Wire walker at Kings Island
Annual hot dog eating contest
Beavercreek 4th of July Parade
Harmony sends out B-team to wreck Jefferson
Broncos star prospect Payne's 20 points not enough to avoid blowout.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
KETTERING — The neat element of Flyin' to the Hoop is its exhibition-like format. Everyone knows what they're getting into: More often than not, high-caliber boys basketball.
The games count, but W's and L's get equal billing with recruiting exposure.
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So when Jefferson High School uncorked a curveball after watching Harmony Prep of Cincinnati launch a couple Flyin' mismatches over the weekend, it was game on.
"We've had a couple blowout games before and no one likes to play in those kinds of games," said Harmony B-team coach Kiev Lamarr after his reserves walloped the Broncos 61-39 in Monday's opener at Fairmont High School's Trent Arena.
"We told the A team they wouldn't be playing, and they understood. We run into that at times."
The three-day boys basketball event featured 16 games and concluded on Monday. It was the first time at Trent in its six seasons after five years at Vandalia.
Harmony's B team was outstanding. But the 40-plus college coaches in attendance didn't attend to watch that bunch. They wanted the real deal, including Harmony's five Division I prospects and Jefferson's highly sought-after 6-foot-8 Adreian Payne.
The sophomore had 20 points and 8 rebounds. But ...
"I think he played well," Jefferson coach Art Winston said. "He's my player, and I'm going to always defend him. ... He's an exceptionally good kid and he's an exceptionally good ballplayer."
It's the first time Flyin' to the Hoop creator Eric Horstman has shuffled his deck at zero hour. Besides accommodations, his major challenge is matching prep schools and their evolving rosters with high schools six months before tipoff.
"On paper in the fall, the matchups look wonderful," Horstman said. "But then give it five months of today's crazy world of high school basketball where people are going back and forth and switching here and there and that becomes an issue. In this case, it did become an issue."
Contact this writer at 225-2381 or mpendleton@DaytonDailyNews.com.
