ACADEMY NATIONAL INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT SETS ITS FIELD

The first annual Academy National Invitational may be new, but the event appears to be loaded with of the country’s top teams and players plus plenty of local Houston talent. The event will be held December 26^th through the 29^th with the Texas high school division championship at 7:00 p.m. and the national high school division championship at 8:30 p.m. The venue is the Campbell Center near Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport and it seats 4,700 fans.

There are several outstanding matchups in the national division. The event tips off with one game on Wednesday. St. Patrick’s (NJ) High is led by 6-8 power forward Paul Williams, 6-5 Mawel Soler, 6-10 junior center Grant Billmeier and 6-1 junior point guard Michael Nardi. Williams, a transfer fron North Bergen High, signed with Siena in the early signing period. Nardi recently suffered a broken foot and will miss the event. They were 19-9 last season and lost to Jersey City (NJ) St. Anthony’s in the parochial B championship game. The had won the previous three New Jersey titles. St. Patrick’s will face Midwest City (OK) High, who is paced by College Basketball News’ number six senior Shelden Williams and #39 DeAngelo Alexander. Williams committed to Duke, while Alexander inked with Oklahoma. Midwest City claimed its second consecutive 6A title with a 71-61 victory over Putnam City last season. The Bombers have won 35 straight games vs. Oklahoma schools and were 26-2 last year. They finished sixth in the final USA Today poll. This season, they are #5 in the College Basketball News’ Top 25 prep poll. Their lone loss is to #6 Dallas (TX) Lincoln 74-70 in the KMOX Shootout.

Westchester (CA) High won the Los Angeles section for the fifth time and captured the prestigious City of Palms Tournament in Fort Myers, Fla. They were 28-2 last year and finished 12^th in the final USA Today poll. Westchester has three players among College Basketball News’ top 100 seniors in #98 Brandon Bowman (who committed to Georgetown), #70 Brandon Heath and #19 Hassan Adams. They also have New Mexico commitment Ashanti Cook and standout junior Trevor Ariza. Westchester is College Basketball News’ #2 team in the country and they are ranked #1 by USA Today. Westchester is looking to win its first state title since 1998, when they were led by current USC players David Bluthenthal and Brandon Granville. They won the City of Palms Classic last week. Westchester will face Louisville (KY) Male, who won their seventh Region championship, but lost in the state finals to Lafayette (Lexington) 54-49 last season. They finished 32-4 and ended 14^th in the final USA Today poll. Male is led by 6-6 small forward Lavar Carter, who signed with Marshall and College Basketball News’ number 22 junior Mike Bush, who was named Kentucky’s best football player. He led the team to the state championship game. Male has lost already to powerhouses Oak Hill Academy, Louisville Ballard and Akron St. Vincent-St Mary’s.

Beaumont Ozen (TX) High defeated Lanier (San Antonio) 58-42 to claim the 4A state title and finish the season 35-0. College Basketball News’ number two junior Kendrick Perkins, a 6-11 center, shined at this summer’s adidas ABCD camp. He will face a talented big man in 7-2 Shagari Alleyne of New York (NY) Rice. Rice was just 13-11 last season, but they return their entire starting five. 6-0 point Jason Wingate is an excellent floor general. Ozen is College Basketball News’ #13 team and Rice is #7.

Mouth of Wilson (VA) Oak Hill Academy is the defending USA Today national champion after finishing 33-0 last season. They lost their three top players, but are still loaded with College Basketball News’ number two senior Carmelo Anthony, who signed with Syracuse and #10 Sani Ibrahim, who is considering the NBA draft. They also have #42 6-2 point guard Chadd Moore, who committed to Cincinnati, #75 6-1 point guard Justin Gray, who committed to Wake Forest, 6-7 small forward Antywane Robinson, (Temple), Ian Johnson (Davidson), 6-3 Eric Wilkins (Miami of Florida) and 6-5 Richard Joyce (Wake Forest). Oak Hill is College Basketball News’ #1 team in the country and they are ranked #2 by USA Today. The Warriors will face Concord (CA) De La Salle. De La Salle finished 27-5 last season and won its third straight CIF North Coast Division and fourth straight Bay Valley Athletic League titles. They lost key seniors Joe See (Oregon State, Charles Brown (Loyola Marymount), Thomas Carter (Long Beach State) and two-sport star Demetrius Williams, who is playing football at Oregon. De La Salle won its 10th straight CIF North Coast championship and 125th consecutive game in football to finish as USA Today’s #1 football team in the country. Forward Matt Gutierrez is a standout quarterback who threw for 1,577 yards and 18 touchdowns. He committed to Michigan to play football.

The Texas division is also loaded with talent. Westbury Christian is led by College Basketball News’ #9 junior Nbudi Ebi. He is a 6-8, 185 pound forward, who shined this summer at the Nike Peach Jam. Heritage Christian guard Cedrick Hensley scored 1001 points in a game last season and Tim Mayes signed with North Carolina-Wilmington.

NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION BRACKET

Wednesday December 26^th

St. Patrick’s (NJ) vs. Midwest City (OK) 7:00 p.m.

Thursday December 27^th

Westchester (CA) vs. Louisville Male (KY) 2:30 p.m.

Beaumont Ozen (TX) vs. Rice (NY) 7:00 p.m.

Mouth of Wilson (VA) Oak Hill Academy vs. DeLaSalle (CA) 8:30 p.m.

TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION BRACKET

Thursday December 27^th

Westbury Christian vs. Texas City 11:30 a.m.

Cypress Springs vs. Aldine Nimitz 1:00 p.m.

Heritage Christian vs. Clements 4:00 p.m.

Eisenhower vs. Westfield 5:30 p.m.