2016 Battle for the Belt
By Emma Yavel
Brewster, NY Zero Gravity wrapped up their 2016 AAU tournament slate in Greater New York City with their Battle for the Belt event. As the basketball guys now start to turn their focus toward their winter seasons, they will look back with fondness on the opportunities that Zero Gravity provided them to shine in. We looked on with fondness at some talented guys, such as these below.
Malachi Hazelton (2020) 6’7 Forward High School: Bedford HS (MA) AAU Team: Mystic Valley. There’s a high school freshman roaming the gym in a NCAA D1 body and his name is Malachi Hazelton. Just in case you didn’t catch that physique in warm-ups, he opened the game scoring with a tomahawk slam dunk. Built like a 5, moves like a 2. Active, active, active. Wins the boards, flies in and out of his defensive rotations, boxes out. Pushes the ball. A freight train through the lane…until its overplayed, then comes the step-back three ball. He makes the other players on the court feel like they need a career change.
Cape Holden (2020) 5’6” Point Guard High School: Trumbull HS (CT) AAU Team: High Rise Elite (9th grade). Holden makes statements on the court. It’s starts with the flowing shoulder length hair, but then quickly switches to his hard nosed style of basketball. He can stretch a defense with the long, long ball, but would prefer to slice n dice through the lane. His drives can end in both scores and assists. Fearless.
Jordan Salisbury (2018) 6’3 Guard High School: North Brunswick HS (NJ) AAU Team: Hoop Nation. “Just win baby!” is this kid’s theme. He doesn’t blow you away with any one talent, he just blows you out of the gym with relentless application all of the talents. He can handle. He can score. He can find the open man. He can shoot the long ball, and he can draw the fouls on his basket drives.
Chancellor Green (2018) 6’0 Point Guard High School: Monroe Woodbury HS (NY) AAU Team: Team Takeover (Varsity). Green checks all of the boxes for a next level point guard. He’s already got a college-sturdy body. He will bust the zone with the ultra long ball, and ses the floor and sticks the right pass into the right spot at the right time.
Legacy Wallace (2018) 5’11 Guard High School: Construction HS (NY) AAU Team: JAMM. Great name, great game! Splendid athleticism, His leaps through the air hang there longer than the defender’s ability to match it. He has some serious shake in his bake. Fearless scorer, either by slicing through you or over the top with the stop n pop.
Kevin Hunter (2018) 6’0 Shooting Guard High School: Livingston HS (NJ) AAU Team: NJ Crusaders . “Shooter!!!” Get used to that desperate scream if you are going to stand near an opposing coach of Hunter’s. In the game that we saw of Hunter’s, all of the shouting went for naught. The defense tried to find him, but they couldn’t. He lit them up with eight threes, including the well contested buzzer beater to force OT. Someday, his first body ink likely will read “Zone Buster”.
Gavin Greene (2020) 6’4 Forward High School: St Joseph HS (CT) AAU Team: CT Premier Hoops Development. In his first two Battle of the Belt games, Greene averaged a double double in points and rebounds (20 ppg and 15 rebs). He has great athleticism in attacking the rim and finishing around the basket. Greens can also mix in a decent jump shot and ball handling skills. He’s too athletic to be guarded by a big, and too big to be guarded by a guard.
Nick Eiler (2017) 6’ Guard High School: Monroe Woodbury HS (NY) AAU Team: Team Takeover. Eiler did a lot of things well. Let’s call him a basketball Swiss Army knife. He can shoot. He can drive. He can find the open teammate. Plays hard. Loves the game.
Malakai Whittaker (2020) 5’9 Point Guard High School: Marymount Academy (CAN) AAU Team: Sun Youth Hornets. This Canadian point guard dropped in for a weekend of play at Brewster and showed his smooth and crafty game by playing up a grade. He has great speed and shiftiness. He shoots with accuracy and range, and attacks the rim.
Jess Perel (2018) 5’7 Point Guard High School: East Brunswick HS (NJ) AAU Team: Hoop Nation. Perel is a basketball player in a gymnast’s body. He makes that innate body control and quickness really work for him in the gym. He is the straw that stirs the drink on offense. He get’s under your dribble on defense. Fun to watch.
