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Justice Decker (2025) 6’5 SF Central Kentucky Basketball Club/duPont Manual
Decker brings a physical component to the game due to his frame and style of play. The southpaw likes to B-line to the rim and initiate contact on dribble drives. Showcased some body control in the paint. Definitely has polished his game since I saw him at Wright State’s Team Camp in June 2023. Versatile defender as he’s quick enough to guard wings and physical enough to battle with smaller 4’s on the block. Isaiah Cochran (2025) 6’7 PF Central Kentucky Basketball Club/Adair County Cochran caught my eye at the KHSAA Sweet 16 two months ago and again impressed in Louisville. Catches the eye right away with his athletic, 6’7 frame. Defensively sound prospect in terms of keeping guys in front and rotating in halfcourt defense. Draws defense into help when he puts the ball on the floor. Combine this with the intangibles and vision to see teammates and Cochran can be a great setup option. Midrange/perimeter shots weren’t falling consistently in the games I watched, but still a high profile prospect and performer. Diante Jones (2026) 6’0 PG MR22 Elite Gold/Northland Jones was a new name for me in Louisville as he played a very tough brand of basketball for a guard heavy team. Aware of where he needs to attack to draw defenders in for drive-and-kick opportunities. Quickly rises into his shot if he chooses to keep and try to score himself. Jones was fantastic on-ball defensively as he showcased impressive lateral movement and cut off the drives well. Would like to see improvement in his game implementing a post player and getting big involved. A’zon Steele (2025) 6’0 PG Team Greatness 3SGB/Sidney Steele had a different role with Team Greatness than with his HS team. Ball dominant with SIdney and tasked with being the primary scorer, Steele was more of a distributor for Team Greatness. His vision has improved and he sees the floor much better than previous outings I’ve scouted of him. Still a threat offensively to blow by a defender with a move or two, or get into his shot in the midrange. Steele has even showed improvement getting his secondary option as he got a defender to commit to him in a pullup 15 footer, and then hit teammate Alex Kazanecki for an easy layup. Brandon Roddy (2025) 6’1 PG MR 22 Elite 3SSB/Harvest Prep Roddy will go down as one of my favorite PGs I’ve ever scouted. Unselfish with his Harvest Prep team and even with his club team with some real scoring threats. Knows how to utilize a pick-and-roll and find rolling big or attack gaps to draw another defender. Facilitates and cleanly distributes out of screens and drives. Difficult to speed him up as Roddy has one of the tighter handles in Ohio and can settle in against tighter and higher ball pressure. Roddy doesn’t take a ton of outside shots whenever I’ve scouted him as he’d rather get another guy the ball or get within a few feet of the rim to score himself. Cash Ingram (2025) 6’1 PG Elite Mentality/Fairfield Ingram showed a lot of comfortability offensively against MR 22 Elite. Tough nosed guard with an attack mode mentality with the ball in his hands. Consistently beat his man off the dribble and plenty of paint touches. Lured fouls by initiating contact and going up strong and collected. Aware enough on the perimeter that he found shooters on the wing after getting in the paint enough times. I would like to see Ingram’s decision making be just a tad quicker as he did take an extra dribble or two at times instead of making a pass or a floater in the paint. Still impressed however against a shoe team. Tyson Davis (2027) 6’0 SG Phenom United Gold/Lakota West Davis was another ball-dominant offensive player that impressed me. Playing against a very skilled STAR Basketball Club (UA Rise), Davis played like a more mature prospect in terms of physically being tougher than defenders and showcasing the awareness that he has a stronger, more physical frame than some of the defenders. Prioritized attacking to the left and was comfortable if switched to the right. While Davis got into the paint, he did get called for two charges by going off one foot uncontrolled. As he shows more poise in the paint, could really benefit with Lakota West’s offense. James Kalala (2026) 6’7 PF EG10 (17U)/Southport Kalala was probably my favorite prospect to watch throughout the weekend with his EG10 team. Playing up a grade, Kalala has a ton of upside and it showed. Catches the eye right away with his frame and the athleticism and springiness he plays with at 6’7. Caught an alley-oop off the backboard in transition and was persistent attacking the glass offensively. On the defensive side, defended on-ball and as a big extremely well. Long enough to slow down smaller attacking players and hedged ball screens to perfection. Kalala does have some improvement in terms of forcing shots offensively when he catches on the block. Also was caught reaching defensively if he did get beat. Still one of the highest upside prospects I saw, especially considering he is playing up. Jaymal Whitfield (2028) Phenom United 3SSB Whitfield was one of several athletes that caught my eye for Phenom’s 14U 3SSB squad. Passes the eye test right away with his frame as a 14U player. Overpowered defenders both off the dribble and attacking the glass. Literally attacks through on-ball defense and went over box outs. Whitfield did have a lot of success putting the ball on the floor and finding trailing guards or dump offs to bigs. Shows signs of being a skilled offensive weapon at the HS level. Shea O’Toole (2025) 5’11 CG Midwest Flyers-Creamer/Turpin O’Toole was in a groove against a more athletic and guard-heavy Marshall Warriors team. Gave himself opportunities with his off-ball movement. Backdoor cuts and dribble handoff reads allowed him to get separation and score more than just shooting the ball. Had a few flashes with dribble drive from teammates and was able to get touches. Speaking of shooting, O’Toole was able to get into shots off the dribble or off catch. Especially liked to settle for the midrange jumper when able. A bit undersized, O’Toole plays bigger than his 5’11 frame and has the toughness factor.
