Austin Westlake Holiday Classic: Session #3

Clear Lake 59 Houston Westbury 50
Clear Lake used a 4th quarter push to break open a nip and tuck. 2013 F 6'4" Donivan Jones led Westbury with 17 points and was a force on the boards but in the end it was the guard combo of 2013 Paris Clayton (17) and 2012 Rob Lewis (16) who took over the game in the final stanza.

Converse Wagner El Paso Montwood
Who else can start a pair of guards that are listed at 5'6" & 5'7" at the 5A level in Texas and still win? That would be El Paso Montwood, and veteran Coach Tony Harper has 850 plus wins and he's done most of it with undersized guys.

Having said that, when you run into a more talented and deeper team that's also well coached it's tough to overcome the odds. As the game progressed through the middle of the 3rd quarter the deep Wagner T Birds took control. It's a consummate team, with no real stars per se. 2013 W Theron Bray had 10 in the win. For the Rams, 2012 P 6'9" Joey Martinez is much improved over the last time I saw him a year ago. He had 10 points and 5 boards. They also received 10 points from Senior G Andrew Ramirez.

Montwood 8 14 8 11- 41
Wagner 7 13 18 13-51

A&M Consolidated Fort Bend Bush
Coach Rick Barnes, half of his staff and all the Texas Longhorns players are in the house tonight to see Texas commit 6'11" Cameron Ridley. Ridley has 2 points as does the other twin tower, 6'10" Marquette signee Aaron Durley. This is as physical as a high school game gets. A&M Consolidated is gutting it out and competing on every possession but they've failed to take advantage on the offensive end and in transition.
Bush's Twin Towers, 6'10" Aaron Durley (Marquette) and 6'11" Cameron Ridley (Texas)

it looked like Bush could be ready to blow Consol out but with 4:30 left in the game, Cameron Ridley has fouled out and Alex Caruso has his second of two thunderous dunks to cut the game to 5 points. Ridley finished with 6 points and 5 rebounds as he was denied the ball constantly throughout the game by the double team. 2013 G ShawnDre Jones was the glue holding Bush together. He made clutch free throws as the game wound down, finishing with 10 points. 2014 G 6'6" Kelly Oubre led Bush with 12 points, including a key steal and dunk with 2 minutes left to play. 2012 G Ryne Williams also chipped in with 12 for the Broncos. The free throw line was not kind to Consol either as they were 2-10 at one point, squandering many opportunities, where on the other hand Bush was 18-19 from the charity stripe.

Alex Caruso (Texas A&M signee) led all scorers with 13 points, 3 steals, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. 2013 Jimmie Gilbert battled hard all game long against the Bush Towers and scored 11 points and had 8 boards in the loss.

A&M Consolidated 7 6 14 20 -47
Fort Bend Bush 9 12 17 16-54

Austin Westlake Holiday Classic: Session 2

Houston Westbury 58  Bryan  47
Bryan Senior P.J. Payton led all scorers with 19 but it wasn;t enough as Houston Westbury got balanced scoring. 2012 G Zachary Cross had 10 points and 2013 Donivan Jones added 9 to get the W.

A&M Consolidated   47Cedar Hill  36
For all but a few brief moments early in the 4th quarter this was A&M Consolidated's game from midway through the 1st.  It's quite a luxury when you have one of the country's most outstanding players in all purpose, 2012 Alex Caruso.  At 6'6" he sees the floor as well as anyone, he's active defensively and he's always looking to get his team mates involved for the easy look.  His stat line was 12 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.  Consolidated got nice games out of hard working 2013 P Jimmie Gilbert with 8 points and 8 rebounds, most of them while battling Cedar Hill's Zeldric King (Tulsa) who is a load at 6'7" and 290lbs.

The Aggies are getting a player in Caruso who can play the one, two or three

Cedar Hill's King had 10 points, and showed a nice touch both handling and shooting the ball on the perimeter.  Senior G Quinton White also hit key shots for the Tigers and finished with 10 points, while 2013 W Josh Stewart had 11 points and 5 rebounds.

