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Game Stories, GHSA, GHSA Basketball

No. 1 McEachern dominates on national stage at City of Palms

Contributed by Chris Kelly   (@C_KELLY99)

No. 1 McEachern 77, Ranney School (NJ) 57

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No. 1 McEachern (7-0) entered their first City of Palms game against the Ranney School (NJ) as the nightcap on Monday. McEachern and Coach Mike Thompson knew they were going to have their hands full with 5-star wings Bryan Antoine and Scottie Lewis. Both wings are highly touted prospects with a handful of offers from high-major schools. The game tipped off with a total of nine juniors and a sophomore starting between the two teams. It started out as a fast pace matchup with Sharife Cooper and Isaac Okoro finishing strong at the rim. On the other end, McEachern came out in man-to-man with the long Brandon Suggs guarding Lewis, the No. 6 ranked player in 2019, and Okoro picking up Antoine, the No. 7 player in 2019. As the quarter closed out, Cooper put up a long two, looking for a foul and made it to give McEachern a four-point lead.

The second quarter began with the Indians going on a small run. McEachern’s size inside, mainly Jared Jones and Babatunde Akingbola, became a big problem for the much smaller Ranney School. The two bigs made their presence felt by continually crashing the boards and swatting shots. Towards the middle of the quarter, Cooper floated a perfect pass to Akingbola who rose up and dunked all over Lewis.

McEachern closed out the half with a string of great defensive stances and Ranney School head coach Tahj Holden getting a technical foul. At the half, McEachern was up 42-19.

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The third quarter opened up with the Ranney School sparking a brief run. Lewis got his first points off of a beautiful crossover and three. Antoine got to the free throw line a few times and both the standouts found guards Ahmadu Sarnor and Alex Klatsky for easy buckets. McEachern responded with a run of their own, fueled by Cooper’s ability to penetrate and find players on the wing. Big men Jones and Akingbola both showed their versatility by knocking down some outside shots. Lewis left part way through the third quarter with what looked like a very gross, dislocated pinky finger but quickly came back and started to make his presence felt a bit. He hit a few jump shots and did a great job finding shooters open on the wing. McEachern still closed out the quarter by a wide scoring margin and began to pull away.

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The fourth quarter started with the Ranney School losing one of their more consistent players, Sornar, to fouls and McEachern capitalized on it. Cooper turned it up a notch and got into the paint at will, finishing well with both hands. McEachern’s bench came in to give their starters a rest and provided the same level of production and consistency. Juniors Alyn Breed, Quinton McElroy and Devin Gordon were the main contributors from the bench and provided little drop off in production from the starters. As the quarter went on, the lead never dwindled and McEachern kept their foot on the gas. Towards the end of the game, both squads put in their reserve players and Lewis finished with a few big time plays, including a spin move and huge dunk.

McEachern won by 20 with the final score being 77-57. The Indians displayed their dominance on a national stage at the City of Palms. The young, Georgia team has a very tough match-up Wednesday morning against the No. 8 ranked team in the nation, Hudson Catholic (NJ). The second New Jersey squad the Indians will play, are led by a senior core consisting of Ohio State-commit Luther Muhammad, Oregon-commit Louis King, and recent Arizona-decommit Jahvon Quinerly. The game tips off at 11 AM.

Chris’ Takeaways

Sharife Cooper was one of, if not, the best player on the floor. Cooper was extremely poised and made great decisions for his team, something you do not normally see from a sophomore. He got into the paint with ease and was able to find teammates to kick the ball out to.

McEachern’s defense is the real deal. The Indians held a very good Ranney School team to just 19 points in the first half and finished with only 58, with most of those second half points coming at the end of the game. Brandon Suggs and Isaac Okoro did a great job containing Scottie Lewis and Bryan Antoine. The two wings combined for thirty-two points on a subpar 33% shooting.

Beating McEachern come playoff time will be no easy feat. The Indians, despite being young, limit their mistakes and played under control. McEachern is also such a deep team. Coach Thompson’s team has very little drop off in production when the second unit comes in the game.

Top Performers

McEachern
Sharife Cooper – 21 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists
Isaac Okoro – 15 points, 5 rebounds
Jared Jones – 16 points (6-9 FG) 7 rebounds

Ranney School
Bryan Antoine – 20 points
Scottie Lewis – 10 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists