Saturday, December 5, 2009

Killeen 73 Gregory Portland 58

2010 G Ja'Corie Baker, just off a great season on the gridiron, led a talented Killeen High team to victory by dropping 26 points. 2010 PG Nate Velasco of Gregory-Portland took the team on his shoulders but they were overmatched against the Roos. Gregory-Portland has a couple of nice players, but no depth. Looking at times like deer in headlights the supporting players did next to nothing to take the heat off of 2010 PG (Texas D-1 Ambassadors) Nate Velasco. Velasco finished with 22 points as he went 10-10 from the charity stripe. Other than two early three pointers by Senior Taylor Stanford he was an island unto himself in competing against the Roos. Velasco is unsigned but can help somebody at the college level as he can handle the ball, shoots it well and COMPETES the whole game long, regardless of the competition. Soph W 2012 6'2" Quaderick Shaw shows promise to be a very good player over the next two seasons.

It was all Killeen as Coach Jason Fossett went deep into his bench, getting contributions from most of them. It's a different team this year after having lost 6'9" P Cory Jefferson to the Baylor Bears, but there's no shortage of front line talent. It's hard to replace Jefferson's defensive presence to be sure, but 2011 6'7" Ta'Shaun Thomas shows a nice touch offensively (as well as a presence as a shot blocker) and 2012 6'4" Tevin Bartney who is raw (but looks like he'll continue to grow gives the Roos some nice options from the high post down to the low post.

Yesterday's game was dominated by Senior G Ja'Corie Baker who scored 26 points and also went 11-11 from the free throw line. Despite just getting off the football field he dominated the ball. I really respect Baker, but to be honest I think if he shot it a little less the game would come easier to him and his other talented court mates would develop even more quickly. No faulting his effort though.

Killeen 20-14-19-20-73
Gregory-Portland 14-13-12-19-58