Marquise Moore was the catalyst of an impressive journey by Holy Cross through the CHSAA Class AA intersectional playoffs. He made big play after big play, big shot after big shot to lead the Knights to their first championship game since 2008.
And so far, the 6-foot-2 guard doesn’t have a single Division I offer to show for it.
Moore, who had 12 points to help the Queens team win the Wheelchair Charities HS Basketball Classic championship game Thursday night, said his AAU coach, J.R. Rodriguez of Raising Champions, has been in contact with Drexel, Florida Atlantic and Dayton. A firm offer, though, has not been given.
“I really don’t know what I’m going to do yet,” Moore said.
The prospect of going to prep school has entered his mind, Moore said, but he hasn’t thought enough about it to consider any options yet. Holy Cross coach Paul Gilvary said during the playoffs that Moore is fully qualified academically.
“I don’t know what [college coaches] are looking for,” Gilvary said at the time. “He’s a very versatile player. He can do a lot of things. He defends. He rebounds. He can handle the ball. He scores. He’s a nice kid. He’s coachable. To me, he’s the whole package.”
Moore did miss time this season with a toe injury, but when he was in the lineup he excelled for Holy Cross, averaging more than 20 points per game during the postseason. Rob Diaz, coach of the Queens Wheelchair team, said he didn’t get to see much of Moore during the school season, but he was very impressed with what he showed him in the team’s brief time together.
“He certainly has a lot of talent,” Diaz said. “Today he really came out to play and we needed that.”
Obekpa held out: Chris Obekpa, one of the top remaining unsigned players in the country, came to York College on Thursday hoping to play in the Wheelchair Charities HS Basketball Classic. He fully expected to compete with his Our Savior New American teammate Lebrent Walker on the Queens team – players who go to Long Island schools are eligible for Queens – but OSNA coach Erik Jaklitsch was told the 6-foot-9 shot blocking machine could not take the floor.
Jaklitsch said event organizers told him that Obekpa had to go on the hospital visit to Coler-Goldwater on Roosevelt Island. Instead, the coach said, Obekpa and he went to Good Samaritan in West Islip, which is far closer to OSNA in Centereach, L.I. The two stayed to cheer on Walker, a Queens native who recently obtained interest from Norfolk State.
Obekpa will visit Oregon next weekend and has already visited St. John’s, Cincinnati and DePaul and has been on unofficials to Providence and UConn. The Nigeria native, ranked No. 20 among centers in his class by Scout.com, also holds offers from Memphis, West Virginia and Georgia Tech.
Galan looking at prep schools: You would think that after leading PSAL Class AA in scoring as well as being the leading scorer for the Bronx all-star team at the Wheelchair Charities High School Classic, Gompers’ Carlos Galan would have his basketball future paved in gold. But the junior’s next career move is far from certain.
Because he ages out, Galan, who holds offers from St. John’s and Iowa State, will attend prep school next year. He isn’t sure where yet. He has visited South Kent (Conn.) and will see Notre Dame Prep (Mass.) and Bridgton (Maine) shortly, advisor and Gompers assistant coach Quentin Lauriston said.
If raising his stock for interested prep schools was one of his goals as he took the floor on Wednesday against Manhattan, he certainly did just that. On top of the eight points he scored in Tuesday’s loss to Brooklyn/Staten Island, Galan dropped 14 points in Wednesday’s 82-80 loss to Manhattan at York College, giving him a team-high 22 points over the two-day span.
“Playing against all of these guys is a good experience for me going forward because I use every game like a workout and I try to get better,” he said. “Too bad we didn’t play enough defense to win.”