San Antonio Central Catholic 68 San Antonio Antonian 65

In one of the city's most spirited rivalries, the Central Catholic Buttons made it a clean sweep of the season series as they beat arch rival Antonian Apaches in a Saturday matchup in San Antonio.  The first time, CC gained control early and were never really challenged.  Last night's contest was different.  It was all knotted at 65 after a topsy turvy 4th quarter. 

Martinez Martinez! Martinez!

The last guy you'd want with the ball in his hands as the clock runs down is Central's Cole Martinez.  The 6'2" shooting machine fired up his last shot of the game and it was good!...at the buzzer.  This capped off another great evening as he finished with 33 points and sending the Antonian faithful home grumbling.  (His previous effort was 29 points, 10 rebounds 5 assists in a win vs St. Anthony's).  See his winning shot here on You Tube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFm-pt6oyRU&feature=email

Antonian's D1 duo of Jonathan Holmes (Texas-24) and Darrious Hamilton (Boise State-19) were a load to handle but this day belonged to Martinez and the Buttons.  Looking down the road, it's likely that Antonian will be headed for a playoff matchup vs Houston St. Thomas who I had a chance to see play on Friday night.  St. Thomas will bring three D1 level guys as well as they have three talented 2012 players in 6'9" shotblocker extraordinaire, Jeremy King,  CG Chase Brogna a lights out shooter & CG Christian Sanders who also can fill it up.  St. Thomas won a nail biter in an early season tournament on South Padre Island.

San Antonio Roosevelt  44  San Antonio MacArthur 40 (OT)

In a rare Saturday, public school game, the Roughriders outscored Mac 5-1 in the OT session in the upset win despite the Brahmas getting 18 points from 2012 G Matt Gramling.

Austin St. Michael's 77  Austin St. Anthony's 60
Jake Kocher (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) kept up his hot scoring pace as he dropped 33 in the win.

Austin Waldorf 79  Marble Falls Faith  39
2013 G Victor Garate had 19 in the win to go along with Senior Santiago Paredes 22.

San Antonio High School Round Up: Friday, January 28th

San Antonio Clark 57  San Antonio Stevens  56
2012 W Uche Ofoegbu couldn't put the Falcons over the top in a squeaker as he dropped 21 points in the loss.

2012 Uche Ofoegbu continues to impress as he adds 21 points in the win.

San Antonio Churchill 94  San Antonio Lee 67
Senior Clark Lammert had 22 in the lopsided win where the Chargers emptied the bench getting their entire roster involved.

San Antonio Taft 80  San Antonio Brandeis 65
Taft is dangerous!  It's a guard heavy group and they're tough to guard when they spread the floor.  Seniors Deondre Logan (22), Dylan Elias (Northern Colorado-17) & Marshall Harris (Citadel-17) led the attack.

Converse Judson 63  New Braunfels 34
Coach Mike Wacker is gearing his squad up for another playoff run.  Senior Cameron Griffin's 17 led the way.  2012 Kyle Hittle had 11 for the Unicorns.

Senior Cameron Griffin will lead a dangerous Judson squad into the playoffs

San Antonio Warren 68  San Antonio Holmes 59
2012 Wg Jerel Ellis had 26 in the win

Alamo Heights 50  Hays 38
2012 W Jeremy Rodewald had 15 & 2012 F 6'7" Shelby Lane added 17 as Heights continues to pile up the wins.

2011 G 5'8 Rebekah Knudson offered by Grand Canyon University

Contributing Editor:

Joseph Dean

txambassadorsd1@yahoo.com

512-809-3209

Texas D-1 Ambassador Rebekah Knudson of New Braunfels has been offered to play at Grand Canyon University.

2011 G 5'8 Rebekah Knudson

New Braunfels High School

Club Team: Texas D-1 Ambassadors

Rebekah could be headed to play in the Pacific West Conference for the NCAA 2011-2012 season.Grand Canyon University is located in Phoenix Arizona and ranks 6th in the Pacific West Conference. The Lopes are having a spectacular season and ranks 12th in the country in division 2 basketball. Head Coach Trent May is one of the best in the business and looks forward to having Knudson on campus for an official visit in the coming weeks.

Parents Chuck & Azeneth Knudson have been great supporters of the D-1 program & coaching staff. We would like to say thanks for giving us the opportunity to work with your daughter.

