NERR #NPS Book Report: Chapter 1

Laimonas Chatkevicius: 1/2 of South Kent Twin-Towers

South Kent breaks out to 2-0 start

- South Kent has fire-power galore.  They went 2-0 on the weekend, taking down La Jolla Prep (CA) on Friday night 94-74 and St John's Military Academy (WI) 84-76 on Saturday.  Ricky Ledo was an assassin on Friday, erupting for 37 in front of a press row loaded with the head honchos of college basketball recruiting.  Rolo knocked down 7 out of 12 from long-range and shot 13-22 overall from the floor, including three roof-raising hammer jobs.  Ledo also had five assists (could of had 8 or 9 except for several missed bunnies)...On Saturday, South Kent dominated the first half to take a 20 point lead into the break, then withstood a furious St John's 2nd half rally to take a 87-74 victory.  Junior guard Chris Thomas led the scoring with 17 points and also snaked 8 boards.  Ledo tossed in 15.  Kansas State-bound guard Zedric Sadler had 6 points and grabbed 13 boards from the back-court and his future KSU teammate Laimonas Chatkevicius  had 17 pts in only 13 minutes of play.  This dude is enormous, loud, and feisty...The Cardinal move to 3-0 on the season and will next take the floor on Friday, December 2nd in Worcester against Worcester Academy.

Notes
- Ike Freeman is legitimate 7'0 ft presence in the lane...He challenges shots, rebounds the ball hard on both ends, runs the floor with urgency, and can finish around the cup.  Freeman also has long, lanky arms, necessitating a wing-span check pronto on this Virginia big fella.

- Playing in between a loaded back-court stable and a pair of seven-foot towers, 6'7 Brooklyn forward Chris Ortiz went to work all weekend, rebounding the ball efficiently, running the floor hard, and finishing on numerous occasions with thunder-bolt pumpkin squashes.  Kent State may have themselves a steal in CO.

- Left-handed point guard Leron Fisher started both games at the point and immediately tossed his Baltimore grit into the brawl.  Fisher's gonna battle and confront you from buzzer to buzzer, and as we found out this weekend, young guards don't quite care much for that.

- Head Coach Kelvin Jefferson impressed running the show for South Kent from the sidelines.  Whether with his players, assistant coaches, or the officials, Jefferson keeps a spirited dialogue going all game long, aggressively defusing any situation which stands in the way of the South Kent wagon.

- Gun-slinger Riley Kirsch gave his squad a boost off the bench in both games with his dangerous left-hand stroke.

- Ricky Ledo had a total of 52 points in two games to finish the event averaging 26ppg.  Impressed with his weekend body-language and leadership effort.

- Interesting tidbit: Chris Thomas is the biological son of Michael Ray Richardson, one of the most talented players in hoops history.