Malik Crowfield proved to be a dead-eye shooter for the New Orleans Elite on Saturday morning.
The 6-4 junior who led Riverside Reserve (La.) High School to a state title last month, scored 26 points in a 50-41 victory over the Arkansas Hawks and had 15 points in a 50-44 victory over Rashaw Lewis Elite just three hours later.
“He’s a pretty good player,” New Orleans Elite Coach Wilfred Antoine said. “He’s got a high IQ. Not only does he shoot really well, he understands how to play this game.”
Crowfield made six three-pointers — five in the first half — in an 8 a.m. game with the Hawks, scoring more than half of his team’s points. In his second game, Crowfield backed up his 15 points with 10 rebounds and three steals. He finished the morning with a combined nine threepointers.
“He’s very consistent,” Antoine said. “He’s got a great three-ball and he also has a nice pull-up jump shot. … Shooting the ball is his thing.” Antoine said Arkansas and LSU have both expressed interested in Crowfield.
“He has unlimited range and he can also get to the basket,” Antoine said. “To me, he’s got the total package.”
Guard Roydel Brown matched Crowfield with 15 points in the victory over Rashawn Lewis Elite. Brown also grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds, seven of which came on the offensive end.
Penny-wise
In summer basketball circles, when the name Team Penny shows up on the schedule, opponents are likely thinking Memphis.
But not this weekend.
Team Penny’s 16-Under team that is playing in the Real Deal in the Rock has a roster that is completely full of players from central Arkansas.
“We’ve been working together for the last three years,” Team Penny Coach Kahn Cotton said. “It’s worked out for us.”
It’s working well so far the central Arkansas group. Darius Hall, a sophomore from Mills, finished with 17 points, 13 rebounds and 4 assists in an 87-64 victory over the Texas-based Victory Sports Eagles on Saturday afternoon.
Hall scored 13 of his points in the second half.
“Darius has a lot of heart and shows a tremendous amount of energy on the court,” Cotton said. “But I don’t think he’s scratched the surface of his talent.”
Tyree Appleby of Jacksonville wound up as Team Penny’s leading scorer with 19 points. Tremont Robinson, a sophomore from Maumelle, also scored 17 points while Little Rock Parkview’s Khalil Garland scored 14 and North Little Rock’s J.T. Taylor had 10.
Cotton said it has not taken long for the team to develop a good chemistry.
“The kids like each other,” Cotton said. “And that’s a big part of it. They don’t mind sharing the ball. They play hard for each other. Most of them have played together for some point and time in their career. … I’ve had teams where we didn’t get to practice with each other because I’ve had three or four kids that were from out of town. When you’re stuck in a gym with only five or six kids, you don’t get to develop very good chemistry.”
Team Penny is scheduled to play a quarterfinal-round game at 8 a.m. at P.A.R.K.
On point
Playing on a team with one of the top players in the country can have its advantages.
Spencer Littleson could be one of the players who reaps the rewards of having Josh Jackson as a teammate.
The One Nation Elite point guard scored eight points in a 49-44 victory over the Colorado Hawks on Saturday.
Littleson, who plays high school basketball at Rochester (Mich.) Adams, earned high praise from his Coach Terrence Robinson, who believes the Class of 2016 guard has an opportunity to have a big summer for One Nation, which features Jackson, the No. 1 player in the country according to Rivals.com. Robinson is familiar with Littleson, having coached against him with Detroit Consortium.
“Spencer is a gamer,” Robinson said. “He played against us. I was super impressed with his shooting ability and his court savvy. This kid is smart. He’s a really smart basketball player. His IQ is really high. Robinson has been impressed with Littleson’s unselfish play.
“We ran some sets for him. Even when we’re not running sets for him, he’s setting other people up,” Robinson said. “He fits into our team concept. He fits in just right.”
It’s examples like Littleson that Robinson is trying to instill in his One Nation team.
“Playing beautiful basketball is attractive to college coaches,” Robinson said. “We’re trying to get to them to the point where we’re developing beautiful basketball, where guys are feeding off of each other and making the extra passes.”
Sports on 04/05/2015