Grand Canyon plays a very aggressive schedule with travel to California, Utah, Arizona, and a cool  trip to Hawaii every year. Grand Canyon has also built a 5,000 seats arena that will open just in time for the 2011-2012 season. GCU arena will host Lady Lopes Basketball games and other sporting events. I want to say great job to Rebekah and her family. We all here at D-1 wish you the very best as you continue your dreams at the next level.

Grand Canyon University Arena

Austin High School Round Up: Friday, Janury 28th

Austin High 62  Austin Westlake 53
The Marooons were led by Seniors Alex Reinking & Eric McClellan with 15 a piece.  Westlake Junior R.J. Rowan led all scorers with 18.

Senior Alex Reinking does it all for Austin High

Bastrop 79  Pflugerville Hendrickson 72
The Bears got a big home win as Josiah Monroe (UT-San Antonio football) had 22.  Jalen Washington of Hendrickson led all scorers with 30.

Monroe is set to sign to play football for UT-San Antonio on Feb 12th but this dude belongs on a basketball court.  Has the biggest heart and will flat get in you defensively which sets him apart from most high school players.

Pflugerville 71  Round Rock Westwood 55
The Ville cruised in this one, with 4 players nabbing double digit scoring inclusing 2013 PG T.J. Williams with 10.

Soph Williams has been moved into the Pflugerville starting lineup by Coach Mike Murphy.

Cedar Park 74  Marble Falls  44
CP tamed the Mustangs behind Dylan Cox (Army) 21 points.

Two sport athlete Cox will enter Army as a 2nd lieutenant but is an excellent floor general.

Austin Bowie 75  Austin Akins 60
Akins' Yolonzo Moore (Hartford) had 25 points but 2012 G Paul Baxter negated that with 23 of his own while Senior Connor Robinson went to work down low and poured in 37, most of them from within 5 feet of the bucket as the Eagles had no answer for him on the blocks.

Generously listed at 6'5",  Robinson has great footwork and moves around the bucket.  He gets the job done for the Bowie Bulldogs and Coach Celester Collier.

Texas D-1 Ambassadors 5th-8th GRADE GIRLS TRYOUTS

The Texas D-1 Ambassadors will conduct tryouts for 5th-8th grade girls Sunday January 30th. Tryouts will be for elite and developmental teams. The tryouts will be held at Eastside Memorial High School (formerly Johnston). We will begin at 4:30pm. The cost will be $10 per kid to help offset gym cost.

The D1 Ambassadors are without peer when it comes to the development of players in order that they become major contributors at the middle and high school level.

For more information please contact Joseph Dean

txambassadorsd1@yahoo.com
512-809-3209

San Antonio High School Round Up: Tuesday, January 25th

San Antonio Churchill  96  San Antonio Reagan 84
The marquee' matchup in the Alamoc City was the District 26-5A matchup between San Antonio Reagan & San Antonio Churchill.  Their first encounter in late December saw Reagan come out on fire and never be seriously challenged.  Tonight's game followed a similar blueprint, but this time it was Churchill hitting a good clip early and often.  They were in control the entire game and never trailed as they cruised to a 96-84 win.  Hot shooting and lax defense all around were the order of the day.  There could well be a rubber match as both teams are talented and could be on a collision course as the playoffs get underway next month.   However, somewhere in all of this a talented San Antonio Taft squad could rear up and crash the party.
The Firm of Lammert & Lammert:  To the left, Senior partner Clark & to the right junior Connor

Reagan's Max Yon (Air Force) led all scorers with 29 points, while team mate Tre Demps (Northwestern) had 26, including 16 in the first quarter where he was en fuego including making two floaters which would have made Papa Dell Demps (New Orleans Hornets GM) proud.  Demps is really adding depth to his game as he prepares to make his way in the Big Ten Conference.

However, on this night the thrill of victory belonged to Churchill and their leaders, the Lammert Brothers.  Unsigned Senior, Clark led the way with 24 points while 2012 F Connor had 17 points and 12 rebounds.  At 6'9" Connor Lammert has established himself as one of the premier "bigs" in Texas.  He's only 16, and with his birthday far away into August oozes big time potential.  Toss in quality grades too and it's a wrap.

Converse Wagner 67  Cibolo Steele 60
Senior Devonta Davis had 13 as the Thunderbirds continue their winning ways in spite of graduating Andre Roberson (Colorado) & Jordan Clarkson (Tulsa)).

New Braunfels 71  Seguin 65
Three sport star, Senior Brig Gerlich led Seguin with 21 but 2012 W Kyle Hittle's 17 for a balanced Unicorns team led them to the win.

