NEWARK,CA - A successful Broadway stage production has successes in each and every facet of the operation.
First and foremost the stars are legitimate, they perform to their fullest potential, and the people behind the scenes do their job and do it well.
That formula for success doesn’t just produce results on Broadway, it translates to other productions, and in this case the Prep2Prep Tip-Off Classic and its seven games last Saturday at Newark Memorial High.
By the time of the marquee seventh game, the place was packed with an overflow crowd that filled every seat in the house, and most of them were there to see one player in particular.
Rabb makes a statement in battle of Bishops
Talk about stars performing at the Tip-Off Classic and you have to start with GrassrootsHoops FAB 50 No. 7 Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland megastar Ivan Rabb.
Not only is the 6-foot-11 senior forward the hottest recruiting commodity in all the Western States, he’s carrying the burden of exorcising 33 years of frustrating state championship failures of the southeast Oakland campus, and in particular a lack of success against teams from Southern California.
The way Rabb and crew performed in a 63-55 decisive victory over FAB 50 No. 4 Bishop Gorman-Las Vegas, the spirits may be with the Dragons in their season opener on a journey that they hope ends with a CIF Open Division state championship.
Against Gorman, Rabb was “ridiculous” according to event producer and respected analyst Gerry Freitas, in describing how he dominated the huge front line of Gorman. The ESPN No. 5 rated player in the nation finished with 28 points, 20 rebounds, three blocks and four steals, and some thundering dunks. He was a unanimous media choice as Player of the Game.
Early on Gorman’s Duke-committed 6-foot-11 and ESPN No. 9 Chase Jeter and 7-foot senior and ESPN No. 10 Stephen Zimmerman were having their way inside. However, the biggest lead the Vegas boys ever had was three points on two occasions in the first half, and although it was tied 30-30 at the half, the worm turned for the Dragons quickly to start the second half, and it wasn’t just Rabb.
O’Dowd head coach Lou Richie could see Gorman couldn’t stop Rabb and also they didn’t have guards to match up with Boise State-bound Paris Austin (15 points, five assists).
“We wanted to attack them from their zone (defense),” Richie told Cal-Hi Sports.
The result was between a combination of Rabb inside and Austin outside the Dragons went on a 14-0 run to open the second half and held the Gaels scoreless until 2:30 was left in the third quarter. From there O’Dowd led by as many 14 again in the fourth quarter at 58-44 before a Gorman run near the end made the score seem closer than the actual result.
Now O’Dowd plays Riordan-San Francisco next Saturday before facing FAB 50 top-ranked Montverde of Florida on the road in a nationally televised contest.
Beating Montverde and the matchup of Rabb against ESPN No. 1 rated Ben Simmons from Australia, Montverde’s top player, is important for national rankings, but it won’t put a salve on the state championship frustrations.
O’Dowd won the first re-instituted large school state championship in 1981, 70-69 over cross-town Castlemont, but that was before the teams from Southern California participated.
Two years later, the frustrations began with an overtime loss to Crenshaw-Los Angeles. Since then O’Dowd has lost seven more times in state title games, with another overtime and two one-point losses. To make matters worse there were a couple of real blowouts in the mix. Last season the Dragons lost the Open title 71-61 to Mater Dei-Santa Ana.
Is this the year the worm will really turn in a big way? The way Rabb, Austin and their mates played against Gorman they will now have another thing to overcome they haven’t had in the past: the target on their back of being the state’s top team.
GrassrootsHoops Top Players
A number of boys basketball expert analysts were on hand but the two most respected on the West Coast, Frank Burlison and Ronnie Flores flew up from Southern California to cover the action.
Burlison is a well-regarded basketball writer who was inducted into the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame in 2005. Flores is one of the young breed and a former analyst for ESPN and Student Sports who now runs the highly respected GrassrootsHoops.
Flores went in depth in his player rankings and as the announcer for all seven games with a spectacular unobstructed midcourt seat, I saw a lot of what he saw.
Rabb was his top pick but his choice for No. 2 was Christian Ellis from Modesto Christian. The Crusaders’ junior point guard wasn’t mine or the final choice of the media panel as the Player of the Game in the MC 89-65 win over Bullard-Fresno. That went to University of Pacific-commit Anthony Townes. The 6-foot-5 senior had 25 points and 21 rebounds.
As a prospect and for upside at his position, Ellis does rank higher than Townes. Arguably the top junior guard in Northern California, he basically controlled the game throughout and finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds.
Flores had Austin ranked at No. 3 for the Tip-Off performers and it’s hard to disagree. With Skyline-Oakland, college and NBA great Gary Payton in the house (wearing an Oakland Athletic League jacket), Austin broke the Naismith Basketball Hall-of-Famer's heart by breaking down all the guards in the arsenal of Southern California native and Gorman head coach Grant Rice - incuding Julian Payton, Gary's son.
For a complete list of Flores’ top 25 player rankings for the Prep2Prep Tip-Off Classic please check out: www.grassrootshoops.net/2014/11/norcal-tip-off-classic-top-25-rankings-2/.
Other results
Berkeley 67, St. Joseph-Notre Dame-Alameda 66
Player of the Game: Casey Roguemore, Berkeley (17 points)
Leading scorer: Lamont Banks, St. Joseph-Notre Dame (21 points)
San Ramon Valley-Danville 55, Cordova-Rancho Cordova 50
Player of the Game: Drew Kunde, San Ramon Valley (20 points, seven rebounds)
Leading scorer: Jordan Roberson, Cordova (27 points)
Moreau Catholic-Hayward 65, Drake-San Anselmo 64
Player of the Game: Oscar Frayer, Moreau (16 points, 12 rebounds)
Leading scorers: Brandon Lawrence and Terell Brown, Moreau (20 points), Jesse Hunt, Drake (19 points, 11 rebounds)
College Park-Pleasant Hill 64, St. Mary’s-Stockton 58
Player of the Game and leading scorer: Steven Daily, College Park (21 points, eight rebounds)
Folsom 72, Newark Memorial-Newark 46
Player of the Game and leading scorer: Jordan Ford, Folsom (29 points)