A&M Consolidated  8 14 13 12- 47
Cedar Hill                 5  7  10 14- 36

Austin Westlake  Fort Bend Willowridge
Early in the 2nd quarter, the Westlake Chaps started to assert themselves behind the three point shoooting of Will Morse, R.J. Rowan and Chase Carlton.  After suffering a knee tweak in the opener, 2012 P 6'7" Drew Wikleius (5 points, 16 rebounds) returned to provide toughness on the boards along with 2014 Jordan Severt's hard work. Carlton (10 points and 5 assists), Morse (17 points) and Rowan (16 points, 7 rebounds) outplayed Wllowridge's guards as Westlake cruised to the win, which was Coach Tres Ellis' 200th victory.

2012 Post Drew Wikelius had 16 rebounds vs Willowridge.

2013 G Michael Hunter was by far the best player for Willowridge.  The athletic combo has nice bounce, gets to the rim and shoots it from the perimeter too.  he had 18 points and 5 rebounds.

Austin Westlake            13 20 14 19-66
Fort Bend Willowridge 10 17 14- 8-49

Austin Westlake Holiday Classic

Austin Westlake  55 El Paso Socorro  27
El Paso Socorro was outmatched from the jump ball.  Whether it was size, speed, defensive intensity or just plain ol' basketball savvy you could give the nod to the host Austin Westlake squad in every category. They raced out to a 19-2 lead, and emptied the bench subbing liberally.  The only blemish on the game was 2012 P Drew Wikelius tweaking a knee. That gave the front line subs a chance to play plenty, including budding star 2014 P 6'5" Jordan Severt who led the Chaps with 7 rebounds.  2012 G R.J. Rowan had 13 for Westlake while 2014 G Chase Carlton (below) added 10.

Austin Westlake     19 12 15 9-  55
El Paso Socorro        2  7  6   12-27

Converse Wagner Pflugerville
After an even first quarter (19-19) the Wagner Thunderbirds proceeded to give Pflugerville a sound beating. A huge run at the end of the half and in the entire 3rd quarter caused the rout to be on. 2013 W 6'2" Theron Bray was the best player on the day for Wagner, scoring 18 points, getting to the rim and showing all around hustle. He had lots of help from his team mates as balanced scoring and team play were the order of the day. 2013 G Avionte Sanders had 13 for Wagner.

2013 G T.J. Williams had 35 points and 8 rebounds today.

2013 G 6'2" T.J. Williams was easily the most impressive player on the floor as he took care of the ball for the Panthers and handled the bulk of the scoring as well. Williams is getting recruited by mid majors like Denver and Northern Iowa which are perfect fits for his skill set. He led his team with 35 points and 8 rebounds from the PG spot and could play his way into a high major this coming summer. 2013 G Darian Bostic added 11 off the bench for The Ville.

Pflugerville 19 16 15-27-77
Wagner 19 25 22-18-84

D1 Nation Alumni: NCAA Top Performances

Christmas week was busy in many ways for the D1 Nation.  Our alumni had plenty of solid performances over the past week.  Have a heapin' helpin' of D1 Candy, here's our Sweet 16:

16. Tre Nicholls                Senior             G 5'11" Killeen                          Boise State
How about a shout out to my man, Tre Nicholls from the 254, repping K Town out in Boise.  He had 7 points and 3 assists vs Fresno State and will soon have his bachelor's degree in his pocket!

15. Travis Jones               Senior             G 6'6"   Georgetown                  Texas State    
Jones scored 8 points and had 5 rebounds vs Fordham.
 
14. Brandon Thompson  Junior             G 6'2"   San Antonio Stevens    Long Island
Thompson scored 8 points and had 5 rebounds in a win vs. St. Peter's

13. Eric McClellan       Freshman          G 6'4"   Austin                            Tulsa
McClellan is carving out a niche at Tulsa, scoring 12 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists vs Texas State.

