Congratulations to Doron, Marco, Juwan, Baye, Pe’Shon, Rosoce and Martins!  Best of luck in the future!

Senior Doron Lamb Commits to UK

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Doron Lamb, pictured with assistant coaches Bryan Meagher and Wilbur Allen, signs National Letter of Intent to play basketball next season at the University of Kentucky.

Congratulations to Nolan and Danny as well as the other Oak Hill alum who participated in this year’s NCAA Tournament:  Julian Vaughn – Georgetown, Landon Milborne – Maryland, Dion Dacons (asst coach) – Temple, Rod Strickland (asst coach) – Kentucky.

Throughout the 2009-2010 season, OakHillHoops.com will feature personal stories from our players.

Finishing Strong

March 5, 2010 — I’m back! I haven’t written in a while. Sorry for the absence, but now the regular season is over. We ended strong by beating Benedictine HS in Richmond, VA. Roscoe, Juwan & I were all in double figures.

We bused back after the game & got to campus really late and then had Senior night. We beat Oak Ridge Military. The whole team played really well & we are now 29-3.

This also marked Coach Smith’s 25th season as the head coach of Oak Hill, so we got to celebrate that after the game. Also, I would like to thank all the fans that came out to Meet the Team. We enjoyed it.
The team/school goes on spring break tomorrow but the season isn’t over. We have the ESPN Rise Tournament April 1-3, so we still have to stay focused. I’m glad we’ll have about a week or so to practice. After we come back from break we’ll be in our last quarter of school. I know we’ll finish strong both on and off the court. So until then…hope everyone is safe and that we get some warmer weather! Had enough snow!

Pe`Shon

The News & Observer

February 24, 2010 — The text message delivered to Nolan Smith’s cell phone two weeks ago didn’t say much, but it was exactly what the Blue Devils’ junior guard needed to hear after Duke’s win at North Carolina.

Duke's Nolan Smith drives on Virginia Tech's Erick Green during first-half action. / Photo credit Chuck Liddy, The News & Observer

“Get in the gym,” the late-night text read.

It came from Michael Beasley, Smith’s childhood friend and Miami Heat forward who was the No. 2 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. Short, direct messages such as Beasley’s have helped spur Smith to overcome the struggles of his sophomore season to become the ACC’s fourth-leading scorer at 17.9 points a game.

Quick-witted with an eager smile, Smith remains close with his childhood teammates from Upper Marlboro, Md., and from his high school days at Oak Hill Academy.

Duke guard Jon Scheyer is constantly amazed by the number of friends Smith has. When Duke was at Miami last week, former Hurricanes guard Jack McClinton was there to have his jersey retired.

Just before the start of the second half, McClinton yelled at Smith, telling him to look for his shot. After the game, McClinton texted Smith to say he has a sweet shot and needs to be confident with it.

“He’ll know somebody on the other team, no matter what team we’re playing,” Scheyer said. “He really knows everybody, either from playing AAU or, ‘Yeah, at this camp I met him.’ We always joke about it.”

Beasley and Smith have been close friends since childhood and were teammates on the D.C. Assault club team. Smith also corresponds with former Oak Hill teammates Ty Lawson of the Denver Nuggets and Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“They really help me because they give me the confidence that I need,” Smith said. “They let me know to keep working, keep staying in the gym.”

Smith usually heeds their advice.

Click here to read the full article at newsobserver.com.

Throughout the 2009-2010 season, OakHillHoops.com will feature personal stories from our players.

Update from the Hill

Senior Juwan Staten

February 5, 2010 – I’m back everyone. I know it has been a while since my last entry. I apologize. I know you all have been wondering about life on “The Hill.”

We had a home game Wednesday night against Oak Ridge Military School from NC. It was a pretty good, competitive game for three quarters – very physical. We ended up winning by about 20 points. Our record is now 23-2 and we are currently ranked 6th in the nation, but still looking to move up.

Since our loss on ESPN to Northland, we have picked it up and we are back to playing like the cohesive team we were earlier in the season. Our game on Saturday at the Salem Civic Center is a big one, but another snow storm is headed this way so it may get canceled. We’ve already had four games canceled due to bad weather!

