Report from the Richwoods Shootout

I spent some of the morning watching games at this year's Richwoods Shootout and I will relate a few things I observed in this blog installment and then more later.

First -- as always -- summer basketball - the gyms are uncomfortably hot and not all teams have their full roster with them...and even worse, many teams are NOT wearing the same jersey numbers as their listing in the program uses -- so if I misidentified anyone then there isn't much I can do -- as there really wasn't anyone to ask, and just about everyone was asking all the same questions..."who is that" and "what number is Taphorn.."...etc...

So - I will start with Pekin -- they easily beat Galesburg in the 10AM game this morning....
I will start with -- WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO GALESBURG??
it's as if it's a little town out in the middle of nowhere and nobody plays this game basketball. They had very little talent and no size. Galesburg is a big city and their school has an enrollment of 1450 -- historically bigger than any school in our area except Pekin!! Why can't Galesburg come up with anyone who can play --
Oh well -- Pekin just killed Galesburg by about 30 and they didn't need Nate Taphorn to do it. Nate had a off game and missed most of his outside shots, but his size and skills still got him some inside buckets and put-backs. Pekin is pretty solid with 7-8 kids who could start at most area teams. JT Ramsey is a good defender and had numerous steals. Josh Tilstra and 6-5 and decent in the post. Trey Scotti is a strong 6-0 guard who can get to the basket. And if Taphorn had been hitting his 3-point attempts, they would have won by 50. I will have a bit more on Nathan Taphorn later --
Dave Reynolds was watching and taking notes.


Richwoods easily beat Canton. The Little Giants have some decent ball handlers but all are small and they just didn't have the size nor strength to go with Richwoods.
Canton's junior guard Mason Goforth was the best among their ball handlers and passers and is one of their leading scorers as well.
But more bad news for Canton -- after a couple years playing in 2A in the State Tournament -- they are now in 3A against the Manuals, Rock Islands, and Centrals...


Richwoods has a lot of new faces but as always they have some talent. Junior Preston Wells and senior Parish Mason are a pair of very good guards. 6-4 Denzel Irving plays forward and gets half his scoring off inside dunks. Richwoods does have a "big man" but they don't have a tall big man. They use 6-4 Nico Lampkin at center and at about 250lb he kinda gets his way inside! One other guard, stocky 5-11 Terrance Farmer also was fairly skilled in ball handling and passing. I also had a nice chat with Ex-Brave Ryan Phillips and others who were taking in the game.


Dunlap lost to United (East Moline) and nobody on Dunlap stood out very much.


Likewise -- East Peoria doesn't have much -- no size, little scoring. I do like senior Corey Crotz -- he's smart, can penetrate and pass as well as hit some shots, but he can't do it alone. East Peoria was beaten badly by Central.


Central as usual has lots of talent. No superstars but solid players and several even come off the bench as interchangeable parts. Their leader would be 6-6 Trey Kellum but they have a 6-10 kid who helps but is still developing his post moves, Kevin Jordan. As always Central will destroy a lot of teams with their press and stifling defense.


Limestone has a different look this year. Of course they are without Donivine Stewart but they're also without Dan Sparrow - as ex-Notre Dame head coach Eddie Mathews is now Limestone's skipper. His son Hank Mathews is a solid junior guard - kinda resembles a young Eddie Mathews when he was at Brimfield!
Limestone has no size but their guards play a very active defense that Eddie brought with him -- a lot like the swarming defense of Central but the kids maybe aren't as quick.
They should be OK but outside shooting was lacking.


I will add more about Manual, Peoria Christian, Lincoln, Rock Island, and other schools, etc...later...