San Antonio Warren 62  San Antonio Clark 60
Clark was missing two starters and still gave Warren a tough time.  Too much 2012 F Taurean Prince-Waller as he had 21 points, double digit rebounds and a game saving block as time ran out with Clark going for the tie.  2011 F Ansley Benjamin led Clark with 23 points.

Benjamin (left) and Prince-Waller (right) battled all night long. It was Waller's block at the buzzer which sealed the win for San Antonio Warren.

San Antonio Brandeis 64  San Antonio O'Connor 60
Two young teams went to to toe with 2013 G Justin Graham taking care of business by dropping 17 in the win.  O'Connor has some good young players.  I like the athleticism of 2013 G Dapo Ogunfeitimi who had 9 points in the loss.
2013 G Justin Graham continues to shine as one of the area's top young floor generals.

San Antonio Taft 49  San Antonio Marshall 30
Northern Colorado bound Dylan Elias had 12 points to lead the Raiders to the easy victory.

Northern Colorado gets a hard nosed guard in Taft's Elias.

Alamo Heights 77   Lockhart 44
2012 F Jeremy Rodewald does it all for a very good Alamo Heights team as he dropped 25 points and was all over the floor.

New Braunfels Canyon 59  Smithson Valley 37
2012 W Ian Gulick led a balanced Canyon attack with 17 points in an easy one, as they ready for their return district showdown with Alamo Heights on the road at the Mule Dome.

Kerrville Tivy 43  Uvalde 42
In what I understand was a 12-10 game at the half?????...Kerrville Tivy won a barn burner vs Uvalde.  G Deron Belford (Texas State) had a decisive block on the last play of the game against Uvalde Senior Jeremy Espinoza for the big win.  Belford added 14 ponts while freshman Matt Perry added 13.  Espinoza, who is Uvalde's 1st, 2nd & 3rd option inside and out had 27 in the tough loss.

Freshman Matt Perry's Tivy Antlers got the win, but Uvalde's Jeremy Espinoza notched 37.

Austin High School Round Up: Tuesday, January 25th

Oops.  I published the Austin Report on my Houston Report page....Just click the link below.  It's all good...Coach Max
                                                       

http://d1nationhouston.blogspot.com/

D1 Ambassadors At The College Level

Saturday is usually a slow day for high school basketball so it gives me a chance to check in on some of the D1 Nation's alumni.

True freshman Cody Doolin (Austin Westlake) is taking the West Coast Conference by storm.  A week after being named a team captian by Head Coach Rex Walters, Doolin is starting to find his scoring range in addition to running the point.  Averaging 31 minutes a game, I received a late night call from Papa Jim Doolin who was jazzed up that his boy had 23 points and 4 rebounds.  This included the winning points in overtime as he scored and "and 1" bucket to seal the deal in leading his San Francisco Dons to an exciting OT win over NCAA powerhouse Gonzaga 96-91

2010 Cody Doolin of San Francisco

Senior Carleton Scott (San Antonio Madison) came back from a hamstring injury to help Notre Dame come from behind to beat Marquette on national television.  Scott had 11 points & 10 rebounds in the win.

2007 Carleton Scott of Notre Dame

True freshman Andre Roberson (Converse Wagner) had 10 points & 4 rebounds for the Colorado Buffaloes in a 67-60 loss to Oklahoma.  Roberson is the Buffs 6th man and leads them in rebounds.

2010 Andre Roberson of Colorado

Another member of our talented freshman 2010 Class, Matt Derenbecker (Metairie Country Day, LA) has moved into the starting lineup for the struggling Louisiana State Tigers.  He looks to play a huge role for LSU as the season continues.  He had 14 points, 5 rebounds and 4 steals as they got thumped by Ole Miss.

2010 Matt Derembecker of LSU

     

Sophomore Joel Smith (Leander) led a struggling Northeastern team.  Starting at the point, he is regularly putting up nice numbers.  He had 19 points and 5 assists in a loss to Drexel.

2009 Joel Smith of Northeastern

True freshman Jordan Clarkson (Converse Wagner) had 11 points for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in a 65-61 win over Tulane.

2010 Jordan Clarkson of Tulsa

True freshman J.J. Avila (McAllen) had 17 points, 8 rebounds & 4 assists as he led his Navy team over Army, 85-81.  Avila could well be the Patriot League's Newcomer of the Year.

2010 J.J. Avila of Navy

Memphis beat Alabama-Birmingham 76-73, but junior Cameron Moore (San Antonio Roosevelt) did more than his part for UAB as he scored 24 and had 11 rebounds.  Moore is on his way to a very productive professional career.

