Weekend Rundown

Over the past two days, a number of noteworthy high school games were played in the area. A rundown on those games, a look forward, and a few recruiting notes are below.

On the recruiting front, Roman Catholic senior big Junior Fortunat attended the Seton Hall-Marquette game last night. Junior has seen a number of schools jump into his recruitment since becoming NCAA eligible last week, which I reported on here.

According to Alex Kline's Twitter, Princeton Day School (NJ) sophomore Davon Reed was in attendance at yesterday's Temple-La Salle game. Both schools have already offered the 6'4 guard. In addition to those schools, Saint Joseph's, VCU, Rutgers, and West Virginia have also extended scholarship offers Davon's way.

Temple also hosted another significant recruit this weekend, as Westtown (PA) junior center Daniel Ochefu took an unofficial visit to campus on Friday with his parents. An article from Philly.com on his visit is linked here. His final four schools are Temple, Villanova, Georgetown, and Texas.

In New Jersey playoff action yesterday, Teaneck advanced with a 20-point win over Sparta. Chris Jones, a junior wing who has interest from the Hawks, had 11 points in the win, while sophomore guard Joel Hernandez dropped 23. An article on the game can be found here.

On Friday night, another junior guard with SJU interest helped his team advance. Seton Hall Prep junior guard Dallas Anglin had a game-high 28 points to guide his team past Paramus Catholic. Anglin had interest from the Hawks, Boston University, George Washington, Rice, and many others. He has been on a tear during this playoff run, and more schools are bound to take notice.

In Philadelphia, Friday night was full of high school hoops as well. The night's premier matchup was the District 1 Class AAAA title game between Chester and Council Rock North. Maurice Nelson led the way for Chester, scoring 22 points. Chester had four double-digit scorers, and easily dispatched of Council Rock North, 66-43. RIck O'Brien's article from the Inquirer can be found here.

Philadelphia's District 12 Class AAA championship game took place Friday night at Archbishop Ryan, and featured Philadelphia Catholic League champs Neumann-Goretti and Philadelphia Electrical and Technology. Neumann took a 33-23 lead into the half, eventually winning 62-54. Two stars for Neumann were sophomore Johnny Davis, who tallied 18 points and 18 rebounds, and sophomore Derrick Stewart who had 15. PET got 19 points from Hakeem Baxter, and 9 each from Devante Chance and Carrington Ward.

Fortunat Gets Score

Last Wednesday, Roman Catholic went down against Neumann-Goretti in the Philadelphia Catholic League semi-finals. Neumann escaped Roman with a one-point win, and went on to capture their third consecutive PCL title last night at the Palestra. In the championship game, Neumann defeated Archbishop Carroll despite 30 points from Carroll senior Juan'ya Green.

One player for Roman that made his presence felt last Wednesday, and has been a major impact all season long, is senior big Junior Fortunat.

Prior to last week's game, I wrote a piece on Junior and where he stood in his recruitment. That piece can be found here . In that article, I mentioned that Junior was awaiting his ACT scores, and hoping for the best. I got a chance to catch up with him earlier today on the latest.

Junior got the score he needed on the ACT and will be NCAA eligible next season. A number of schools were already going hard after the talented unsigned senior, and those schools are likely to have some new company. Earlier today, Junior told me that Seton Hall, Fairleigh Dickinson, La Salle, Wagner, Rider, VCU, Missouri, and Arizona State are the schools that have been in touch recently. FDU head coach Greg Vetrone watched Junior last Wednesday in the PCL semi-finals. Both La Salle and Rider have recently extended offers Junior's way. As Junior's recruitment intensifies, check back here for updates.

Philadelphia Catholic League Semis-Faces in the Crowd

Both the Philadelphia Public League and Philadelphia Catholic League semi-finals took place last night. At Southern, Imhotep and Constitution were the winners, setting up a battle for the Public League crown this weekend at Temple. Imhotep has won the past two years and have as loaded a roster as you're going to find in the city. Constitution has some star power of its own, with junior guard Daiquan Walker being the biggest name.

