By Ruben Alcaraz
Last weekend took place at New Haven (Connecticut) the National Prep Showcase (NPS), a kind of kick off for the prep season in United States. The big novelty this year was that Canarias Basketball Academy (Spain) was a part of the tournament and turned into the big attraction of the weekend.
All eyes on them:
Two days before the start of NPS the big news on college recruitment was the signing of Canarias Basketball Academy (CBA) center Matz Stockman (’95) by the University of Louisville. Same dates, another big guy from CBA signed LOI with a powerhouse college like University of Pittsburgh, Dutch Shaquille Doorson (’94). All expectations aside, CBA lost its first game against Massanutten Military Academy (Virginia) with Norwegian Stockman scoring 14 points with 6 for 6 from the field. But the most impressive player from CBA was Slovakian Michal Cekovsky (’94) who scored 12 points (5 for 6 from the field) and grabbed 10 rebounds. Another Slovakian, play maker Simon Krajcovic (’94) was the best scorer of the team with 16 points (4 for 6 from beyond the arc), 5 rebounds and 3 assists.
In the second game CBA beat Cushing Academy (Massachusetts) with another great game for Cekovsky; 20 points and 5 rebounds. Stockman scored 11 and added 5 boards and 2 blocks. Czech wing Jan Svandrlik (’94) scored 11 points with 3 for 4 3s while dishing 2 assists. Other European players on CBA team were Spanish Kingsely Obiekwe (’94) and Adrián Carrión (’96), Dutch Christal Manou (’93) and Boy Van Vilet (’94), and Slovakians Vladimir Brodziansky (’95) and Jakub Petras (’94).
Besides the Spanish team, others Europeans took part of NPS. Let’s check it:
-Notre Dame Prep (Massachusetts) won both its games with a team loaded with European players. Monmouth commit Nikola Vujovic (’93) from Serbia is its most outstanding player from overseas. Other players on its roster are Turkish Emre Akin (’95) and newcomer Tugay Efe (’95), French Gnahore Bollo (’95) and Diagouraga Dama (’97) and English Samuel Egedi (’95).
-Elev-8 (Florida) brought two teams, one high school and a post grad. Both teams played two games but only the high school team was able to win a game, with a team loaded with Russians like Max Sudarkin (’96), Nikita Shantaley (’96) and Stas Tatsiy (’96). The post grad program has another Russian in its roster, Ilya Thomaschuk (’94) beside Slovenian Matevz Dobravec (’93) and George Mumin (’94) from Montenegro.
-Another Russian player at NPS was Jeffrey Peloso (’95) being part of Our Savior New America (New York).
-Believe Prep (South Carolina) came with a seven footer from England Legend Robertin (’94) to win both games.
-St. Thomas More (Connecticut) brought English Ajou Deng (’95) to lost first game and win in overtime its second and last game.
-Another usual team with Europeans at the Showcase is South Kent (Connecticut) which won the first game but lost the second. Montenegrin Dusan Perovic (’94) is the key player in the paint on a team which also has the Swedish Albert Christensson (’96) in the front court. Perovic scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in South Kent’s win the first day.
-Tilton School (New Hampshire) lost its game on Sunday where Spaniard Gonzalo Santana (’95) did not play because of a recent surgery. Nemanja Krtolica (’95) from Bosnia is on Tilton’s roster too.
-Apair of Greeks took part in the event, Nik Maragkidis (’97) for Brewster Academy (New Hampshire) and Ilias Theodorou (’95) for St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy (Wisconsin).
-Massanutten Military Academy (Virginia) has a key player in Dimitri Sousa (’94), Brazilian born but with Greek and Italian passports.
-Last year’s National Prep Champion Northfield Mount Hermon (Massachusetts), was leading by Aaron Falzon (’96). Falzon has Maltese passport and played with younger Malta national team. In his first game Falzon scored 37 points with 9 for 16 from beyond the arc in an amazing performance. In the second game led again his team to another win with 18 points and 9 rebounds.
Photo: CBA (Matz Stockman)
Twitter of the author: @Filipy09