12. Cory Jefferson       RS-Sophomore  F 6'10"  Killeen                           Baylor
Jefferson is part of NCAA College Basketball's most talented and deep front lines.  He had 9 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks vs Paul Quinn College in a mere 15 minutes of play.

11. TaShawn Thomas Freshman      F 6'8"  Killeen                                  Houston
Thomas contineus his excellent true freshman campaign as he had 9 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks in a win over Texas-San Antonio.

10. Cameron Catlett   Junior            G 6'4"  San Antonio Madison         Texas-Arlington
Catlett has become a solid player for the Mavs.  He had a 10 point, 6 rebound and 4 assist game vs Tulsa.

9. Deon Mitchell          Freshman      G 6'0" Pflugerville                           Northern Iowa
Mitchell is now running the show for the 11-1 Northern Iowa Panthers one of the country's top mid major teams. He had 13 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals vs Loras.

8. Royce O'Neale         Freshman     W 6'5" Harker Heights                    Denver
O'Neale has been a model of consistency as a true freshman on a surprisingly good Denver squad. He had 10 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals vs the Citadel.

7. Joel Smith                Junior           G 6'4"  Leander                                Northeastern
Smith turned in 3 solid performances this week as he chugs along to all conference honors.  He had 9 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists vs Princeton, 5 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists vs Louisiana Tech and then had 15 points and 2 steals vs North Carolina State.

6. Jason Brickman     Sophomore   G 5'11" San Antonio Clark              Long Island
Brickman is really beginning to lead his Blackbirds, notching a a double-double of 12 points and a whopping 11 assists vs Texas State.

5. Jordan Clarkson     Sophomore  G 6'5"    Converse Wagner               Tulsa
Clarkson had 14 points and 8 rebounds vs Texas-Arlington and then followed that up with a 14 point, 2 rebound effort vs. Creighton.

4. John Henson       Junior    F 6'10"    Round Rock (TX)/Tampa Sickles (FL)  North Carolina
Tar Heels fans have a lot of big names to root for, but don't sleep on Henson.  Enjoy him, you'll be watching him in the NBA next year.  John had 17 points, 11 rebounds and 7 blocks vs Nicholls State and in a marquee matchup had 14 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists vs the Texas Longhorns.

3. Andre Roberson      Sophomore  F 6'7"      Converse Wagner              Colorado

Roberson continues to build on his reputation as an almost automatic double-double guy.  He had 11 points and 16 rebounds vs Texas Southern and then killed it vs Cal State-Bakersfield with 18 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks.

2. J.J. Avila                  Sophomore  F 6'7"      McAllen                              Navy
Avila continues to be the go to guy for the Midshipmen as he had a 21 point, 8 rebound game vs Presbyterian

1. Cameron Moore      Senior          F  6'10"    San Antonio Roosevelt     Alabama-Birmingham
Cameron had a nice game of 7 points and 9 rebounds vs VCU but it was his dominant 18 points and 16 rebounds, 5 block effort against Jacksonville that earned him D1 Nation's Alumni Player of the Week!

Merry Christmas To All

Merry Christmas to all.  That's friends, family, business acquaintances and even those who I spar with occassionally.  Health and happiness to everyone's family in the coming New Year and much success in your basketball endeavors. My family is scattered all over the map, so we never get together as a group. Safe travels on the road to my son Chip, Judy and my grandson, Julian who are in Louisiana for the holidays.

I stayed in Arizona a little longer than normal this year and it almost cost me Christmas as Yolanda and I endured two closures of I-10 in New Mexico, and icy conditions for almost all of the 1000 mile journey.  Countless vehicles in the ditch, several cars over turned and even semi trailers jack knifed along the way.  We fell blessed to have arrived in Austin last night. I found myself humming Carrie Underwood's "Jesus Take The Wheel" many times on the trip.