2008 Cameron Moore of Alabama-Birmingham

In a close game, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi beat Sam Houston State 70-68 as junior Garland Judkins (Houston Christian Life) had his highest scoring game with 17 points, 3 assists & 2 steals. Judkins transferred from Arizona.

2008 Garland Judkins of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

Junior Travis Jones (Georgetown) had 15 points and 4 rebounds for Texas State in a close loss to UTSA, 88-84.

South Alabama defeated Florida International 86-78 as junior Allyn Cooks (Bryan) had 9 points, 2 assists & 2 rebounds.

2008 "Big Al" Cooks of South Alabama

True freshman Paul Garnica (San Antonio Lee) had 7 points 3 rebounds, 2 assists & 2 steals in 21 minutes of action as his Northern Colorado Bears beat Weber State 65-46.

2010 Paul Garnica of Northern Colorado

There's our wrap up of alumni for Saturday night's NCAA schedule.  Congratulations to all the boys and their families. We are proud that you wore our uniforms.-Coach Max Ivany

San Antonio Central Catholic 62 Austin St. Michael's 53

This was a good high school basketball game which was topsy turvy in the first 3 quarters.  Central Catholic jumped on top early, St. Michael's regrouped with a 22 point 2nd quarter to take an 8 point half time lead (30-22).  Central scrapped back in the 3rd with the two teams neck and neck.

That's when the real game began.  In an 8 minute span the Buttons finished on an 21-9 run to win going away.  Two things were critical in the win.  Keeping in mind that I don't have a dog in the hunt as to who gets the W, my focus is on who the prospects are and individual performances (within the team game).

The game featured two of the better scorers in the Austin/San Antonio area locking horns in 2011 Cole Martinez who finished with 17 points, 5 steals and 3 assists and 2011 G Jake Kocher (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) who had 20 points and 5 rebounds.  It's clear that St. Michael's has no other reliable scorer to step up when Kocher is neutralized or double teamed.  They'll need someone to step up if they want to go deep into the TAPPS playoffs.

As mentioned, two things occurred to swing the game in CCHS favor.  #1 & #1A were 2011 G Tommy Berry stepping up and being a complimentary second scorer next to Martinez. In fact, on this day he led all scorers with 21 and was aggressive going to the hole all day.  The 2nd thing was Coach Romy Vela switching to a 1-3-1 zone, which with Kocher positioned on the wing kept him to zero meaningful touches in the 4th quarter.  Your best players have to touch the ball down the stretch.  Berry & Martinez did, while Kocher did not.  Chalk one up for Central on a nice Saturday afternoon.

2011 G Tommy Berry had 21 to lead all scorers

Top dogs, Jake Kocher (left) of St, Michael's and Cole Martinez (right) of Central were both relegated to second fiddle and overshadowed in the scoring department by Berry during this contest.

 

High School Round Up: Friday, January 21st

Be sure to visit our new site at www.D1Nation.com for all your basketball news and needs

San Antonio Reagan 86  San Antonio Roosevelt 64
Reagan poured it on from the opening whistle as Max Yon (Air Force) had 25 and Tre Demps (Northwestern) had 22 in the blowout.
Max Yon (left) & Tre Demps (right) shown below with the Texas D1 Ambassadors bring double trouble to everty opponent the two D1 signees face.


Austin High 72  Austin Anderson 59
Balanced scoring from the high powered Maroons established themselves as the team to beat in one of the Area's toughest districts.  Senior Alex Reinking led with 16.

San Antonio Alamo Heights 67  Scxhertz Clemens 49
Juniors Jeffrey Rodewald (26 points) & Shelby Lane (13) led the Mules, who now hold a 23-3 record.  A rematch with New Braunfels Canyon looms ahead.

Austin LBJ 60  Austin Travis 38
Senior Robert Lee poured in 31 points for the Jaguars in the win.

Converse Wagner 64  New Braunfels 53
Devonta Davis continues his torrid scoring pace as he led Wagner with 31 points. 2012 W Kyle Hittle had 13 for the Unicorns in the loss.

Austin Reagan 61  Austin Lanier 57
Senior G Brandon Golden had 19 for Reagan.

San Antonio Clark 59  San Antonio Jay 44
Senior F Ansley Benjamin had 17 and infused energy into the Cougars.

Benjamin plays bigger than his 6'3" on the boards for Clark

Akins 60  Del Valle 41
Senior Malcolm Canada (Central Arkansas) led the way with 27 points.  Akins has a big showdown with Austin High next week which will likely determine who's boss in the district.

