Queen City Superstars Season Preview- Recap

Zach McCorkle

The first annual Queen City Superstars Season Preview took place on Saturday evening at Woodward HS, hosted by Woodward head coach Lanis Timmons and his wife Annie. The event turned out to be a great success as fans were able to watch five games, eight of the ten teams being local teams that CPHR covers regularly, each consisting of two 8 minute halves. After checking out all five games we have some thoughts, as well as recaps, of what each team showed us tonight. With the season beginning in only six days the games were competitive and for most teams it was their last practice game before the real season begins on Friday. Game Photos 

• Winton Woods 29 Withrow 21: The final game of the day was billed as the main event in the days leading up to the preview. Withrow, CPHR's pre-season #1 team in Division I, could not handle the defensive pressure of an equally deep and athletic Winton Woods team that capitalized on every Withrow mistake to get easy baskets on the other end. CPHR came away extremely impressed with the inside play of Winton Woods starting front court of senior PF Zach McCorkle, junior SF/PF Kwan Cheatham, and junior SF/PF Trent Donald. All three showed toughness and energy on the glass while providing a lot of scoring on the offensive end. With Cheatham as a shooter, Donald as a creator, and McCorkle as a dirty work guy (who played one of his best ever games today) the Warriors have great promise inside. Sophomore PG Ronnie Rousseau, under the bright lights for the first time, was excellent as well as he created offense, took care of the ball, and hit two open three pointers. Withrow was led by junior post Devin Williams and junior guard Corey Wise. Williams was able to get some baskets inside when matched 1-1 but for the most part the Warriors defense did a good job helping on him and making him take tough shots. 

Kwan Cheatham

• Colerain 30 Woodward 21: The point guard play of junior Deiontay Waiters and sophomore Kiere Bennie sparked the Cardinals as they continue their scrimmage style of using pressure defense to turnover teams and create easy offense. While they didn't shoot the ball very well the inside presence of junior CJ Reed and senior transfer Allante Foster was strong on the boards and able to finish some misses. Woodward was led by junior wing Tyrone Whitehead and senior wing Eric Hill for a team that was able to get stops but needs to continue to improve on the offensive end. 

• Trotwood Madison 40 Hughes 37: While there are never moral victories at the varsity level Coach Wyant has to be pleased with the improvement that his Hughes Big Red squad has made from last season. A huge portion of that improvement can be attributed to sophomore PG Angel Rivera, a transfer who just arrived in the United States from Puerto Rico. Rivera showed tremendous court vision, ballhandling, and confidence in handling pressure. While he isn't the quickest guard in the city his understanding of how to change speed and direction made it tough for pressing Trotwood defenders to check him. Sophomore wing Kevin Daniels handled most of the scoring duties for Hughes as he attacked the rim and scored efficiently around the basket. While they are far from a finished product this Hughes team could potentially make a big jump in the CMAC standings this season. 

Angel Rivera

• Lockland 30 Talawanda 21: Junior SG Dylan Wedlock led the Panthers in scoring over a team that they were able to athletically dominate. Wedlock showed off a nice mid-range shooting stroke while scoring points from a variety of spots on the floor. Junior guard DJ Wingfield also impressed as, with Lockland missing C Avery Barnes, he guarded all five positions on the floor at various points as he is their tallest player at 6'5. Wingfield also played some PG offensively for the Panthers and did a nice job of setting up the Panthers zone motion offense. 

• Fairfield 40 Shroder 25: The Indians came out scorching the nets and never looked back as they buried at least seven three pointers in the blow out win. Senior guards Devon Barlow and James Turner each hit a couple three balls and paced the scoring while guard Kyle Smith showed the best shooting touch by hitting a trio of treys. Fairfield's most impressive player was sophomore PG Tim Fleming who did a nice job of penetrating and kicking to create the open threes as well as handling the pressure of the Shroder defense. The Shroder Jags were paced by senior PG Trey Dees who was able to penetrate and find open teammates but shots simply were not falling for a Shroder team that is still trying to find an offensive identity.