did a real good job of them not getting easy looks inside to find him. If he's in a rhythm he would have just tore us apart."

St. Anthony, the defending national champion, has won 45 games in a row.

No. 12 Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) 88,
Christ the King (New York) 50

Mater Dei senior guard Katin Reinhardt helped turn a matchup of storied programs into a laugher by pouring in 35 points, tying a school record in the process with nine 3-pointers.

Reinhardt, a 6-4 UNLV pledge, connected on 13 of 19 field goals and matched Mater Dei's school record for threes previously held by Clay McKnight, the son of Monarch head coach Gary McKnight.

Elijah Brown added 15 points for the defending California Division I state champs, who outscored Christ the King 27-7 in the third quarter. Colorado signee Xavier Johnson contributed 12 points, 10 rebounds and three assists.

Connecticut signee Omar Calhoun notched a team-high 18 points for Christ the King.