Thanks to everyone who called, texted and sent us facebook messages on the trip.  It was great hearing from so many of my former players. Special thanks to the Good Lord, my Merecedes SUV and resident D1 Ambassadors photographer and meteorologist Todd "Big Rowdy" Winters for giving me constant weather updates on the trip!

So, here we are in Austin, Texas spending Christmas in the beautiful Radisson on Town Lake where I'll be covering the Austin Westlake Holiday Classic beginning Tuesday. Then it's off for Christmas dinner with one of my former players and his family (Cody Doolin of San Francisco).  

Austin's the home of Willie Nelson, the Texas Longhorns and the birthplace of the Texas D1 Ambassadors.  It feels good to be home for the next 4 months.  Merry Christmas everyone!
Coach Max Ivany and the D1 Ambassadors Family.

Austin Westlake Holiday Classic Preview

In only it's second season the Westlake Holiday Classic has quickly established itself as the go to event of the prep basketball holiday events in the Austin area.  Westlake Coach Tres Ellis, along with Craig Carlton and John Rowan have established a strong field with marquee players for Austin fans to get a peek of after they digest their Christmas dinner.  The tournament starts on starts on Tuesday, December 27th at 8:30am when Austin Westlake takes on El Paso Socorro and concludes with the Gold Championship at 5:30pm on Thursday, December 27th.

Pools A:                    Pool B:                     Pool C:                   Pool D:

Bryan                       Westlake                  Pflugerville          F.B. Bush

Westbury                Willowridge            Montwood           A&M Consol

Clear Lake                Socorro                   Wagner                 Cedar Hill

Marquee' Players  Class of 2012

1. Cameron Ridley     C  6'10"        Fort Bend Bush            Texas
Ridley is one of the best the country has in the Class of 2012.  The Longhorns commit is unstaoppable when he receives the ball in the low block.  Along with Alex Caruso, he is one of two players in the Westlake Holiday Classic who were at the prestigious NBA Players Camp this past summer.

2. J. Mychal Reese     G 6'2"           Bryan                             Texas A&M
J. Mychal was consesnsu All State in his first three years of high school at the Texas 5A level, a feat never accomplished before. Unfortunately he sustained a knee injury near the end of his summer and has not played yet this fall.  We wish him a speedy recovery.

3. Alex Caruso            G  6'5"          A&M Consolidated     Texas A&M
Caruso is the truth.  Make no mistake about it, he could have played anywhere in the country.  he can defend, pass, score and shoot it.  His father, Mike is Associate AD at Texas A&M, so it was hard to escape the Aggies.

4. Aaron Durley         P 6'10"            Fort Bend Bush            Marquette
I first saw Aaron at my All American Prodigy Camp in Austin, TX as he was entering the 8th grade.  He'd just returned to the States from Saudi Arabia.  Signed with Marquette, I thought the story below would be a nice change of pace.  He is the biggest player to ever participate in the Little League World Series.
http://www.aolnews.com/2007/08/18/aaron-durley-is-610-280-pounds-and-is-playing-in-the-litt/

5. Zeldric  King          P 6'7"            Cedar Hill                      Tulsa
Tulsa has gotten a nice wide bodied player with touch and an ability to finish around the rim.  He is strong, handles the rock well for his size and moves well out on the perimeter too. (Photo compliments of Texas Hoops.)

San Antonio High School Round Up

San Antonio Warren 67  San Antonio Clark  47
How good is Warren?  Real good!  Missing their star PG, 2013 Marcus Keene and going up against a Clark team that is well coached and can control tempo I thought it would be an 8-10 point win.  Nothing doing as there's no answer for Taurean Waller Prince who had 21 points and double digit boards.  Threee other team mates scored in double figures in the rout for the Warriors.

San Antonio Alamo Heights 61  San Antonio McCollum 31
The Mules kicked the Cowboys behind 2014 Ben Lammers (19) and 2012 Jeffrey Rodewald (17).

