In last Thursday’s game, Orangeburg Prep was totally overmatched and Jake’s presence in the middle made it clear right away this was going to be a rough night for the visitors. He was a dominant presence and at times made it look unfair…finishing with four dunks on the night, all in traffic! There were several other excellent performances Thursday, most notably were Harrison Whatley (who led the team in scoring for the first time in his career with 14 points) and 8th grader Denham Wojcik who wowed the crowd with his ball handling, mature court presence and long range shooting.

On Saturday, we faced Bishop England for the third time this season. They are always tough to play because they are so well coached, play very disciplined and if left free will hit a bunch of three point shots. Our challenge was to ramp up our defensive effort and especially ensure their top two players are smothered throughout the game…then “own the boards” and utilize our superior size and athletic ability to get easy points in transition. The game plan was followed superbly and while it was a total team effort that led to the win, the key once again was Jake’s presence inside. Time and again he got big rebounds, especially offensive rebounds which led to put backs and helped maintain our lead seemingly every time the Bishops pulled closer. Aaron Nesmith once again led the team in scoring, finishing with 26 points and included some incredible “highlight” dunks set up by our tenacious defense and good passing by Josiah James. It should also be noted that Dante Smith and Abram Solomon helped shut down BE’s two best players and made it a very frustrating night for them holding the Bishops to a total of 33 points–and only 4 points in the key fourth quarter!

This Wednesday against Northwood Academy, Jake had another strong game, scoring 12 points and had at least 10 rebounds.