SPC Tourney: Houston Christian goes back to back

The Southwest Preparatory Conference held its end of year tournament over the weekend, and just as it was last year, Sahvir Wheeler led Houston Christian to a title. We talk three storylines from the tourney to start this week of hoops coverage.

It’s not very often you see a team with hardly any players above 6-feet tall be so successful, but that’s the hand Houston Christian was dealt and they certainly made the most of it. HC didn’t even have a true post on the roster, and yet they overcame that adversity to knock off a much larger Episcopal team in the championship game. A lot of that skill over size attitude comes from star player Sahvir Wheeler, who seems back to near his best after missing a chunk of the early season due to a knee injury. Wheeler was a 5-foot-8 menace in the open court, dropping dimes like no one’s business and showing that quick first step that made his name.

Behind Wheeler, HC got excellent contributions from the likes of Ty Archibald, Noah Kon, and Kobe Haynes throughout the tournament, with Archibald especially having great games in the semifinal and final shooting the ball. Kon and Haynes are both promising sophomores, and Kon has a chance to follow in the path of Wheeler and current heir-apparent LJ Cryer as the next lead guard in the greater Houston area.

After seeing Jahari Long’s performance on Friday night to lead Episcopal over the star-studded roster of St Mark’s, I left the gym thinking he was due for a rise up the rankings. He then followed up his 22 point performance with 3 points in the championship game, playing into the already existing chatter about consistency being a major factor into his evaluation.

Personally I am a fan of Long’s game. The way he gets downhill as a 6-foot-2 guard and will get in his mid range bag is impressive and I think he is underrated as a playmaker. But at the same time, that word consistency keeps popping up and I do believe he needs to iron some of that out to get his stock trending back upwards. Long, as well as most of his teammates at Episcopal will be back next year to contend for the SPC Championship. Only time will tell if they can change the outcome.

St. Mark’s ended up being undone by the stellar play of the aforementioned Long in their semifinal game, but after the game seemed hungry to get back and avenge that loss next season. They don’t graduate any major contributors, and should the team stay intact they will really be something special with another year of maturity for the young fellas Colin Smith, Noah Shelby, and Harrison Ingram. Ingram’s game continues to be mature beyond his years, with all kinds of positives to be taken from an evaluation even in the loss. Smith scored a team high 21 in the semifinal loss, popping up with threes when his team needed a spark and using his length to good effect around the bucket.

This team isn’t done yet, and it’ll take some time to get this bad taste out of their mouth. But with the pieces they have, this team can become one of the elites in Texas that plays in all the big showcase games next year. And if their talent continues on their current trajectory, they won’t be losing in a semifinal in the SPC next year. They’ll be lifting that trophy.