San Antonio Brennan 67  San Antonio Central Catholic  65
2013 PG Johnny Azzinaro scored 27 to lead the Bears ina  tight game over a young CC squad.

San Antonio MacArthur 52  San Antonio Stevens 45
2012 Matt Gramling (West Point) was an Army of One as he led Mac with 23 points.  2012 Uche Ofoegbu (Southern Methodist) had 17 in the loss.

Austin High School Round Up

San Marcos 93  Killeen 66
San Marcos best team in a decade beat down Killeen behind 37 points from 2012 G Collin Hart.  The young Killeen team was led by 2014 G Brian Long with 14 and freshman Demarius Cress who had 11.  The future looks bright for the Baby Roos.

2015 PG Demarius Cress has the keys to the Runnin' Roo attack for the next 4 years.

Liberty Hill 59  Lorena  46
The 2013 tandem of Shane Lacaille (22) and Blake Danielak (18) pushed the Wildcats record to 15-1 in their win over Lorena.

2013 PG Shaine Lacaiile runs the potent Liberty Hill attack

New Braunfels 62  Buda Hays 48
2012 G Kyle Hittle led the Unicorns with 23 points in the win.

Georgetown 68  Waco Midway 47
2012 Michael Hardge led the way with 18 points as the Eagles soared.

Elgin 67  Bastrop 53
The Wildcats are 14-1 (only loss was to Liberty Hill) as the Nash Boys led the way in the win.

San Antonio Churchill 69  Round Rock Stony Point 42
2013 Taylor Sutlive had 17 in the win for the Chargers who are now Boss in San Antonio (along with San Antonio Warren). Stony Point and Churchill are two of the biggest teams in the area.

Austin Westlake 71  Austin Hyde Park 48
The Chaps had a balanced attack getting  a double double with 17 points and 11 boards from 2012 R.J. Rowan, 16 from 2014 Chase Carlton and 14 from 2013 W Vince DeBlasio.  A Christmas shout out to Coach joe Phillips looking down from heaven above as 7 different players who were part of his Texas Thunder teams over time were in this contest.

Round Rock McNeil 91  Midland 76
2014 G Trey Dilworth continues to be a rock for the Mavs.  He scored 20 and helped them push their record to 15-1.

2014 G Trey Dilworth is McNeil's most talented player since A.J. Abrams (Texas Longhorns/Italy) led the Mavs back in 2005.

San Marcos 64  Smithson Valley 59
With 2012 W Allex Austin nursing an injury, 2012 G Collin Hart is taking the Rattlers on his back. He scored 34 in the win.

Pflugerville 68  Austin Bowie 50
What is historically one of the Austin area's marquee' matchups is a little bit down this year.  2012 G Paul Baxter had 28 last night in the loss for the Bulldogs.  2013 G Napoleon Onyeje had 16 for the Panthers in the win.

2012 Paul Baxter leads Bowie.

D1 Ambassadors Alumni Top NCAA Perfomances of the Week

It was a slow week in NCAA hoops as many school break for exams.  Here's the D1 Ambassadors alumni NCAA top  10 highlights for the week.

10. Cody Doolin       San Francisco                  5 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists

9.   Cory Jefferson   Baylor                               2 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks.

8.   Trey Lindsey      Louisiana-Monroe          5 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds

7.   Jason Brickman Long Island                     6 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists

6.   Jason Brickman Long Island                      8 points, 6 assists and 3 rebounds
5.   Mark Nwakamma   Hartford                     11 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists

4.   Paul Garnica     Northern Colorado           18 points, 6 assists and 3 rebounds

3.   Royce O'Neale  Denver                                14 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds

2.   J.J. Avila           Navy                                    26 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists

1.   John Henson     North Carolina                  24 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks

The highlight for me was the Denver-Northern Colorado game where soph Paul Garnica of San Antonio Lee faced off against frosh Royce O'Neale of Harker Heights. Both players had outstanding games but it was the feeling of family that was special with several of our families including Royce's mom, Deborah and Cody Doolin's dad Jim contacting me during the game cheering BOTH boys on.  That was pretty cool.

