The Game Fans Want to See
Last year, Moravian Prep was virtually a name not often mentioned as one of the top teams in the state. Coach Antonio Lowe became the head coach of the Moravian Prep National team and he quickly began to assemble talent. He brought in Caleb Burgess, Javarzia Belton, Omarion Jay, and the biggest prospect of all, Josh Hall. After attending open gym in August of 2018, we had an opening for the Carmel Christian Tip Off Classic and the opponent would be Oak Hill Academy. After asking coach Lowe if his team would like to participate in the event and play Oak Hill, he had a big smile and his eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. Moravian Prep did lose to Oak Hill in overtime. While they may have lost on the scoreboard, they won the hearts of the fans and quickly became one of the hottest names across the state.
This summer, Combine Academy wanted to have a national high school team and they reached out to former UNC star and NBA player Jeff McInnis. Starting from scratch, McInnis was able to secure the commitment of Jalen Hood-Schifino, Jacari Owens, Kris Robinson, freshmen Robert Dillingham, Mehki Grant and a host of other players. Looking for opponents and a platform, we provided coach McInnis and Combine the opportunity to open up the season against Oak Hill in the same Carmel Christian Tip Off Classic. Like Moravian Prep, Combine Academy took Oak Hill to overtime, but came away with the win. This win quickly elevated Combine Academy into the national conversation.
In our Phenom Sweet 16 rankings, we have Moravian Prep and Combine Academy ranked first and second. Moravian Prep has Five-Star Josh Hall, Four-Star Shakeel Moore both who have committed and signed to play for NC State in the ACC. In addition, they have 6'8 Luke Davis, 6'5 Jamahri Harvey, 6'10 Javarzia Belton, and 6'3 Darius Davis. It is a senior laden team and on paper has a chance to be one of the top 25 teams in the country. On the flipside, coach Jeff McInnis has a nice array of youth on his team. The team leader is 6'5 sophomore Jalen Hood-Schifino along with players that has not created a lot of scholarship offers as of yet. 6'1 shooting guard Kris Robinson stepped up big against Oak Hill and knocked down an impressive 8-12 3-pointers in the upset win in Combine's inaugural game as a national high school team.
Friday night at the Gate City Classic, Combine will go against Moravian Prep at the 9:00pm time slot. For both these teams, this has a chance to further enhance their program and season resume, but more importantly the game will bring more attention to both teams who are trying to develop a national caliber program. Both teams are quite similar, but different as well. In the game Friday night, you will see a game where defense will be the focal point and both teams will implement full court defensive pressure, whether it is a 1-2-1-1 or a 2-2-1 press, and even a full court man to man pressure defense. Moravian Prep has two of the top 'on ball' defenders in Shakeel Moore and Darius while Combine offers one of the better team defensive principles. This game has all the making and no matter who comes out on top, both teams will walk away a winner. The exposure that will be provided to Moravian Prep and Combine will go a long way in building them into a long term regional and national power.