1/8/2018 basketball Edit

Commitment update: NC State basketball recruits shining

Matt Carter • TheWolfpackCentral

Editor

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When you are the star player on a basketball team, you tend to be the focal point of the other’s team defense. Such was the case for forward Jericole Hellems of St. Louis Chaminade.

Hellems finished with 17 points and four rebounds in a 107-94 win over Chicago Morgan Park High on Saturday.

The St. Louis Post Dispatch noted in its game report that Hellems “received so much of Morgan Park’s defensive attention early in the game his teammates had high quality shots and connected.”

“We did a good job on Hellems,” Morgan Park head coach Nick Irvin told the Post-Dispatch after the game “We gave up too many threes. Plus people that normally don't score for them scored a lot. We had to stop the role players, and we didn't do a good job.”

Chaminade is 10-2 on the season, and in the nine games where stats are available, Hellems is averaging 22.2 points. He continues to show his shooting touch, making 11 of 19 three-pointers in the eight games where three-point shot stats are available.

Forward Saddiq Bey and Washington (D.C.) Sidwell Friends are 5-4 after a 71-53 win over Potomac (Md.) Bullis High over the weekend. Entering the contest, Bey was averaging 18.1 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Bey had 24 points in the win over Bullis. (Story)

Junior college forward/center Derek Funderburk had a quiet game, scoring five points and grabbing three rebounds, but he banked in a crucial three-pointer to help Northwest Florida State College remain unbeaten with a 74-64 road win at Pensacola State College.

Funderburk is averaging 11.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game while shooting 51.6 percent from the field in 18 games played. He has also made 11 of 38 three-pointers (28.9 percent) and is shooting 74.3 percent from the line. Funderburk has 14 rejections and 22 steals on the defensive side of the floor.

Fayetteville (N.C.) Northwood Temple, which features NC State center signees Manny Bates and Ian Steere, is 7-12. Bates is missing the season after undergoing shoulder surgery.