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Baker + bangers the right Consortium combo |
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Written by Stephen Bell
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Tuesday, 09 March 2010 18:31 |
RIVER ROUGE - Everyone knows about Michael Talley III, the Mr. Basketball finalist from Melvindale Business & Technology. But the Duquesne signee isn't the only D1 playmaker in the Class C district at River Rouge. Travon Baker, a 5-foot-10 Detroit Consortium sophomore, played a beautiful pure point guard game in the district opener Monday, leading the Cougars to a 65-52 win over Allen Park Cabrini.
They say your point guard has to be able to shoot free throws. Well, all Baker did against Cabrini was make 16-of-17 from the line, to help him score 22 points to go with eight assists, two steals and just one turnover. Running the two-on-one break can sometimes be easier said than done for high school kids. Baker did it to perfection, attacking the block to make the defender commit then making a variety of on-the-money passes to get his teammates easy layups. Travon can also run a team in the halfcourt, doing a good job of getting the ball to post players in the correct spot and to the correct hand, and also had a skip pass for a three-point assist. 2012 is loaded with quality point guards, and Baker shouldn't take a backseat to any of them.
While Cabrini couldn't do much about Baker, the Monarchs' all-state candidate, 6-9 senior Vince Schantz, never really got going. He got two quick fouls, and went scoreless in the first half. Although Schantz had a flurry of three straight buckets in the third quarter, for the most part Consortium's defense by committee did a good job of pushing him out of his comfort zone on the right block. 6-5 junior Tre Tigner and 6-7 senior Curtis Thompson were both able to bang with the big fella.
Cabrini's high scorer was 6-2 senior Joe Latkovic with 15 points. He did a good job finishing with toughness around the basket, playing heads up when pushing the ball and knocking down outside shots. Keep an eye on his brother in the future, freshman guard Steve Latkovic. |