I was able to attend the PCL semis at the Palestra last night. In game one, Archbishop Carroll defeated La Salle 58-45. Sophomore guard Yosef Yacoub led the way for Carroll, scoring 18 points. For La Salle, senior guard and Rider commit Eddie Mitchell had 22 points.

The second semi-final game was the headliner, and for good reason. Neumann-Goretti escaped the Palestra with a one-point winner over Roman Catholic, 47-46. Lamin Fulton was the high-man for Neumann, scoring 14 points in the win. Roman had two double-digit scorers in Montana Mayfield (12) and Junior Fortunat (10).

A detailed recap will be up later. For the time being, you can check out Rick O'Brien's article on the Neumann game here and Ted Silary's article here .

There were a number of high school and college coaches in the house, as well as some other recognizable figures.

Fairleigh Dickinson head coach Greg Vetrone was on hand to watch unsigned senior big Junior Fortunat. I wrote a piece on Junior last week, that can be found here .

Legendary Tom Konchalski of the HSBI Report was also in attendance.

Former Saint Joseph's Hawk player Rashid Bey was another familiar face in the crowd.

Check back later for a recap of the night's games.

Junior Fortunat Getting Looks

As fall turns to winter, and winter turns to spring, the number of quality unsigned seniors in high school basketball dwindles down to next to nothing. Over the past couple weeks, I have taken a look into the play and recruitment of Friends' Central's Devin Coleman, who is arguably the best unsigned senior guard in the city of Brotherly Love. Today we are going to move into the frontcourt and look at Roman Catholic senior big Fortunat "Junior" Kangudi. According to most that follow Philadelphia high school hoops, including Ted Silary, Junior is the best available big-man in the city.

Junior is a 6'8, 220-pound post player at Philadelphia's Roman Catholic High School. Originally from Montreal, he is in his second season at Roman playing under head coach Chris McNesby.

At 6'8 and 220, Junior plays the 5 for Roman Catholic, but is being recruited to play the power forward spot in college. A very strong finisher around the rim, Junior possesses great athleticism and loves to run the court. He runs well and thrives in the open-court. On the defensive side of the ball, Junior is a shot-blocking and rebounding presence. In a big win last Sunday over Archbishop Wood, Junior had 20 points, 9 rebounds,and 4 blocks. Roman Catholic plays their opening-round Catholic League playoff game today at Father Judge, and will likely take on Neumann-Goretti if they are to advance. Last week, Roman fell to Father Judge by a point, missing a shot at the buzzer that would have won the game.

I got to catch up with Junior on Wednesday night, and he gave me an update on his recruitment. A native of Montreal, Junior's native tongue is French, which has played a significant part of his recruiting process. At the moment, he is awaiting his most recent ACT scores. Junior took the ACT last week and will receive his scores shortly. Once those scores come in, and his high school season comes to a close, Junior's recruitment will begin to pick up steam.

At the moment, Junior has a wide range of schools calling and inquiring about him, ranging from the Big East to the Big 12 to the CAA. Seton Hall is one of the schools pursuing Junior the hardest at the moment. In addition to the Big East school, Missouri is another school that has recently jumped into his recruitment. Rutgers, Drexel, VCU, and Fairleigh Dickinson are also in the mix. Coach Marcus Toney-El at Fairleigh Dickinson is making a hard push for Junior, as well as unsigned senior guard Carrington Ward, also from Philadelphia.

While these schools are currently involved with Junior, he is also open to hear pitches from new schools. In no rush to decide, he wants to take visits once his qualification is settled and his high school season is over.

When asked what he was looking for in a school, Junior said that he most wants the opportunity to compete early for minutes. Junior told me that he is aware that minutes will not simply be given, but that they have to be earned. That being said, he has no interest in taking a redshirt next year.

As things develop with Junior's recruitment, I will continue to provide updates here. With so few quality unsigned players around this late in the year, expect to hear a lot about Junior this spring. Quality big men are always at a premium, especially those with Junior's athleticism and mobility.