Welcome to the South, Evan Payne!

Beginning Sunday evening, we are posting as much information and highlights as possible about the unofficial "first weekend" of the high school basketball season in, and beyond, the greater Augusta area.  ABR Live was present Saturday (November 10) at Evans High School for the Hoops preview scrimmage games, featuring some of Georgia and South Carolina's finest basketball programs.  And we also observed a tournament of a different kind, the Crusader Classic in Ludowici, Georgia, featuring some of the southeast's finest "prep school" and independent school teams.  Here we post stories and highlights from both events!

It is difficult to leave the Crusader Classic without talking to people about Evan Payne of Kingdom Prep (GA).  Payne has evidently come to Kingdom Prep by way of Ohio.  The website verbal commits.com lists Payne at 6'1", which appears generous to me (but what do I know?).  The same website lists Huntington Prep (home of North America's finest player - in my humble opinion - Andrew Wiggins) as the most recent place Payne played basketball.

The video above showcases Payne's leaping ability.  All of those dunks are from two games!  But the video below displays Payne's shooting range as well.  It is an understatement to say Payne is an elite athlete.  But he also shoots it well, defends, attacks the basket, and has a good mid range game.  We look forward to seeing Payne and his Kingdom Prep team again soon.