Montaque Gill-Caesar Carries Huntington at Dick’s Nationals

After highlight filled games in New York on day one, the semifinals of Dick’s High School National Tournament would be set. The number six and seven seeds, Oak Hill and Findlay will tip off at 2:30 ET and (#4) Huntington and (#1) Montverde will let loose on each other at 4:30.

This means 2015 PG Munis Tutu and the La Lumiere Lakers take an early exit after a devastating buzzer beating loss to Huntington.

All four games in the quarterfinals were close with the exception of the final game of the night where the dominance of the Aussie, Ben Simmons could not be tamed by Sagemont.

Montaque Gill-Caesar is also a tough player to defend and he had his way in the win over La Lumiere. There is the possibility that the two will be assigned to each other when the two teams meet.

Canadian stat lines from Dick’s High School Nationals

Montaque Gill-Caesar – 20 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists on 7/10

Munis Tutu – 6 points, 3 rebounds, 7 assists on 2/4

Chris Egi – 6 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks

Dillon Brooks – 9 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks

Justin Jackson – 2 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists

Montaque tightened form on jumper and getting great elevtion
Montaque tightened form on jumper and getting great elevtion

When you need a bucket you’ve got to find Montaque Gill-Caesar. The fourth quarter belonged to him before a heroic final shot that was made by his teammate JaQuan Lyle to seal the deal at the buzzer.

Montaque’s form is looking tighter and the elevation on his shot is getting him well above most defenders.

Dillon Brooks will have his hands full tomorrow against Oak Hill, but he is the type to welcome all challenges so it will be a dog fight.

His activity on the glass gives the Findlay Prep Pilots many extra possessions and he makes it hard for anyone to put up a clean attempt around the basket.

The Rainier Beach Vikings fought back and got the game to single digits in the fourth quarter, taking advantage of consecutive turnovers from Findlay Prep while they were under full court pressure.

Shaqquan Aaron and De’Jounte Murray gave the number two ranked team in this tournament, Rainier Beach a fighting chance up until 45 seconds left in the game.

Findlay will need to come into their next game with more poise, as Justin Jackson mentioned in a post game interview. The team turned over the ball 17 times, and against a team like Oak Hill, they will make you pay.

One more day before the big show moves to Madison Square Garden for Championship day. Canadian tracking of the Nation’s top prospects continues…

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