Next weekend we have a huge game on Friday night that will be on ESPNU against St. Patrick’s in New Jersey. As for life on “the Hill” – same as usual – school, practice, dinner, study hall, sleep. Although it doesn’t seem like much…it’s the most efficient schedule I’ve ever been on. It’s a perfect balance between school and ball.

That’s all I’ve got for this entry but, I promise to keep the updates coming sooner.

Juwan Staten #3/The Blur

Keith Hornsby is playing for Oak Hill Academy, the most prestigious prep basketball school in the country. (Diane Cebula, Daily Press / August 26, 2009)

by Norm Wood, Inside Recruiting

hrvarsity.com

January 24, 2010 — For a guy who thought he’d only be spending about five to eight minutes per game on the floor while wearing the uniform of the nation’s most elite prep boys basketball team, this season has been an eye-opening experience for Keith Hornsby.

As it turns out, he has evolved into much more than just a garbage-time player for Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, a town in southwest Virginia. He’s a legitimate sixth man as a junior. Though he’s still waiting for the bigwigs from programs in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East and Southeastern Conference to take notice, he knows he’s at least on the radar map — by osmosis, if nothing else.

“There are such great players on this team, so I just naturally get so much better, and my confidence rises, too,” said Hornsby, who is a former Hampton Roads Academy student and the son of Grammy Award-winning musician and Williamsburg native Bruce Hornsby. “My shots, my driving (to the basket), my ballhandling have all gotten better, but especially my defense. With having to guard these guys, that’s the main thing that’s improved.”

During an open-gym scrimmage in the fall, Oak Hill played host to a room full of college basketball coaches — a common occurrence at Oak Hill. Kansas coach Bill Self took a few seconds to introduce himself to Hornsby. It wasn’t quite the same as getting a scholarship offer from Self, but it was still a moment Hornsby won’t soon forget.

Click here to read the full article at HRVarsity.com.

Throughout the 2009-2010 season, OakHillHoops.com will feature personal stories from our players.

We’re Back

January 25, 2010 — We’re back!  Seems like I haven’t written a diary entry in forever.  So I’ll get everyone caught up with what has been going on.

I had a great Christmas break that was really busy.  It started in Ironton, OH where we went 2-0 and the team played well.

Then everyone went home for Christmas for only two days.  We flew to Portland, OR the day after Christmas.  It was a really tough journey, especially for me.  I was delayed at two different airports and didn’t get any sleep.  I arrived the morning of the first game and I’d only slept about five hours.

The Les Shwab Invitational is one of the top holiday tournaments in the country.  We went 3-1, losing to Westchester from L.A. in the finals.  That was a tough one.  It was even tougher for me being from Los Angeles.  We had the game won and in the 4th quarter we turned the ball over and it cost us.  I made the All-Tournament Team and Doron got MVP, even though we didn’t win the tournament.  Everyone went back home from there, arriving in time to celebrate New Years with our family and friends.  We had a nice two weeks at home.

The team returned back to campus on Monday, Jan. 11th.  We didn’t waste any time.  Coach started us off with a two-a-day practice to try and whip us back into shape after the lay off.  We spent the next few days getting ready for our ESPN game vs Northland HS at the MLK Hall of Fame Classic in Springfield, and we started second semester classes.

We started off great vs Northland and played fairly well.  Our defense was working and we held Sully to 0 points in the first half.  But we only shot 29% from the field for the game.  We played hard but we could not throw a rock into the ocean.  We lost by 1 point.  It was really disappointing.

We went straight from Massachusetts to Greensboro, NC the next day where we played Greensboro Dudley HS at their MLK Day Classic.  We played pretty good and won by 22.  That game helped us to get back on track.

Last week we were preparing for our game Saturday in Morgantown, WV vs Columbia HS from Georgia, the best team in GA.  We took a charter bus up there after practice Friday, and we came away with the win Saturday night 63-56.  Another close one!

More later…

Pe`Shon

Maintaining Focus

December 19, 2009 — Man, the last week and a half has been crazy. We started it off with four games in four days. It was tough, but we came out with four wins. Coach scheduled the games this way to help us get ready for our after Christmas tournament in Portland, so this helped us realize the type of focus it will take for us to win.

These games led right into finals week, so we had to get our minds back into school right away. (Coach helped a lot by giving us light practices.)