Tristan Joseph (2020) 6’1 Swing High School: Brien McMahon (CT) AAU Team: Greenwich Stars. After watching him play, we told Joseph to grab a mop and do the do floor. That’s way he could say that he did absolutely everything for his Stars team. He probably plays guard at the varsity and college level because he has the handle, athleticism and shooting touch to do so. But his superior wing span and competitive mind set allowed him to defend the middle, clear the boards, and swat away basket drives at this 9th grade level of AAU play.
Jack Roberson (2020) 6’6” Center High School: Darien (CT) AAU Team: High Rise Elite. “You can’t coach height.” But you can teach your bigs to keep that ball high, and somebody has done a good job of that with this young center. Stick this young pup in the weight room for a few years, let age add some testosterone into that mind set, and Roberson will be able to choose his college uniform.
Malakai Kis (2020) 6’1 Wing High School: Lake Academy (CAN) AAU Team: Sun Youth Hornets. Kis has a sturdy build and athleticism. He gets to the rim at will and finishes through contact. He hits the open three and has a solid mid range game.
Jack Molloy (2019) 6’6 Forward High School: Brunswick School (CT) AAU Team: TriState Thunder (10th grade). We called Molloy a forward, because in the big boy league that Brunswick plays in, that’s where he is likely to play. For his AAU team though, he was the center in the most literal sense of that word. Everything in their offense went through Molloy, first and foremost. He showed the IQ, vision, passing touch and drop-step game to justify that approach. He is too much of a long and heavy load to box out. Hack-a-Shaq was out the door as a tactic, because he made his free throws.
Jordan Thomas (2018) 6’7 Center High School: Queens Metropolitan HS (NY) AAU Team:JAMM. Thomas is a NYC kid, which means he is a force on the court. However, at 6’7 and 280 lbs, a suburban upbringing would have likely placed him in a football uniform in the Novembers of his life.. Those body types just don’t end up in 16 year old packages that often. He used his size well when he got deep in the post. He showed some nimbleness in his ability to spin to his weak hand side. A demanding coach will eventually get him add some more scoring technique to maximize those physical gifts.
Elijah Bovell (2018) 6’1 Guard High School: Baldwin HS (NY) AAU Team: JAMM. Bovell is long and athletic, smooth and lethal. He’s got a college-level quick release on his jumper. His handle has some stop-n-go and wiggle game that makes him hard to stay in front of. He is unselfish in his ball movement. His AAU program coordinator told us that he is carrying a 3.6 gpa. If he gets that fact in front of the high academic colleges, he is going to have some sweet options.
Ian Rieger (2018) 6’6 Forward High School: Baldwin HS (NY) AAU Team: JAMM. Rieger is a must-have accessory for the coaching fashion set. He is a big, strong, active, smart and skilled banger. A college four. Plays the high post like a control tower. He puts both the pick the roll in your pick-n-roll.
Phil Conner (2019) 6’1 Guard High School: Notre Dame-Fairfield HS (CT) AAU Team: CT Premier Hoops Development.Conner is a lock down defender who also averages double digit points per game (scored 27 points in his two Saturday games). His disruptive defense causes its own offense in transition.
Sean Smith (2017) 5’6 High School: Montclair HS (NJ) AAU Team: NJ Crusaders. You look at Smith, and you immediately decide that he is too small to be playing basketball. You look at his stat sheet, and you’re seeing a complete stud. He is just too quick, too crafty and too hard-playing not be playing basketball.
Zach Forte (2019) 6’5 Center High School: Masuk HS (CT) AAU Team: CT Premier Hoops Development. Forte is the biggest body on the floor in most 10th grade division games, and he really makes that work for him. He positions well in the low post, creating a high percentage finish. He shows some higher level stretch four potential in his knock down 15 footer. He averaged a double-double in Battle for the Belt play.
Brandon Sechan (2020) 5’6 Point Guard High School: New Canaan HS (CT) AAU Team: High Rise Elite. Sechan sees the floor and the game flow better than you can. It’s a vision thing. Not many have it at this level of play, and it will be well appreciated at the next. His understanding of how to use the jump-stop as a play making tool also carries through to the higher levels of the game.
Evan Carlisle (2020) 5’10 Point Guard High School: St James HS (MA) AAU Team: Mystic Valley. “Money!” You got to respect the selflessness of a primary ball handler who can drain the long ball as easily as this guy. Most people possessing that kind of shooting talent would be tempted to just dribble down and stroke it every time the defense was in “Hand down, man down” mode. Carlisle showed the point guard gene, he kept his teammates happy and playing hard by sharing the rock…until it was time to crush the defense with the mood-crushing long bomb.
