Carson Desrosiers Stands Above The CrowdThe MA & NH High School Basketball Report visited Lawrence last evening to watch the top team in Central Massachusetts (Worcester North) take on the top team in Eastern Massachusetts (Central Catholic). Central Catholic won this contest 47 - 44 in a very evenly matched game. The victory kept the Raiders undefeated (12 - 0) and gave the Polar Bears (12 - 1) their first loss of the season. Wake Forest head coach Dino Gaudio was in the gym for this one as he made the trip from North Carolina to watch his prize recruit Carson Desrosiers.
For Central Catholic, again they struggled getting the ball up the floor against pressure and were forced to call on the 6'11" Wake Forest bound Carson Desrosiers (#1 ranked senior) to bring the ball up the floor, play point forward, and make all the big passes to teammate Jimmy Zenevitch (#6 ranked junior) who scored a game high 19 points. Desrosiers numbers were again monsterous as he had 17 points, 11 blocks (at least another 12 shots altered), and 8 assists. For North, Cedric Kuakumensah (#3 ranked junior) was a force of his own scoring 14 points, adding 12 rebounds, and 4 blocks in the defeat.
Here is our evaluation of the players in the game:
Class of 2010
#1 rated Carson Desrosiers may be the most dominant high school basketball player over the last twenty years. He showed again last evening why he is a top player in the country and why Wake Forest is high on him. His skill set is through the roof and he just makes plays on both ends of the floor. During this game, he demonstrated that he can handle the ball, shoot the ball, pass the ball, run the floor, has great hands, and knows how to put a lid on the basket at the defensive end. On the offensive end he had a big time up and under off an offensive rebound. We'd like to see Desrosiers dunk the ball at every opportunity he has around the basket, as he had a couple of opportunities tonight where he should of done just that, but chose not to. Dunking the basketball in these circumstances will be a necessity in the ACC. But other than that, he was great and the future is very bright for the 6'11" forward.
Marquese Berry is an athletic guard who can make shots and get to the rim. He impressed at times last evening. He had a nice looking three and a couple of nifty takes to the rim. Berry needs to become more sound with the basketball and a better decision maker.
Class of 2011
#3 rated Cedric Kuakumensah held is own last night against the power one-two punch of Desrosiers and Jimmy Zenevitch. The 6'6" Kuakumensah is very long and athletic and showed us all that he can run the floor, block shots, and that he is active on both ends of the floor. Kuamensah's greatest strength may be the fact that he plays hard as he was aggressive all evening getting his hands on a slew of basketballs. He' a winner. Kuakumensah showed some perimeter game tonight but needs work on his skill set (dribbling & shooting). Nonetheless, the big man is a real presence in a basketball game and will play at the division 1 level.
#6 rated Jimmy Zenevitch took advantage of a smaller matchup (Desrosiers and Kuakumensh covered each other) and scored 19 points as he showed good touch from around the basket. The 6'7" Zenevitch also has range from 15 feet in and has excellent rotation on the basketball. It is apparent that Zenvetich has been working on his shot as he made a three in this game. Zenevitch is average athletically and needs to become an excellent skill player. He is likely to be a step away 4 in college, and how good he is at it will depend on how much his skill set improves. It would help him significantly if he could put the ball to the floor and go by his opponent. Zenevitch also need to become more active on the defensive end of the glass. As with Kuakumensah, Zenevitch will likely play the game at the division 1 level.
