DePaul Recruiting, Doug Ferguson, Marquette Recruiting, Providence Recruiting, St. John's Recruiting

DORITY, MCCALL HAVE BIG EAST INTEREST

Chicao high school teammates excel on their own in AAU action

by Doug Ferguson

During the high school year Lavonte Dority and Mike McCall of Chicago-Foreman are the Windy City equivalent of Isaiah Thomas and Joe Dumars. The high school season, however, brings on lots of “Batman and Robin” talk and gives the two talented guards less of a chance to make a name for themselves. Now that spring has sprung and AAU season is upon us, these two get to lead their respective teams on their own which is exactly what they did in the first game of pool play Friday in the first annual Nike Spring Showdown in Merrillville, IN.

The opening game of the tournament saw Dority lead his Chicago Elite squad out to a 21-point first half lead over the Illinois Wolverines. Dority found open teamates throughout the opening hald, chalking up 7 points and 7 assists.

Problems arose for Elite in the second half, however. The Wolverines stormed all the way back after intermission to actually take a four-point lead at one point. After two Dority free throws sent the game into overtime, he took the game over again in the extra session. When the Wolverines tried to hold for the last shot with time running down in OT, Dority showed another one of his blue chip qualities…active hands on defense. While helping out in penetration, Dority stole the ball and took it coast to coast for what would eventually be the game winner with 11 seconds left.

Act two would come one warm up session later as McCall lead his Illinois Heat team into action against an extremely talented Old Gold club. This nail-biter took more of the traditional route. McCall had to take his team on his shoulders more or less the entire game and he was up to the task. He sent the game into both of its overtime periods with two cold-blooded free throw conversions and followed it up by icing it away with two more in the final seconds to make the game 64-60 with under 10 seconds left, in a sense willing the his Heat squad to victory. Oh yeah, and he did it on what seemed to be a sore right knee.

These two have been the apple of several Big East school’s eyes on the recruiting trail. Dority told NBE after his opening game that Ohio State, Baylor, Providence and St. John’s are his top suitors at this point, but says he continues to receive new attention almost daily.

McCall has a lot more of a murky picture ahead of him recruiting-wise as more than 10 schools still have a shot. Marquette and DePaul have been mentioned on this ‘short list’, if you can call it that.

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