San Antonio Warren 85  San Antonio Stevens 80 (OT)
It was Junor Day as 4 of the top 2012 Class met in this one.  The pair of Jerel Ellis (29) and Taurean Prince-Waller led the Warriors over the Stevens dup of Marcus Roper (25) & Uche Ofoegbu with 20.

Austin Bowie 58  Austin Westlake 36
Senior Connor Robinson bullied the Chaps down low to the tune of 26 points.

Austin Lake Travis 51  Cedar Park 47
Wing Billy Sherekas led the way with 14 for LT, but the story may well be the emergence of freshman PG Luke Hutton who added 11 points and increases backcourt strength a bunch for the Cavs.  Dylan Cox (Army) added 12 for Cedar Park.
Frosh Luke Hutton (shown below at Max Ivany's All American Prodigy Camp) has stepped in to the role as Lake Travis' varsity PG.

Pflugerville 69  Round Rock Stony Point 64
Stony Point's 3rd quarter comeback stalled as Deon Mitchell (Northern Iowa) had 29 for the Panthers.  It wasn't easy though as a BIG Stony Point team gave Pflugerville fits on the boards.  The Panthers were thin as Jamal Shabazz missed his 3rd game because of a concussion.  Best wishes to him for a speedy recovery.

Pflugerville PG Deon Mitchell has Northern Iowa fans licking their chops in anticipation

Round Rock McNeil 56  Leander 53

One of the Jones Boys (Junior twin Joshua) led McNeil with 17.  Leander's Mark Nwakamma's 16 were wasted in the loss.

2012 Joshua Jones, shown below at Max Ivany's All American Prodigy Camp

Marble Falls 70  Dripping Springs 60
Senior Shane Minnick dropped 27 to tame the Tigers.

Pflugerville Hendrickson 83  Elgin 69
Senior Jalen Harris had 26 to lead the Hawks.

Texas D1 Ambassadors Serving The United States of America

The last 10 years have been a labor of love in building the D1 Nation and giving a voice to players who in the past had been underappreciated and underexposed.  It does take an adult to have a vision, lead the way and organize and lead people and I would not be honest if I didn't say it feels good to have played a part in it.  However, as you'll always hear me say, ultimately the D1 Ambassadors and it's legacy are the players who have worn the orange and black in the past, present and future.

I received an email yesterday from one of our former players, Chris Gramling an alum of San Antonio MacArthur.  It included pics of him and Austin Bowie alum, Tre Lindsey.  These are two great kids that their families are very proud of.  It got me to thinking of the D1 Ambassadors alumni that had not only received basketball scholarships but had also chosen to serve their country.  This recap is dedicated to all of them.

United States Army
Class of 2010:  Tre Lindsey (left) and Chris Gramling share a moment.  Gramling shoots a free throw, while Lindsey (#12) looks on.
 Old School East Coast Prep School gym.  Where's the peach basket? Now that's basketball!

Below left: 2011 Class Cedar Park's Dylan Cox has signed to play basketball with Army this fall. Below right: 2012 Matt Gramling of San Antonio MacArthur has been offered a scholarship by Army and could possibly join his brother Chris there after his senior year.

United States Naval Academy
Class of 2009, San Antonio Clark's Jordan Brickman (left) & Class of 2010 McAllen's J.J. Avila shown below with the Texas D1 Ambassadors at the Arizona Cactus Classic.  Brickman elected to settle into being a student only, while Avila is making a splash as a true freshman with a season scoring high of 31 points.  He could very well end up as Patriot League Newcomer of the Year.

 Below: Avila proudly wearing the uniform of a United States Naval Officer

United States Air Force
Below left: Class of 2009 Jordan Jahr of Lake Travis spent a year at the Air Force Prep School. He had a great season but decided this was not what he wanted in the long run.  He is now a freshman at Evansville.  Middle:  Class of 2011 Max Yon of San Antonio Reagan had double digit scholarship offers but he decided to commit to Air Force. Right: 2011 G Cole Martinez of San Antonio Central Catholic is currently unsigned but is now being recruited by both Navy and Air Force.

There you have it.  Texas has long been known as a State that has an inordinately high percentage of it's young men who choose to serve their country.  These are some of our finest.  They are wonderful athletes, outstanding students and even better people.  This is the legacy of the Texas D1 Ambassadors.  No club in the Nation is represented in our service academies in the numbers that we are.  I hope everyone joins me in wishing these young men well.-Coach Max Ivany