Holiday High School Wrap Up

Check out the story on www.texags.com about my man, Alex Caruso.  He gave cross town rival, Bryan the business last night hanging a trple double on him with Texas A&M Assistant Kyle Keller in the house.  Caruso had 21 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds as they crushed the Vikings who were shorthanded without fellow 2012 Aggies signee, J.Mychal Reese who is still recovering from a knee injury. 

Round Rock McNeil 69  Round Rock 51

It's a bad sign for everyone else as this season's edition of McNeil has talent too go along with their ever present high quality coaching job.  The Mavs rolled to 15-1 as 2014 Trey Dilworth had 20 in the win.   2013 P Leonard Allen had 19 in the loss for the Dragons.

Austin LBJ  84   Marlin 40

2013 F Lawrence Ammons had 22 in the win for the Jags.

Converse Judson 56  Pflugerville 50

A 16-5 run in the 4th quarter, propelled the Rockets past the Panthers.  2014 P David Wacker led Judson with 13 and 2013 G T.J. Williams had 15 in a losing effort for Pflugerville.

El Paso Faith Christian came to Austin and left with a pari fo wins.  They thumped Buda Hays 74-47 and then they jumped on Austin Westlake , going up by 17 early and beating them 76-68.  2013 Will Morse led Westlake with 22 in the loss.  The Faith Christian crew were led by 2013 Roy Vincenzio with 18.  The team is comprised of primarily Mexican Nation players who are skilled and savvy.  They played together during the summer circuit as Latino Select.  They are well coached, skilled and play hard.

San Antonio Churchill 72  Converse Wagner  66

2013 G Scott Mammel (Army Prep) and Texas Longhorn bound Connor Lammert added 19 in the win over Wagner.

San Antonio Clark, always steady had a pair of wins.  They handled a solid Brandeis team 62-38 behind 15 points from Senior G Adam Perez and then beat San Antonio Jay 56-40 behind 2012 G Adam Perez' 25 points.  Perez is wothout a doubt the most under rated G in the area.  He will be a great late signee for some program.

San Antonio Alamo Heights 78  Somerset 39

2012 W Jeffrey Rodewald had 28 points to lead the Mules.  His fellow D1 Ambassadors alum hard nosed post Shelby Lane had 8 points and regulated the paint.  Lane, a superior student was receiving serious interest from Ivy League's Columbia but visited Claremont McKenna College in California and fell in love with the campus, academics and their basketball program. Congratulations to Shelby and his family as the young man takes his 1900 SAT score out West and is well on his way to being a success!

2012 P 6'8" Shelby Lane to Claremont McKenna (CA)

The Texas D1 Ambassadors-San Antonio won Las Vegas Live this past summer as most grassroots basketball fans are aware.  How about All Academic team of the summer too? The trio of  2012 Adam Perez (1810 SAT), Lane (1900) and 2012 G Carter Josephs with a 2040 score!  Wow! 

San Antonio Brennan 60  San Antonio Roosevelt 58

The Brennan Bears won in a squeaker as 2013 W 6'5" George King had a 20 point performance.

San Antonio Reagan 71  Cedar Parker Vandegrift 37

2013 F D.J. McLeay scored 12 in the run away victory.

San Antonio Warren 87   San Antonio Stevens 69

Stevens has no depth, and Warren does.  2012 G Uche Ofoegvu left it all on the floor as he scored 28 and got 16 from 2012 Marcus Roper.  After that the cupboard is bare and Warren feasted behind 26 a piece from 2012 Taurean Prince Waller and 2012 W Jerell Ellis.  2012 Jordan Corona added 15 for good measure as Warren played the game without 2013 PG Marcus Keene who is out for a couple of weeks with an ankle injury.  Warren will be tough come playoff time under the leadership of Coach Gentleman Jim Weaver.

2012 W Jerell Ellis is elevating his game