THE END. OCT3
There was never a dull moment when it came to the 7th Grade Division; highly competitive games, overtimes, buzzer beaters, rowdy fans, top notch notch talent. This was must see basketball!
The class has SO much talent! And most of it was right here in FIRST48. We got to see the kids that have been around for years like Braxton Jumper, Billy Richmond, and Marlon McShane. We got to see nationally ranked talents like Cooper Haynes. We got to see the dominance of King Thedford and Alijah Curry, and the breakout of Anthony McKinley. Kids that you may or may not have known before like Tristin Fleming, Herman “Trey” Powell, Sadat Muhammad, and Marcus Gray made sure their names were known when it was all said and done. And kids like wes Dabbs proved why their names were ringing.
We had everything you needed. We had point guards; Julius “Trey” Goodwin, Damion Cox, and Patrick Mask. we had shooters; Kylon Jones, Jackson Patterson, Armani Watson, Ryan Neely,
and Bryson Andrews. We had bigs; Kavion Benton, Carson Boyle, and Trevor Anthony. And we had lock-down defenders; KJ Smith, tyler wilson, and Hugh McFarland
This was one of those divisions where every game was a big game. And these boys treated every game like it was The National Championship.
FIRST TEAM ALL-FIRST48 Player’s Name Position Team
Braxton Jumper G Boga/ Hamlett
Julius “King” Thedford G Wright
Billy Richmond III G Patterson
Cooper Haynes F Boga/Hamlett
Alijah Curry C Jones
SECOND TEAM ALL-FIRST48 Player’s Name Position Team
Marlon McShane G Scales
Julius “Trey” Benson G Goodwin
Anthony McKinley G Goodwin
Tristin Fleming F Patterson
Kavion Benton C Wright
FIRST48 CHAMPIONS.
FIRST48 RUNNER-UPS.
FIRST48 MVP & MR.FIRST48.
Pictured Center: Cooper Haynes
The “FIRST48 MVP” is given to the player who averages the most points on the Championship Team. “Mr.FIRST48” is the player who averages the most points for the entire league. Jamboree Games, All-Star Games, Play-Off Games, and Championship Games are not taken into consideration.
THE ALL-STARS.
ALL-STAR GAME MVPS.
(Left to Right) Braxton Jumper & Billy Richmond III
WEEK 3 RECAP. SEP11 The 7th Grade Division may be THE MOST exciting division in the entire league. This past weekend’s games proved just that, three games and they were all decided by four points or less.
King Thedford continues to dominate game after game. He is one of the top scorers in the league and it’s no wonder why. He is one of the most versatile scorers in the league. On Sunday he lead his team to a win with a 15 point performance. His teammate Kavion Benton is one of the better bigs in the league. Kavion had a big time performance on Saturday. He was the second leading scorer of the game with 14 points. Damion Cox Jr. has been a consistent scorer throughout the season as well. On saturday he finished with 8 points.
Coach Julius Goodwin Jr.’s team has a solid core of kids. Wes Dabbs is one of those kids. Dabbs, a big versatile guard that can play several positions scored 7 points on Saturday. Herman “Trey” Powell III is a long guard capable of scoring too. He also finished with 7. Julius “Trey” Goodwin III has shown us that he could definitely be one of the best point guards in the class. He scored 9 points in the loss. Anthony McKinley is a kid that is making a name for himself this season. He led the team in scoring with 12 points.
Alijah Curry is a kid that some may known prior to FIRST48, but for those of us who didn’t know him, we do now. He’s a 6’3 big that runs the floor like a guard, plays hard, and can even shoot the three. He’s BIG TIME! He led all scorers in Sunday’s game with an impressive 16 points. His teammate KJ Jones has been on a shooting spree! KJ finished with 13 points Sunday, including three 3s.
The league’s leading scoring, Cooper Haynes, had another double digit performance. He and teammate Braxton Jumper both scored 15 points in their team’s first loss of the season.
Billy Richmond just may be the best scorer in the class. He’s an athletic guard that finishes well at the rim AND can shoot the three. Hugh McFarland is a high energy, lockdown defender, that is showing us that he has nice floor vision and can score it. These two were major pieces in a big comeback of the most exciting game of the day.
Marlon McShane and Armani Watson looked like the Splash brothers in Sunday’s game. They both knocked down three 3’s a piece and finished with 15 points each. They may be one of the most potent guard duos in the league.
WEEK 3 STANDOUTS!
WEEK 2 RECAP. SEP4 The 7th Grade Division is definitely one of our favorites. It’s full of talent. You must start with nationally ranked Cooper Haynes, then you have big time kids like King Thedford, Braxton Jumper, and Tyler Wilson. And you have kids that will make a name for themselves this season like Anthony McKinley and Sadat Muhammad. BOGA/ HAMLETT V. GOODWIN Coach Julius Goodwin’s roster is home to a few of top kids in the class of 2024. Wes Dabbs, Trey Goodwin, Anthony McKinley, and Keron Jackson are all guards BUT they definitely have the skill and talent to make up for what they lack in size.
