(Oshawa, On) The Platinum Circuit is back with their third event, The December Showcase in Oshawa, Ont. and the first day once again lived up to the hype with a host of entertaining games at The Playground.
From new schools, to schools retooling, here are some of the most interesting story lines to watch the rest of this weekend.
Burloak came to play
On the first day of the of The Platinum Circuit’s December Showcase, Burloak Prep opened their games with an 89-77 victory over Full Circle Academy.
Throughout the game, Burloak was able to successfully run Max Voorpool, one of Ontario’s best shooters, off the three-point line and force him into taking the ball to the rim. While Voorpool battled through an abdominal injury sustained at the end of the first half, Burloak Prep successfully kept them at bay when Full Circle made a run in the second half.
“Coach gave us a gameplan coming in to deny him and trying to get him the least amount of shots as we can,” said Player of the Game, Isaiah McRae. “That was our goal the whole game.”
McRae scored 24 of his 26 points in the second half and dueled with Voorpool who came alive in the fourth to score 18 points. Darrius Sylvester also helped carry the load for Full Circle with Voorpool struggling and added 22 points on the game.
“We just wanted to keep the energy, we wanted to stay in control,” said McCrae. “We just want to come back out, win our next game and finish 3-0 this weekend.
In their second game Burloak Prep defeated CODE Academy 88-85 in a thriller, will get a day off on Saturday will be back in action on Sunday Dec. 5 when they face Tri-City Prep, a relatively new school to the circuit.
Roster changes no problem for Oakville Prep
Oakville Prep didn’t miss a step in their return to Oshawa and took a big 102-58 victory off of Burloak North in their first game of the weekend, despite the recent turn over on their roster.
“We just played well, we played defense, that was the goal of this game. Play defence and get some buckets and blow this team out by 50,” said Nathaniel Savage who scored 25 points.
Savage was backed by a full team performance, with running mate Prince Oviawe leading all scorers with 27. Oviawe was named Player of the Game.
In October, Oakville was led by Kyree Thompson, who now finds himself on Canada Topflight Academy, one of the top teams in the circuit so far.
A first time Platinum Circuit team shows out
In a showdown between a first time team in The Platinum Circuit and another in it’s second session, Phase 1 Academy took down Orangeville Prep -Regional 83-72.
“It feels good to start the weekend off with a W,” said Tyler Ramrattan, who was named Player of the Game.
Phase 1 Academy came out with solid guard play from Miguel Bruan and Tyler Ramrattan and built an early lead on Orangeville who had to battle back into the game in the second half. Orangeville quickly switched to a zone to disrupt the penetration from the Phase 1’s guards, and found themselves leading in the third quarter, but Ramrattan drilled a dagger three pointer with less than 30 seconds remaining to put the game out of reach.
“When they came out in the zone, we knew we had to exploit it and do whatever we had to do and make smart decisions,” said Ramrattan.
While Ramrattan (16 points) was named Player of the Game for his late game heroics, his teammate Bruan poured in 28 points including a clutch fourth quarter that kept them in the game.
Both teams figure to be a tough out going forward, but Phase 1 Academy put everyone at The December Showcase that they’re not to be taken lightly.
Other notable performances
Halton Prep-Grant Schell scored 20 pts in their win over CODE Academy
CODE Academy-Kymani Meraro scored 17 points, including two threes in their loss to Halton Prep. Merraro also dropped a hard 25 points in their tough loss to Burloak Prep
Burloak North-Noah Lopez poured in 24 points, including seven threes in their loss to Oakville Prep. Lopez also scored 18 points on six threes in their loss to Cali Prep
Orangeville Regional-Jayden Samaraskera dropped 20 points in their loss to Phase 1
Project Excellence Prep-Got a great performance from Benni Kazadi who scored 22 points including three trifectas in their win over Excel Hoops Prep
Excel Hoops Prep-Ryan Thind scored 15 points including three three pointers in their loss to Project Excellence Prep
Oakville Prep-Player of the Game Sacade Kasamba scored an impressive 28 points including four threes in their win over East Prep
East Prep-Zander Wilson continues to put up big numbers, scoring 23 points, including 16 points in the second half in their lost to Oakville Prep
Cali Prep-The one-two punch of Ethan Massiah and Taj Au-Duke combined for 49 points in their win over Burloak North. Massiah tallied 22 points while Au-Duke scored a hefty 27 points in the contest
CODE Prep-The night’s best performance came from Jeven Eddy who notched 37 points in their 84-61 win over Shawinigan Prep (Shawi Prep)
Full Circle-Max Voorpool and his team bounced back from their loss to Burloak Prep, to take down Trinity Prep on the strength of Voorpool’s 32 points, which included a stretch where he hit five straight threes to end the second quarter and into the early third. In all, Voorpool buried seven trifectas in the game
