by Ryan Mercier
As a non-famous actor who writes about sports for a hobby, it was exciting to finally gain media access to an event. However, having to pay the bills working another job (read back to the part about being non-famous), I was only able to attend one half of the first game of the inaugural Sportradar Showdown before working elsewhere.
Here are observations from one half of high-end high school basketball. LET’S GO!
Mass Rivals 3SSB vs. Team Thrill UAA
Right at tipoff, you absolutely cannot help but notice the 6’10” Derik Queen (Montverde Academy) of Team Thrill. Spoiler alert, Team Thrill became the eventual champion and Queen went for 27 points and 16 rebounds in that final game of the tourney. In this game, he just floated around the court looming in the minds of the Mass Rivals and ended with 26 points and 12 boards.
Not only that, but he had a whopping 10 fouls drawn. An extremely interesting stat you can find thanks to Synergy Basketball and Sportradar in the box score here.
Again, having to leave early, I was stunned to see Tyler Boston of Team Thrill ended up with goose eggs across the box score. I took down one note for Boston, “smart passer.”
For Mass Rivals, one player provided by far the most entertainment. George Turkson Jr. (Bradford Christian Academy). First of all, he had a ferocious dunk. A classic, easy to replay highlight in basketball. More interesting than that, Turkson lost his shoe at one point and tried to put it back on. Failing to do so, he picked up his one shoe in his hand and continued to play excellent defense. That guy wants to win.
Thanks to Coronado High School, Synergy, and Sportradar for putting on this event which will hopefully return each year.
Struggling Actor Sports 