Mceachern (9-0) V
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McEachern (9-0) v. Grayson (9-1) December 4, 2019 By: Zack Wright Trying to stop Sharife Cooper is hard. He’s a four-year varsity basketball starter, MaxPreps National Player of the Year (as a junior), MaxPreps National Junior of the Year, Mr. Georgia Basketball, USA Today All-USA Player of the Year, and has won countless MVP honors at the best tournaments in the nation. Since a freshman, he’s led McEachern to a 94-5 record, while going 32-0 his junior year, leading his team to his first state title, averaging 27.2 points, 8.1 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 4.3 steals a game. Geoffery Pierce, who boasts a 150-61 record as the head coach at Grayson High School, was determined to end McEachern’s 39 game win streak. This game was one of the most anticipated games of the year for Georgia, and it did not disappoint. The game was filled high-level D1 prospects. Grayson is led by guards USF commit Caleb Murphy and Mississippi State bound Deivon Smith. Ian Schieffelin, with multiple Division 1 offers, and Toneari Lane, headed to Winthrop University, round out 1 Grayson’s starters. Sharife Cooper, who committed to Auburn in September, and Cameron McDowell, a D1 prospect, lead McEachern. Grayson was in attack mode from the moment they won the jump ball. Toneari Lane hit two threes in Grayson’s first two possessions and Grayson did not slow down at all. Caleb Murphy had the assignment of guarding Sharife Cooper. Murphy face-guarded Cooper the whole game, and once Cooper passed the ball, Murphy made it extremely difficult for Cooper to get it back. Grayson relentlessly attacked the paint with their two athletic guards and McEachern did not have an answer for it. Cooper was forced to drive and either take contested layups on 6’7 Schieffelin or throw risky passes to open cutters. Deivon Smith ended the first quarter with an off-balance floater that resulted in Smith drawing a foul and getting the and-one. It seemed Grayson was in full control at the end of the first quarter, up 24 to McEachern’s 10. McEachern needed to slow down Grayson’s guards. McEachern started the second quarter in a full court 1-2-2 press.The pressure didn’t faze Grayson at all. Deivon Smith and Caleb Murphy made the right passes and used their athleticism to get to the paint easily. McEachern did the worst thing possible: try to speed up a team full of athletic players. Cameron McDowell tried to stop the bleeding on offense as Grayson continued to rain down buckets. He finished the half with a team high 15 points, shooting 6/10 from the field and 3/4 from 3. Caleb Murphy and Deivon Smith combined for 22 points on 10/19 shooting. The player that everyone in the sold out crowd that came to see, was nowhere to be found. Coming off a 52 point and a 30 point game, Sharife Cooper was unusually quiet in the first half. He only had 1 point and was shooting 0/7 from the field. Coming out of halftime, Sharife Cooper was insistent on bringing his team back into the game. He started the quarter making a contested three. After Deivon Smith tried to bring the rim down with a fast break dunk, Sharife’s frustrations began to show. McEachern didn’t have the same team as the year before, 5-star Isaac Okoro graduated and is currently playing at Auburn University, averaging over 30 minutes and 13.6 points a game. Cooper was being forced to drive every time he touched the ball, and as he 2 continued to pass the ball, his teammates weren’t catching his passes, leading to turnovers. Sharife was slowly heating up though. He hit a deep three and then the next play he grabbed a defensive rebound and pushed the ball down the court to throw a beautiful no-look dime to a streaking Jens Rueckert, who completed the highlight play. After Grayson had a few scoreless possessions, Rueckert grabbed a rebound and gave it up to Sharife. Speeding down the court, Cooper drove straight into the 6’7 frame of Schieffelin, hitting a tough contested layup. Grayson’s Murphy was ready to respond. His ability to attack and get to the rim in various ways on full display. He continued to hit contested layups all night. Toneari Lane exhibiting his athleticism with a few fast break dunks that gave the crowd some energy. The intensity at the Hawks-Naismith Holiday Classic was picking up. Sharife was still in attack mode, getting to the rim at will, but Schieffelin was there waiting, ready to block any shot that came his way. As the third quarter was coming close to an end, Murphy had a fast break dunk that sent the whole gym to their feet. Murphy was hot and wasn’t going to slow down after drawing a foul on a contested layup that resulted in another and-one. At the end of the third quarter, Grayson was up 60 to McEachern’s 41. Grayson was able to handle Sharife's light flurry of 12 points in the quarter as Murphy continued to respond with crucial buckets to keep Grayson up 19 points. McEachern’s 39 game win streak was on the line, and Sharife Cooper would have to come up big in the fourth quarter to keep the streak alive. McEachern’s press seemed a little more energetic as the fourth quarter started, as McEachern started to play with a sense of urgency. Caleb Murphy was able to easily break the press and went straight to the rim with strong layups. McEachern’s full court pressure was able to force a few turnovers but they weren’t able to capitalize off of them. 3 After a big block from Schieffelin, Murphy quickly darted a full court pass to Smith, who went up for a powerful two-hand dunk on Sharife Cooper who committed a foul. Grayson was in full control of the game and there wasn’t much Sharife Cooper could do. After Cooper hit a tough euro-step floater, Grayson called a timeout. They were still up 69-45, but they needed to stop the momentum that Sharife was gaining, as there was still over 5 minutes left in the fourth and anything could happen. Big man Ian Schieffelin hit a contested off balance three immediately out of the timeout. After the three from Schieffelin, Sharife Cooper’s urgency was obvious. He drove straight to the rim and drew a shooting foul. It was too late for McEachern though, as Grayson wasn’t going to slow down and with Schieffelin defending the paint, the game seemed over. After a few more blocks from Schieffelin, McEachern quickly scored 5 points from a quick 3 and a layup from a forced turnover. Grayson ran out some of the 30 second shot clock, with Toneari Lane hitting a corner three. Cooper continued to drive and try to stop the bleeding, but to no avail. After a tipped pass off an inbound, Deivon Smith stole the ball and went down court to throw down a monstrous windmill dunk that sent the whole gym into a frenzy. That dunk sealed the win for Grayson. Big man Schieffelin also had a huge putback dunk off a Lane missed corner three that added energy to the already hyped crowd. McEachern’s 39 game winning streak was over. The final score was Grayson’s 83 to McEachern’s 57. For McEachern, Sharife Cooper finished the game with a team high 17 points and 8 assists, shooting 6-23 from the field. Cameron McDowell had 15 points, shooting 3-4 from 3. Big man Bobby Moore finished with close to a double double with 10 points and 9 nine rebounds, going 6-6 from the free throw line. For Grayson, Caleb Murphy poured in 24 points and 7 rebounds, shooting 10-19 from the field. Deivon Smith finished the game with 7 assists and 17 points, shooting 8-15 from the field. Toneari Lane was a huge contributor with 3 timely corner 3s, finishing with 17 points. 4 The most important player of the game wasn’t any of the seniors though. It was junior big man Ian Schieffelin of Grayson. He finished with 13 points, 11 blocks, and 10 rebounds. His big time effort led to his triple double. He swatted away any shot that was in the paint and played physical all night. He went through bodies from rebounds and loose balls. His exceptional rim protection helped slow down Sharife Cooper, and ultimately was the reason that Grayson easily won the game. Schieffelin currently has a few Division 1 offers, and his recruitment surely should quickly pick up after his huge performance. Grayson and McEachern won’t play each other again in the regular season, but there is a chance they can play in the Georgia Class AAAAAAA state playoffs. Grayson improves to a record of 10-1 while McEachern earns their first loss of the season with a 9-1 record. Both teams will continue to play some of the best teams in the nation, and every game should be must-watch. 5 .