Jennings, Oak Hill win GOAZCATS.com Showdown
Future Wildcat Brandon Jennings scored 49 points with five steals and four assists as he led his Oak Hill Academy Warriors to a 102-91 defeat of the James B. Dudley Panthers Saturday at McKale Center for the GOAZCATS.com Showdown.
Dudley jumped out to an early 9-3 lead when senior center Mike Coger hit a midrange jumper.
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Then at the 5:08 mark of the first quarter, Oak Hill sophomore Bryon Allen got a steal and hit a transition jump shot to cut the Dudley lead to two points at 9-7.
Soon after, Oak Hill junior Glenn Bryant tied the game at nine on a jump shot and later extended the Warriors' lead on a dunk, pushing the score to 12-9.
Jennings started to heat up late in the quarter and fueled a run that saw his team open up a 23-14 lead as he jammed one home with 43 seconds left in the quarter.
Oak Hill's star points guard turned it on even more in the second quarter as he and junior forward Dan Jennings traded shots and put Dudley even further into a hole at 32-21 with 5:34 to go in the half.
Things didn't get much better for Dudley before halftime as Brandon Jennings scored 16 second-quarter points to give Oak Hill a 55-42 halftime lead.
Coming out of halftime, Bryant made a breakaway lay-up to push the score to 59-44 but Dudley freshman P.J. Harriston made a pair of three-pointers to cut the lead to 12 points at 63-51 with 4:10 left in the third quarter.
Jennings put up double-digits for the for the third-straight quarter with 11 points and helped open up an 84-69 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Dudley guard Marcus Heath hit a three with 6:33 left in the game to cut the lead to 84-72 but the Warriors roared back and Jennings hit a jumper to open up the biggest lead of the game at 90-72.
Dudley didn't throw in the towel though and Coger and Harriston both made lay-ups to bring their team's deficit to single digits at 92-83 with 2:56 left to play.
The Panthers would not get any closer than nine points to Oak Hill and the Warriors were able to seal the victory.
This game was never really in question after the first few minutes and Jennings certainly stole the show, scoring at will from everywhere. He took pull-up threes, fade-away jumpers and drove the lane, showing his full bag of tricks and finishing well at the rim.
He wasn't the only player who looked good on Saturday though. Teammate Keith Gallon showed why he is a four-star prospect in 2009, showing great agility and athleticism despite his 6-foot-9, 300-pound frame.
Gallon finished the game with 12 points, 12 rebounds and a pair of blocks.
Even outside of Gallon, the Warriors possessed a size advantage and blocked eight shots as a team.
Dudley had a couple of players show some impressive skills as well in Harriston and Heath.
Both players have a very smooth and fluid stroke and hit a high percentage from behind the arc.
Harriston is one of the most highly regarded freshmen in the country and showed why against Oak Hill, leading Dudley in scoring with 26 points and tallying four rebounds and four assists.
Heath is a senior and showed good quickness and ball skills and was just as impressive shooting as was Harriston. He finished with 23 points and three assists.
Following the game, Brandon Jennings was awarded the GOAZCATS.com Showdown MVP trophy.
GOAZCATS.com will have more information, video and pictures from the GOAZCATS.com Showdown shortly.
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