The boys’ basketball season is off and running, and some of the state’s top players are already serving notice that they will be heard from before the season is over. Check out these top performances so far:
QUINTON HOOKER (Park Center) — The leading candidate for Mr. Basketball dropped 26 in a 72-70 victory over top-ranked Apple Valley.
TYUS JONES (Apple Valley) — Considered by many as the top junior in the country, the point guard scored 20 in a loss to Park Center.
RILEY DEARRING (Minnetonka) — The University of Wisconsin recruit had 16 in a 79-71 win over Robbinsdale Cooper.
BRIDGE TUSLER (Osseo) — The all-state football player scored 16 points from his point guard position, helping the Orioles defeat Eastview 50-40.
KHARIE KIRKLAND (Tartan) — The normally reserved guard exploded for 26 points in leading the Titans to an 88-85 victory over Hopkins.
RENARD SUGGS (Woodbury) — He kept the name of his famous athletic family intact with a 34-point performance in a 100-95 double-overtime loss to Buffalo.
LAVAR MCCULLOUGH (Cooper) — He led the way with 26 points in a setback loss to Minnetonka.
RASHAD VAUGHN (Cooper) — The guard, among the top-ranked juniors in the country, added 15 points in the loss to Minnetonka.
JUHAMH’RI TURNER (Bloomington Kennedy) — He scored a game-high 34 points, leading the Eagles to a 66-53 win over Cambridge-Isanti.
KASHIF HAYES (St. Louis Park) — One of the best guards you never heard of, Hayes is among the state’s best, as evidenced by his 34-point performance in a 98-82 loss to then-top-ranked Apple Valley.
Jones, Suggs and Hooker played for the Howard Pulley Panthers 16-and-under team last summer.
Mitchell Palmer McDonald welcomes reader responses to mmcdonald@spokesman-recorder.com.
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Dude, do some difficult, earnest research before you write your pithy, stupid columns. Do you even try hard to figure out anything on your own? If you’d have tried, you’d have easily discovered that one of the greatest players in the Twin Cities and State of Minnesota is Dion Bradley, who dropped 52 points the other day on Fridley. Go watch him play; his game in many ways is better than Tyus Jones, but he’ll never get any recognition.