Defending League MVP and Mr. FIRST48 Cooper Haynes will surely do the majority of the scoring for Coach T and Coach Chip. HE’S A GROWN MAN! Put another grown man with him, Braxton Jumper and it’s gonna get ugly. BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE; Sadat Muhammad, Ryan Neely, and Quinn Page are among a few more kids on the team that will contribute as well.
Julius “Trey” Goodwin lead his team in scoring with 16. Anthony McKinley had 12, and Herman “Trey” Powell added 7.
BUT Mr. FIRST48 Cooper Haynes piled on 27 points! Braxton Jumper added 16, sadat Muhammad 10, Bryson Andrews 8, and Ryan Neely had 7. BOGA 78 GOODWIN 45 SCALES V. JONES Coach Myron Jones has a tough team and it all starts with Tyler Wilson. There isn’t a player in the class like him. He’s as athletic as all get out, strong as a bull, and has a motor that is unmatched. Tyler is teamed with two tough guards; Patrick Mask a hard-nosed PG and KJ Jones, a is a sharpshooting combo guard who we feel is underrated.
Coach Robert Scales has some tough guards of his own. Marlon McShane may be the most notable, he’s a bucket-getting PG that can handle the rock like none other. KJ Smith is an aggressive defender who has a knack for scoring, and Armani Watson is a solid PG capable of getting a bucket. Carson Boyle stands well over 6 ft. and he will be the post presence that Coach Scales needs to compete.
Tyler Wilson was the leading scorer for Coach Myron’s team with 8 points, KJ Jones and Patrick Mask put up 7 points apiece, and Marcus Gray added 6.
Marlon McShane lit it up! 19 points from the point guard. Carson Boyle finished with 12, and Armani Watson had 8. SCALES 56 JONES 29 PATTERSON/ WRIGHT Coach Wright took on Coach Patterson in a game where we saw a lot of the top 2024 kids on the court at the same time. Coach Wright’s roster boasts Damion Cox, Sam Franklin, and
King Thedford. While Coach Patterson has a big three of his own with Billy Richmond, Christian Gilliland, and Hugh McFarland.
King Thedford led all scorers with 16. Damion Cox had 11, and Kavion Benton had 6. All that however wasn’t enough. Patterson got 13 points apiece from Tristin Fleming
and Billy Richmond. Hugh McFarland added 9 of his own. Patterson came away with the win. PATTERSON 44 WRIGHT 36
WEEK 2 STANDOUTS!
Cooper Haynes, Billy Richmond, Tristin Fleming, Julius “Trey” Goodwin, Julius “King” Thedford, Tyler Wilson, & Marlon McShane...
STANDINGS Rank Team Wins Losses Points +/-
1 Jones 4 1 +20
2 Boga/ Hamlett 4 1 +36
3 Patterson 3 2 -10
4 Scales 2 3 +18
5 Wright 2 3 -12
6 Goodwin 0 5 -49
LEADING SCORERS Rank Player’s Name GM. 1 GM. 2 GM. 3 GM. 4 GM. 5 PPG.
1 Cooper Haynes 27 15 30 DNP 24.0
2 Marlon McShane 19 15 11 8 13.25
3 Braxton Jumper 16 17 22 25 17.5
4 King Thedford 16 15 DNP 20 17.0
5 Billy Richmond III 13 16 18 10 14.25
6 Julius “Trey” Goodwin 16 9 16 2 10.8
7 Anthony McKinley 12 12 10 8 10.5
8 Armani Watson 8 15 9 2 8.5
9 KJ Jones 7 14 4 4 7.25
10 Kavion Benton 6 14 9 11 10.0
11 Hugh McFarland 9 11 7 4 7.7
12 Alijah Curry DNP 10 14 19 14.3
13 Damion Cox 11 8 6 5 7.5
14 Tristin Fleming 13 4 2 2 8.5
15 Carson Boyle 12 4 5 8 7.5
16 Trevor Anthony DNP 8 4 12 8.0
17 KJ Smith 7 7 4 2 5.0
Herman “Trey” Powell 7 7 9 6 7.25
19 Tyler Wilson 8 5 6 12 7.77
20 Bryson Andrews 8 3 5.5
Wes Dabbs 4 7 5.5
22 Marcus Gray 6 4 5.0
Sadat Muhammad 10 0 5.0
24 Patrick Mask 7 0 3.5
Ryan Neely 7 0 3.5
VJ Simmons 5 2 3.5