Shadow Mountain held their own for about 3.5 quarters against the national powerhouse Findlay Prep on Saturday afternoon. They left after one quarter, tailed by just two at the half and were within striking distance until the Rockets pulled away late in the game. It was a fantastic test for the young reigning division II state champs.
Terrible news came from the game for the Matadors as junior guard Michael Bibby Jr. went down re-injuring his surgically repaired left knee which he hurt last spring.
Outside of who his father is, Bibby has made a great impression in receiving interest from next level coaches from what he has done at the varsity level as a freshman and sophomore. It is really unfortunate to now see the adversity that he will face overcoming two very substantial injuries to the same knee at such a young age.
He received an MRI on Monday and seeing tweets from his teammates saying they pray they will have the opportunity to play with him again and using the hashtag “#DoItFor10” tells you all you need to know. It looks to be another long road for Bibby but just being a junior still, he still has enough time to rehab and recovery from this adversity hopefully before his high school career is over.
On the positive side of things, one of the main reasons Shadow was able to stay toe-to-toe with Findlay despite the early adversity was the play of junior JJ Rhymes who has taken his game to another level this season.
Rhymes would score 22 points in the first half, score 26 in the game making seven field goals, two of which from three, and showed an incredible ability to get to the basket and either score or draw a foul. He shot 10-12 from the line in the game. He did all this offensively while defensively went head-to-head with Arizona Wildcats signee Allonzo Trier. It was definitely a game to remember for Rhymes who presently has an offer and a lot of interest from Grand Canyon University. Performances like these in his junior season could spark that interest even more for may schools around the country.
Check out highlights of his performance below:
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Jared Cohen
A born and bred Arizonan, Jared has had great passion for the hometown teams all his life. He now channel's that passion into covering the pro, college and high school teams around the state as a Multimedia Reporter for Sports360AZ.