Bathanamie Martin (2019) 5’10 Guard High School: Mamaroneck HS (NY) AAU Team: JAMM We asked Martin what he thought he did best. He answered “Defense…and sharing the ball”. Great answer, but not fully descriptive. He also pleases his coach by thriving in transition, attacking the rim and sticking the pull-up jumper.
Lenz DuPont (2020) 5’9 Point Guard High School: Ecole Jeanne-Mance (CAN) AAU Team: Sun Youth Hornets. .DuPont came down from Quebec for the weekend and showed athleticism on his finishes at the rim. He has a great motor which, among other things, was reflected in his elite ability to rebound. He slices up transition defenses and hits the open threes in the half court game.
Daniel Fitzpatrick (2019) 6’2 Guard High School: Fairfield-Warde HS (CT) AAU Team: CT Premier Hoops Development. Fitzpatrick l is very quick and a strong floor general for his team. He utilizes his length and quickness to get to the basket, and is very unselfish when he gets into the paint. He has a consistent jumper from outside.
Nicholas Dover (2018) 5’7 Guard High School: West Orange HS (NJ) AAU Team: New Jersey Crusaders. Dover is a solid, never-rattled floor general with exceptional speed and ball handling skills. Throughout the ZG NYC fall circuit, he defended the quickest guards and set up his teammates in the best positions. He’ll be on the college scout radar throughout the high school season.
Gabriel Silvera (2017) 6’1 Guard High School: West Orange H.S (NJ) AAU Team: New Jersey Crusaders. This talented high school senior was probably one of the most athletic players we saw this fall. His quick burst of speed and explosiveness to the rim brought excitement for spectators. Gabriel is versatile shooting guard who is extremely effective in full court transition. When his team needed quick buckets, he didn’t disappoint. There’s no doubt he’ll be playing at the next level as long as he doesn’t allow his emotions to get the best of him.
Dylan Bedder (2019) 6’6 Center High School: New Providence (NJ) AAU Team: Hoop Nation. This 6’6 hulk does nothing better than float around the hoop and block shots. Bedder is a great defender - but isn’t too shabby on offense either. His athletic talent puts him ahead of many other guys his height.
Andrew Onativia (2019), 6’4 Forward High School: Woodbridge High (NJ) AAU Team: Hoop Strong. Onativia is a solid player all across the board. He really impresses on offense and holds his own on the defensive end as well. There’s no doubt Onativia will be playing college ball in a few years.
Jordan Gallimore (2019) 6’8 Center High School: Bassick HS (CT) AAU Team: CT Premier Hoops Development. Gallimore occupies a lot of ground in the middle of the court, making it very difficult for anyone to get by him. We’ve seen Gallimore in other Westchester locations before, and he just continues to impress us both defensively and on the boards. If he can develop his back-to-the-basket game and his left handed move offensive game, he has a bright future ahead of him. Let’s hope things fall into place for him.
Derek Wray (2019) 5’10 Guard High School: Clarkstown South High (NY) AAU Team: Elevate. Wray is one of the best offensive players we saw all weekend. He’s relentless on the court, and poses a huge threat to his opponents. Wray plays with a lot of skill, and has the aggression and passion of a true star. Wray undoubtedly has a prosperous future ahead of him.
Zayon Marsh (2020) 6’3 Swing High School: Columbia (NJ) AAU Team: New Jersey Crusaders. Marsh is a bona fide superstar in the making. He’s a versatile big man with skills of a guard. Most teams struggled to defend this smooth lefty. He had no trouble protecting the rim throughout the fall. He’s already an excellent shot blocker and rebounder. He gives the Crusaders a player who can match up with the biggest players in the fall league on defense and then take them off the dribble on the perimeter on offense. “Zayon is our Magic Johnson. We can play him anywhere on the floor. He’s got all the skills to play at the next level. He is good for a double double every night” says AAU coach Ray Dover.
Noah Mack (2020) 6’0 Guard High School: Hudson Catholic (NJ) AAU Team: New Jersey Crusaders. We saw this player knock down a few big shots when needed late in the game. Mack brought plenty offensive excitement to the Battle of the Belt, both in his own scoring and assisting others. He’s a scrappy defender who sometimes gets into foul trouble too early. We know we haven’t seen the last of him.