As wrap up the travel basketball season and head into the high school season, we look back on the 2020 LakePoint Travel Series. With the whole season crammed into a matter of weeks, it was a hectic, but very fun ride with a lot of good basketball and noteworthy performances to look back on.
Best Shooter
Dan McDonald: Chase Rose, Nike Elite Stars (AL)
This one was pretty easy for me and it goes to Chase Rose. In the very first game at the LakePoint LIVE Showcase II, he scored 24 points on seven three-pointers along with three free throws because he was fouled on a three-point attempt. He’s one of those shooters where you think it’s going in every time it leaves his hand. That shooting performance alone had college coaches blowing up my phone asking about him. He has an offer from Delta State, but I expect that list to grow.
Carter Wilson: Matthew Sells, Pro One (AL)
We got a really good look at the Pro One groups throughout the season. One of the consistencies with their 17U team was that Sells was a reliable marksman every time out. He had some huge shooting performances throughout the travel series and some of them came in the biggest moments possible. His ability to consistently knock down shots from the perimeter will make him a productive player at the next level. He was definitely one of the unsung heroes of the Pro One 17U team.
Best Game
Dan McDonald: TSF Mack 2022 vs Nike Elite Stars (AL)
As part of the LakePoint LIVE Showcase II, we put together a “showcase game” between TSF Mack 2022 and Nike Elite Stars that matched up two of the top point guards in the country between five-star 2021 guard J.D. Davison (Nike Elite Stars) and five-star 2022 guard Bruce Thornton (TSF Mack 2022, Pictured). Both teams had plenty of help around their star player and the game just had a great buzz around it in the Champions Center before it even started. It just felt big. TSF Mack 2022 pulled out the win late. Thornton and Davison were both terrific and Thornton’s backcourt mate Tre Donaldson put his great talent level on display as well. It was a highly competitive game between two teams with a ton of mutual respect for each other.
Carter Wilson: TSF Mack 2022 vs. Nike Elite Stars (AL)/Atlanta Celtics vs. NME
It's hard to argue against one of the best match-ups in the country with TSF's Bruce Thornton and Nike Elite Stars' JD Davison. In normal circumstances, this one would have been at least three deep all the way around the court. The game really lived up to the hype. The other game that really sticks out was a Battle for Georgia first round matchup between the Atlanta Celtics and NME, which proved that no games are easy at the Battle. Jabari Smith and Matthew Cleveland proved to be too much in the end, but NME's shooting gave them a good run. This one was a lot of fun.
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