National High School Hoops Festival Recaps – Second Day
Ron Bailey, Publisher
December 11, 2007 – Reports for the second and final day of the inaugural National High School Hoops Festival follow (For day one, click here). The event was a success. Just ask Patterson School head coach, Chris Chaney.
“This is one of the best events I’ve been involved with, especially for the first year” said the bench leader. “We definitely plan to be back next year”.
The festival’s chief organizer, Keith Stevens, was proud of the Festival, saying afterward “It wasn’t bad for the first time out. We had good crowd support, but next year it will even better…Some of these same teams will be back, like DeMatha and O’Connell, in addition to Oak Hill (who has already confirmed)”.
One group of people, college coaches, did show up in droves, much to Stevens’ delight. “Anytime you can get coaches to watch kids, that’s a blessing” he said.
Over the course of Saturday and Sunday, coaches from these colleges were seen in Wise High School’s gym, watching the proceedings (others surely were there but went unnoticed): Morgan State (Bozeman, Prue), Georgetown (Cox), UVA (Leitao), Maryland (Williams, Driesell), Bowie State (Winbush), Citadel (Ginyard), Marist (Ranson), George Mason (Caputo), Hampton (Nickelberry), Boston College (Colson), Georgia (Jones), Clemson (Smith), American (Williford), Longwood (Fudd), Xavier (Richardson), NC State (Strickland), Cincinnati (Cronin), North Carolina A&T, Villanova, Stony Brook, JMU, Jacksonville, Northeastern, Niagara, Colorado State, VCU.
Paul VI 57 St. Frances 48
After finding itself in an 11-11, end of the first quarter stalemate, Paul VI (VA) outscored St. Frances (MD) 21-10 in the second period, thereby ensuring victory. Their defense on St. Frances’ Sean Mosley (14 points), a powerful senior guard heading to Maryland next year, was the key.
Adrian Mills with Keith Stevens, Festival Organizer.
“We wanted to make him work for everything he got” said Paul VI’s coach, Glenn Farello of his team’s defensive focus on Mosley, which included using multiple players such as sophomore guard Blake Bozeman (9 points) on him, many times denying the future Terp the ball.
Offensively, senior guard Adrian Mills (23 points), scored from all over the floor, earning MVP honors for this efforts. Senior forward Westley Ford (7 points) also hit some key baskets.
Despite Paul VI’s efforts, St. Frances made a strong second half comeback, chipping their deficit to five on a late shot by Mosley on the baseline, but would get no closer.
Farello was particularly pleased with his team’s win, given their rough in-conference (WCAC) loss to McNamara, and the cancellation of a subsequent game due to weather concerns, thereby forcing the team to suffer an extended wait before taking the court again.