Beach Ball Classic Notebook: Muhammad named Most Outstanding Player

Bishop Gorman (Nev.) phenom Shabazz Muhammad, considered by many scouting services to be the top prospect in the country, was named Most Outstanding Player of the Beach Ball Classic.

Nick Emery of Lone Peak (Utah) won the 3-point contest after hitting 12-of-15 attempts in the first round and seven 3-pointers in the second round.

Shaquille Johnson, a 6-foot-5 leaper from Milton (Ga.) who has committed to Auburn, won the dunk contest. Three of his dunks were particularly impressive: He threw the ball high in the air and did a 360-degree jam before coming to the ground; he brought 6-11 Jahlil Okafor of Whitney Young to the floor and jumped over him for an explosive dunk; and he jumped over 6-8 teammate Tevin Glass to accept and slam an alley-oop from teammate Charles Mann.

The Most Valuable Player of the tournament was Evan Nolte from Milton (Ga.).

The All-Tournament Team included: Julius Randle, Prestonwood; Shaquille Johnson, Milton; Rosco Allen, Bishop Gorman; Tevin Glass, Milton; Jahlil Okafor, Whitney Young; Nick Emery, Lone Peak; Myles Hamilton, St. Edward; Deion Taylor, St. Augustine; Tameron Manning, Scott County and Quentin Snider, Ballard.

The Individual Sportsmanship Award went to T.J. Haws of Lone Peak; the Individual Hustle Award went to Mickey Mitchell of Prestonwood; the Danny Defensive Award went to Demetrius Morant of Bishop Gorman. The Team Hustle Award went to St. Augustine and the Team Sportsmanship award goes to Lone Peak.

Wind beneath their wings

With his team in the midst of falling behind by 16 points in the first 10 minutes of Saturday’s fifth-place game against St. Augustine, Ballard coach Chris Renner employed a seldom-used motivational tactic.

He called a timeout and had his players run wind sprints across the floor for the duration of the one-minute stoppage.

“I think it was great,” said Ballard senior Braxton Dunbar. “We started off slow so I guess he had to find some way to motivate us and find some way to get us going.”

Renner said it’s the first time he’s done that with this group of players.

“Back in my crazier days I’ve done it,” Renner said. “. . . I was just disappointed in our intensity and effort and togetherness and just everything. We’re a young group, we’re a somewhat immature group of kids and we’re trying to find our identity.

“Really we’re looking for ways to motivate these guys, or embarrass them or whatever it takes for them to do what we want them to do.”

Based on the result, the Bruins might want to be prepared for more in-game running. They rallied and actually took a one-point lead with 2:30 to play, though they couldn’t hold onto it.

“For as bad as we played in the first half, to dig down in the second half, to get the lead and have a chance to actually win the ballgame, I’m proud of our kids for that,” Renner said.

Crowd favorites

Spectators at the convention center seldom remain impartial, and they resoundingly made the long-bombing gunners of Lone Peak (Utah) their favorite over the course of the week.

The support was overwhelming in Saturday’s championship game against Milton (Ga.), and in Friday night’s double-overtime win over Whitney Young (Ill.), the Dolphins had to deal with the heckling of players on the court and cheers after missed free throws.

“When [an opponent] is shooting a free throw and you’ve got the whole crowd screaming, I think you feel [the support] a little bit,” said Lone Peak sophomore T.J. Haws, a Brigham Young commitment. “It kind of feels like a home crowd here. The motivation when you score and the place goes nuts, it’s a good feeling.

“I had no idea we were going to have this. . . . I have no idea why people like us.”

Seconds away

The fortunes of Prestonwood Christian Academy (Texas), the top-ranked team entering the tournament, could have been much different at this year’s Beach Ball had it not been for a moment in time.

About 8 seconds to be exact. And that didn’t include the 6 seconds it took for Whitney Young (Ill.) senior Gabriel Snider to run nearly the length of the floor and bank in a game-winning 3-pointer to defeat the Lions by two points in the quarterfinals.

It was 8 seconds that preceded it, when Snider was attempting to inbound the ball but couldn’t, and he asked for a timeout after what appeared to be 7 or 8 seconds.

Players have only 5 seconds to inbound the ball, and 4 seconds to request a timeout.

“I was hoping it was 4,” Snider said. “I couldn’t get it into Paul [White] because we got kind of messed up on the play. When I called the timeout I was just glad it wasn’t a violation.”

Had a violation been called, Prestonwood, No. 5 in the ESPN Powerade Fab 50 boys high school rankings and the third-place team in the 2010 Beach Ball, would have had the ball under its offensive basket and a one-point lead with 6 seconds remaining.

Had they played Lone Peak (Utah) in the semifinals, who knows what might have happened?

What’s in a name?

A Beach Ball Classic wouldn’t be complete without an all-name team, and the 31st edition of the holiday classic had several to choose from.

The starting lineup consists of Miami Senior’s Anthony (at the time of) Concepcion, Lexington’s Maverick (Top Gun) Bishop, Rye’s Teddy Ice (Cube), Milton’s Jazz (Ensemble) Felton, and Socastee’s See Man.

The reserves include St. Edward’s Royal (heinous) Eddie, Milton’s Tevin (Smooth as) Glass, Milton’s Charles (You da) Mann, Myrtle Beach’s Nick (Boy) Wundur, and Scott County’s Tony (dirty) Martini.

On the junior varsity are Gorman’s Shabazz Muhammad, Mishima Gray, Obim Okeke and Rosco (P. Coltrane) Allen, Miami Senior’s Wadley Mompremier, Lone Peak’s Talon Shumway, Rye’s Kamal Logue, St. Augustine’s Sydie London, and Whitney Young’s Jahlil Okafor.

The team needs to be coached by someone, and the logical choices are Whitney Young’s Tyrone (Sergeant) Slaughter as the head coach and Prestonwood Christian’s Chris (Andy Griffith’s) Mayberry as the assistant.