Scotland Campus Class of 2020 guard Devin Rivera’s 26-point performance against Olympus Prep (NJ) during the recent GAC conference finals was indicative of how far the gritty 5-foot-10 Class of 2020 has evolved this season.
A vastly improved guard with the ability to make deft passes and trigger the offense fresh off a defensive rebound, the Brooklyn native has tuned up his outside shot and seemingly unlimited range. Prep White has reaped the rewards of Rivera’s ascension. He’s helped accelerate the workload and scoring of rugged 6-foot-2 guard Dillon Hod, who has become very adept at attacking the rim, passing and making the right reads, and also finishing through contact for traditional 3-point plays.
Flanked by a fleet of sharpshooters, Rivera will look to again display both aspects as as dish-first creator and a scorer who can break a game open when he seizes the hot hand this week. Scotland Prep White will prolong their 2019-20 campaign with a post-season berth in the USA Prep National Basketball Championships. The event will take place in North Myrtle Beach, S.C. and feature a number of post-graduate and high school talent. Scotland has ramped up on the shooters in this year’s event, boasting promising prospects such as 6-foot-2 Class of 2021 Jake Hyman (3-point ace with ambidextrous finishing ability), Illija Kovacevic (multiple games of 20+ points and five or more 3-pointers), and Jahmar White (29 points in a half vs. KOA Prep, several games of 25+ points this season).
Meanwhile, in the trenches, the Knights will look to feed the post with a behemoth forward/center in 6-foot-8, 235-pound South Alabama-signee Caleb White. White has notched myriad double doubles throughout the season and his ability to carom rebounds and out-muscle players in the post has been evident from the very start. White possesses the manchild-esque, college-ready body and sneaky vertically explosive athleticism which translates to the Division-I level.
He will have some help in the post with Class of 2020 prospect Dre Muten, a 6-foot-7 lefty with a crafty scoring skill set and a knack for turning in performances of double digit rebounds. An adequate post presence, Muten scored 21 points and pulled down 10 boards during a recent game against Rocktop Academy. With his length, toughness, and ability to stretch out defenders with his outside shooting, he has the attributes necessary to be an enticing late bloomer recruit. He’s equally adept at the pull-up game and bringing bigs away from the rim with his feathery, short-range jumper.
Khayden Stewart was the stout on-ball defender whose relentless pressure helped catapult the high school team to a USA Prep National Championship last year. The underrated 6-foot guard, who helped neutralize various scoring threats and applied suffocating defense throughout the event, is currently in his post-graduate year. He has emerged into a steady scoring presence as well.
A shifty point guard who can knock down the 3-point shot and knows how to attack the rim, Stewart has had several 20+ point performances this season. He’s been instrumental in helping instigate turnovers and forcing foes into errant, off-balanced shots.
This time around, he’s flanked with more talent and depth. Derrick Jones’ Prep Black team features a troika of radiant, high-level scorers in Chaz Owens, Brenden Kelly, and David Coit.
Owens, he of the tremendous vertical leaping ability, has established himself as an all around scorer who can pile up double-doubles. The Pennsylvania native recently garnered scholarship offers from Clarion University and Georgian Court. He’s been a dependable around the rim scorer who has shown he can step out and hit the outside shot.
He’s been a constant presence on the glass, with multiple games of 25+ points and 12+ rebounds throughout his post-graduate campaign.
Kelly, who is a deft ball handler with considerable gear-changing speed and shiftiness, has been both a scorer and a facilitator throughout the ’19-20 campaign.
With his high level know-how and quick release outside shot, he’s got an advanced skill set which translates well to the collegiate level. He scored 26 points and displayed a savvy during a loss to Believe Prep (SC) during the Scotland Invitational last month.
A devout gym rat with great concepts of the game, Kelly knows how to reel off that significant run and rattle off 3-pointers to cap a wild rally. His battle-tested pedigree and his ability to be an extension of the coach out there has been instrumental to the team’s success this season.
Coit, one of the beneficiaries of Kelly’s instinctive play-making, has been a revelation with his scoring binges.
The bullish 6-foot guard went off for 44 points against Hamilton Hall (a game which saw his backcourt mate, Brenden Kelly, drop 23). He’s steadily been able to trigger runs with his hard-driving, hard finishing ability and his knack for creating his shot off the dribble. Coit, who scored over 1500 points during an illustrious carer at Princeton Day High School, has been a three-level scorer with the ability to break games open. It is only fitting that he will be headed down South to Myrtle Beach for another chance to do this.
When he last trekked down south–all the way to Florida, Coit turned in back to back games of 30+ and wound up scoring 65 points in two games against Central Pointe Christian Academy in Orlando. He was named Game MVP, along with Owens, after he scored 32 points to propel the Knights to a win over CPCA White. Owens had 20 points and 12 boards in that marquee and memorable performance.
