Featured Game: Hillgrove remains Unbeaten

The Atlanta Roundball Report traveled to West Cobb County on Tuesday night to watch Hillgrove High battle Lassiter High School in a early out-of-region matchup.

Background Info:
While Hillgrove is a new school (only in it’s 3rd year) and not yet a familiar name to some Atlanta area hoops fans, the Hawks have a talented and experienced club which is quickly establishing itself as one of the top AAAA teams in the state. Coach Ed Morris, who formerly was the Head Coach at neighboring McEachern High, has done a fantastic job with the development of the program. Hillgrove advanced to the State Tournament last year in only the school’s second season, and returned virtually every key player from that team which won 19 games. Lassiter returns all of their key players from last year team which played very well down the stretch. Jeremy Morris‘ Trojans could very well earn a playoff bid this season in the state’s toughest region (6-AAAAA).

Game Outcome:
Hillgrove continued their stellar early season play with a 76-62 win over Lassiter. The Hawks improved to 5-0 on the early season and should consider strong consideration for a Top 10 ranking in the next AAAA Coaches Poll. Five seperate players scored in double figures for Hillgrove, led by Darius Baugh's 23 pts. and Millan Rodrigo's 17 pts. The Hawks quickness and defensive pressure was too much for Lassiter to handle this evening.

Our observations from tonight:

• Hillgrove has a nice combination of strong guard play, size, and quickness. The received contributions this evening from a number of players at key points in the game.
  
• The two top contributors were Seniors Darius Baugh (6’ 3, SG, 2009) and Millan Rodrigo (6’ 2, CG, 2009). Baugh is an impressive guard who spark plugged Hillgrove’s 2nd half run that broke open the game. In one critical span, he scored a tough transition layup, knocked down a tightly contested three-pointer, and had two acrobatic drives wher e he hit the bucket and was fouled. We were impressed with his aggressiveness and ability to score in traffic. Rodrigo is a physical combo guard with good size and strength. He utilizes a quick a first step to get to the bucket and his strength to finish. On the defensive side, he played good D on Lassiter’s guards (and also on their forwards on several occasions). Rodrigo is an excellent rebounder from the guard spot. Both Baugh and Rodrigo are available Senior prospects that will should receive close looks from College Coaches over the course of the season.
  
• Hillgrove’s 6’ 7 Heath Houston (Forward, 2010) showed glimpses of excellent potential throughout the game. It is that potential that has a number of D1 programs keeping a close eye on the long and athletic prospect. Houston was a definite presence on the defensive end of the floor, recording four blocked shots on the evening. He was hampered by foul trouble throughout the game and eventually picked up his 5th foul with just over two minutes left in the game. Offensively, Houston is a work in progress. At the high school level, he has the sheer size and length to consistently score inside on putbacks and around the rim. However, as is usually the case with bigger players at the high school level, he will need to continue to develop his footwork and moves both with his back to the basket and facing the basket. With that said, Houston certainly has significant upside potential and should be a hot target in the State’s 2010 class.
  
• Another Hillgrove player who impressed was point Guard Kelton Buchanan (5’ 10, PG, 2009). The senior floor leader is quick and plays with a quarterback’s mentality. Offensively, he used demonstrated good passing, and several nice dribble moves into mid range pull ups. Defensively, he played strong on ball defense and forced Lassiter into several direct turnovers.
  
• Lassiter seemed to suffer from some opening game jitters. We got the feeling that this is a good team that had an off-night.
• Senior Point Guard Blaise White (5’ 8, PG, 2009) who was an 2nd team All-Cobb selection last season, demonstrated a very good handle and court vision. He is a heady floor leader who is very adept at creating good shot attempts for his teammates. Unfortunately for Lassiter, not enough of those shots were converted this evening. Hillgrove did do an excellent job defensively on White to limit his penetration and scoring opportunities.
• Fellow Senior Alex Gilmore (6’ 5, Wing, 2009) is another talented player for Lassiter who happened to also have an off night. He did have moments that showed his capability, as evidenced with a couple of impressive drives and defensive plays. Gilmore has good length and showed the ability to create for himself on several occasions. He has significant upside and should be expected to have a good season.
• Lassiter did receive excellent good shooting from two junior wing players. Joey Parry (14 pts. and four three point field goals) and Hutson Mason (13 pts.) both had respective hot streaks from beyond the arc.

Up Next:

Lassiter (0-1) will play Sprayberry this coming Friday night while Hillgrove (5-0) will look to extend their winning streak as they take on Lithia Springs.