Northwest vs. Avon- Game Notes

I just got back from watching my first high school game of the season, getting my first glance at Kuran Iverson as his Northwest Catholic Indians win in Avon, by about 15.

It was obvious from the get-go that Northwest was just incredibly more athletic than Avon, but they seemed to a bunch of mistakes, including dumb turnovers and defensive lapses, that kept Avon in the game for a while. In the end, Julian Harris took the game into his own hand and gave Northwest the victory.

Kuran Iverson really is a freak of nature on the court...but he is a freshman and showed it tonight. He must have had 5-6 turnovers, mainly due to some out of control passes (including two that were thrown off the backboard). He also must've been about 1-6 from 3 pt. range, and many of his shots did not even look close. He did have one nice throwdown on a dish from Tyler Huffman in the 4th quarter, and had a few good blocks, but all in all he did not have a very strong game.

Julian Harris is definately among the top players in the conference, if not the state, and I'm suprised he's not getting many looks from d-1 schools. He is extremely athletic, and at 6'5" he can flat out dominate against teams like Avon. His outside shot is decent, but sometimes he tends to hang out outside the three point line too much, where he could be scoring at will inside. He finished with about 21 points tonight, including two dunks. He's got a good passion for the game; I'm a big fan of his.

I really was impressed with Northwest's backcourt of Jordan Lewis and Tyler Huffman as well. Lewis is super quick and attacks the basket well, with a good mid-range game. He's a bit undersized for the next level, but is a very solid player for the Indians, and has a good chance to be all-conference again. Huffman suprised me, as he looks about 10 years old on the court with his small 5'8" frame. But he rarely makes a mistake on the court and has a very smooth jump shot. Despite his looks, he shows a great deal of maturity on the court, and should be a very solid sidekick for Iverson the next three years.

J.C. Carr is also a solid player for Northwest, though he is overshadowed by Iverson and Harris, because he doesn't quite display the athleticism that they have. Northwest's biggest problem may be their lack of depth. Behind those starting five, the Indians are fairly weak, as BC-Baseball commit Tom Bourdon, sophomore Zach Lewis, and Taylor Ramos are the only others that got minutes. Bourdon is nothing more than an athlete on the court who plays good "D", but can't be relied on for offence. Lewis is going to be good but is still young, and Ramos is nothing more than a solid role player. This gives the starters more leeway to make stupid mistakes like some of them did today, as coach Mirabello doesn't have much competition on the bench.

As for Avon, their two Senior guards really impressed me tonight. I forget their names, but they were #4 and #5, and both were very poised, good shooters, and limited mistakes. They were able to work the ball around the aggresive NWC zone, and gave their shooters the open shots needed to stay in the game. I expect Avon to contend for a conference championship in the weak NCCC (made even weaker with the departure of Tolland)