Northwest Classen’s Quinton Hardwick plays big
Northwest Classen's Quinton Hardwick reaches for the ball over John Marshall's DeMontrey Mitchell Tuesday night.
They call him Big Baby, and at 6-foot-4, 220- pounds, Northwest Classen senior Quinton Hardwick is a good-sized high school forward. By Class 5A standards, he’s not huge, but here’s the key: he plays big.
He has long arms and broad shoulders, which help him position for rebounding and in blocking shots, two things he did well Tuesday night in the Knights’ 63-53 win over a tough John Marshall squad. He finished with 12 points, 14 boards and six blocks, eating up space in the paint all night long.
Coming off a tournament weekend, the Knights were a little sloppy at times and neither team could get shots to fall early on.
The big difference between this year’s NWC squad — which is ranked No. 4 in Class 5A this week — and last year’s is the depth of viable scoring options. Six players scored and all had at least six points.
Freshman Keandre Nelson, a 6-foot-1 wing, is an impressive young kid. He led the team with 16 points and made some very athletic plays. T’aries Taylor didn’t score the way he did over the weekend at the Edmond Open, but he’s clearly capable of putting up 25 any night.
Paco Jones gives them another big body. Terry Arnold provides another athletic guard who can come up with big plays when they need it.
Point guard Jamil Donovan is still the motor that makes the team go, but I don’t expect him to average near 20 points again this season as he did as a sophomore. That’s not a knock on him, it’s just the nature of the team this year. He’ll be asked to distribute the ball and run the show more than get to the rim and score like last season.
The Knights aren’t huge, but they’re very athletic and very active on defense, which is what will keep them around the top of the class as they try to get back to the state tournament and challenge defending champ Tulsa Washington for the title.
John Marshall has moved up to No. 8 in the 4A rankings this week, and they’ve got a good core of scoring options as well, led by Talmadge Lawrence. Demontrey Mitchell and DeQuantae Taylor are both scoring threats as well, and Chad Campbell always has his team coached up.
After losing so much scoring from last year, led by Tavion Fleeks, I didn’t know what to expect from the Bears, but they actually might be better as a team than a year ago, even if they don’t have that one guy who is a threat to go off for 30 a night.
Obviously, Class 4A is a fight for the chance to get your shot at Douglass, but the Bears will be hanging around in March.
– Scott Wright, swright@opubco.com
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