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Logan Wolfenbarker (2026) 6’4 SF Buckeye Storm/McDermott Northwest
Wolfenbarker possesses great size for a wing/SG. Quick trigger and made some contested shots free throw line extended. Has evolved from catch-and-shoot to a more creative shot maker and creator with the ball in hands. Arness Lawson (2025) 6’2 PG All Ohio Red EYBL/Pickerington North Lawson has taken some massive strides from the last time I saw him with Pick North in the Winter. Catches your eye right away with his elite vertical play above the rim. Seemingly hovers in the air. Sees the open floor in transition and advanced the ball off turnovers. Slashed well in the halfcourt and draw defenses in and kick to shooters on the perimeter. Tyler Kropp (2025) 6’8 PF All Ohio Red EYBL/Olentangy Liberty Kropp is another player that has made strides since seeing him in the Winter. Mobility has improved as is his perimeter defense. Developing into a true inside-out option with both his range and post play. Shoots well enough to force defenders to give a hand, and too strong with back to the basket. Either used post move to finish in traffic, or get into fadeaway low post shot. Damon Griffin (2025) 6’0 PG Quality Sports Academy/Reynoldsburg Griffin was a problem in the backcourt for QSA against Midwest Pumas-Gold. Combines quickness with the ball in hand with advanced athleticism and shifty with his movements to be a tough player to defend. Specifically utilized his crossover and handle to get into jump shots; beating most defenders to get a hand on him. Race Kowalczak (2026) 6’6 PF Ohio Buckets EYCL/Toledo St. John’s
A true pullup shooting threat. Kowalczak is automatic in the midrange, showing he can get shots to fall in transition and in the halfcourt set. Long and lengthy wing/PF option for a team with some elite guards around him. Micah Young (2025) 6’1 CG Nova Village UA Rise/Westerville North Young is a true high IQ player. Instinctual defender with Nova’s pressure defense. Jumping passing lanes and anticipated next pass. Unselfish in the offensive setting-moving the ball and now issue making extra pass. Combo scoring too with explosiveness downhill and midrange pullup shot. Maddox Huff (2025) 6’3 PG Griffin Elite UA Rise/Harlan County Huff is a patient, poised lead guard. Handles the ball at a high level and rarely loses possession or makes poor reads. Good frame and size for a PG. Huff especially impressed me with how he read and created out of ball screens. Knew when to take an extra dribble, hit the roll man, or rise into his 15 foot jumper. Tre Singleton (2025) 6’7 SF Indiana Elite Team Tradition/Jeffersonville Singleton can play either the 3 of 4 and showed attributes of both. Strong upper body and excelled in back-to-basket situations. Specifically loved going to a drop step out of the post and go up strong off two feet. While he has the body for a PF, handles the ball and moves like a SF. Santino Haney (2027) 5’10 PG OBC UA Rise/Steubenville
Haney was the facilitator and leader for an OBC team that is loaded at their 15U team. Haney specifically caught my eye with his defensive tenacity. His lateral quickness allowed him to avoid being beat off the dribble and kept his guy in front at all times. Offensively showed a confident jump shot and solid vision in the half-court with the amount of athletes on his team. Haney is fresh off of a standout freshman campaign at Steubenville and is showing signs of being an elite two-way player as he continues to develop. Cole Arbogast (2027) 6’6 PF OBC UA Rise/St. Edward Arbogast was a new name for me and showed interior skills with OBC. Arbogast catches your eye right away with his 6-foot-6 frame at 15U. Moves well for a big with times being confortable out on the wing. Showed understanding of spacing and creating space to allow dump off passes or flashes through the lane. While Arbogast can play around the rim, he will need to continue to improve finishing through traffic and improving as a low post threat offensively. Arbogast is with one of the best high school programs and cultures in Ohio, which is only a positive to his ceiling potential. Jamar Montgomery (2025) 6’3 SG/SF Midwest-Rambo HGSL/Centerville Montgomery looked impressive with his Midwest team against an athletic Cincy Fire Elite team. Montgomery’s calling card is his defensive play. Due to his role with Centerville, defends guards and smaller wings and takes pride in getting after it defensively. While with Centerville, Montgomery played more like a SF, spending more time around the rim. WIth Midwest, I saw him play more like a 2, showing confidence putting the ball on the floor and flowing within the halfcourt sets. I would like to see Montgomery continue to develop and become more comfortable on the wing. But his role should change next year at Centerville with the talent graduating. Brock Baker (2025) 6’3 SF Midwest-Rambo HGSL/Kettering Fairmont Baker’s development has continued to be on full display. After a solid showing with Fairmont, Baker has added more muscle to his frame and really filled out as a smaller wing. His stocky frame allowed him to fight on the block defending a slightly bigger PF. Baker held his own and is looking more comfortable with the ball in his hands. His shot mechanics are an area of improvement yet, but Baker is showing if he can continue to add to his skillset he could be a target to some D3 programs. Baker is bound for a big senior year with Fairmont as well as his Firebird and Midwest teammate Evan Gentile. |
Written by: Tony PetersEdited and Published by: Seth Keim Archives
May 2024
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