Finally, what made everything even more crazy was the snow storm that came Friday and affected the exam schedule. So Friday morning, we woke up at 6:30 am and started tests at 7 am! We had to take three tests instead of two. Our home game also got canceled because of the snow that night.  The team was upset, but that meant “winter break” officially started.

All the students left campus later Friday, except for us and the girls basketball team. We aren’t leaving until Sunday to go play in Ironton, OH.

So we took a break today and played in the 15 inches of snow – Me, Coach Allen and Coach B, helped keep us from being bored.

We’ve worked out as a team this weekend to make sure we stay sharp with a tough stretch coming up - two games in Ohio, then Portland after Christmas and an ESPN game vs. Northland in Springfield, MA.

‘Til 2010…
Pe`Shon

Throughout the 2009-2010 season, OakHillHoops.com will feature personal stories from our players.

Feeling Better

November 20, 2009 — Hey everyone. I’m back! A lot has happened since my last entry. We’ve had a fast start (8-0). It’s great to be undefeated early in our season.

Thanksgiving Break started Saturday (11/21), and everyone was ready to go home and see their families. I hope everybody comes back to pick up where we left off both on and off the court. We all need some rest to help us get healthy – get over our injuries and sickness. The flu hit our whole school and the team pretty hard. Martins, Marco, Roscoe & myself all missed some practice. The flu definitley hit me the hardest forcing me to miss a game. But the team took care of business anyways.

I hope when I return I maintain my focus in the classroom. The whole team made either the A or B honor roll 1st quarter. When we all get back there will be no time for distractions or goofing off as we have a tough stretch – 3 weekends out of state versus good teams. On the court, I hope there are no let downs.

Last thing here – Congratulations to Juwan Staton & Baye Keita for signing National Letters of Intent to play for the University of Dayton & Syracuse University. I didn’t sign, so looks like I’m waiting until the Spring to be certain. I wish the rest of my teammates good luck with their college choices!

Pe`Shon #21

November 16, 2009 – bucks.com

Congratulations to 2008 OHA graduate Brandon Jennings!

Milwaukee Bucks Rookie Brandon Jennings

The National Basketball Association announced today that Bucks guard Brandon Jennings was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the games played November 9 through November 15.

Jennings averaged 43.5 points, 7.0 assists and 4.5 rebounds in 39.5 minutes per game in helping the Bucks to a 2-0 record. He shot 60.4 percent from the field, 90.0 percent from three point range and 87.5 percent from the line in two contests. The Bucks defeated the Denver Nuggets (currently 7-3) 108-102 on November 11 and came back from a first half deficit to beat the Golden State Warriors 129-125 on Saturday.

Jennings became the third player in franchise history (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Redd) to record 50-plus points as he tallied 55 points in the victory over Golden State, breaking the team’s rookie scoring record previously held by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (51, February 21, 1970) and it was the most scored by an NBA rookie since Earl Monroe had 56 in 1968.  The 55 points were also just two shy of the franchise’s high-scoring game of 57, set by Michael Redd on November 11, 2006.

Saturday’s performance also marked Jennings becoming the youngest player in NBA history to score 50-plus points as he was 20 years and 52 days old and LeBron James was 20 years and 80 days old when he accomplished it on March 20, 2005. Jennings’ 45 second-half points were the most in a half since Kobe Bryant tallied 55 on January 22, 2006. By recording 30-plus points in consecutive games (he had 32 against Denver), Jennings is the first Bucks rookie since Glenn Robinson in 1995 to have back-to-back 30-plus point nights.

In the Bucks win over Denver, Jennings had 32 points, nine assists and four rebounds. He tallied 14 of those points in the final quarter, including going 2-2 from three point range and knocking down all six of his free throw attempts in the final 21 seconds to seal the game. On Saturday, he scored 29 points in the third quarter (12-13 field goals) and 16 in the fourth quarter. With the team down 109-110 with 3:39 left in the game, Jennings scored 12 of the team’s final 20 points, including two three-pointers and two free throws to put the team up four with 10 seconds to play.

Jennings is the team’s first Bucks player since Michael Redd (December 25, 2006 through January 1, 2007) to be named player of the week.

For the latest on Jennings and the Milwaukee Bucks visit bucks.com.