Getty The Bishop Gorman High School (Nevada) Gaels will play the Gonzaga Preparatory School (Washington) Bullpups at the Hoophall West High School Invitational on Saturday.
The Bishop Gorman High School (Nevada) Gaels will battle the Gonzaga Preparatory School (Washington) Bullpups at the Hoophall West High School Invitational in Phoenix, Arizona, on Saturday.
The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. ET. While it won’t be broadcast on television anywhere in the US, you can still watch a live stream of the game on your computer, phone or streaming device via ESPN+, the new digital streaming service from ESPN that will have coverage of eight HoopHall West games this weekend.
You can sign up for a free 7-day trial of ESPN+ right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game (and several other HoopHall 2018 games) on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.
If you can’t watch live, all games–including Gonzaga Prep vs Modesto Christian–that are streamed on ESPN+ are also available to be watched afterwards on-demand via ESPN.com or the ESPN app.
Preview
The Bullpups defeated the Modesto Christian High School (California) Crusaders on Friday, 79-63, in their first matchup at the tournament, behind 23 points from shooting guard Liam Lloyd and 14 from forward Anton Watson.
They improved to 2-0. In their season opener, Gonzaga Prep demolished the Mt. Spokane High School (Washington) Wildcats 64-44.
“To come out that first game, win by 20 against a real good team, that’s great,” Watson said, according to The Spokesman-Review.
Watson, now a senior, was named last season’s Class 4A state player of the year by the Associated Press. The No. 45 recruit in his class according to 247Sports’ composite rankings, he has committed to Gonzaga University.
Lloyd, a junior, has received a scholarship offer from Eastern Washington University.
A season ago, the Bullpups went 27-0 on their way to the Class 4A state title.
“We have a long way to go before we start thinking about [repeating as state champions]. … Right now, we’re still figuring out who we are, what we can be, what roles are,” Gonzaga Prep head coach Matty McIntyre said, according to The Spokesman-Review. “All that stuff is up in the air, so this is going to be a process.”
If the Bullpups are to repeat, they might have to do so without senior forward Jamaari Jones, who suffered a knee injury over the summer that could keep him out for the season.
“I feel really bad for him personally, losing out on his senior year,” McIntyre said, per The Spokesman-Review. “He’s meant so much to the program.”
Jones told the Paper: “It’s definitely a dagger, especially because this a group of kids that I’ve grown up with my whole entire life playing with. To miss the last year we’re together, it really hurt me at first, but I also have faith in the guys that they’re going to have a good year.”
The Gaels suffered their first defeat of the season on Friday at the tournament, to the John H. Guyer High School (Texas) Wildcats.
Bishop Gorman is led by junior Isaiah Cottrell and sophomore Zaon Collins. According to 247Sports’ composite rankings, Cottrell is the No. 57 recruit in his class and the No. 8 power forward. Collins, a sophomore, is the No. 46 recruit in the class of 2021, and the No. 4 point guard.
Shooting guard Will McClendon scored 28 points to go with five rebounds and nine assists in the team’s season-opening victory. The sophomore has already received scholarship offers from the University of Washington, Pepperdine University, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
“I think the state and the country’s going to take notice of Will McClendon,” Bishop Gorman head coach Grant Rice told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.