Seven boys teams and four girls high school basketball  teams chosen for exclusive tournament ESPN RISE, in conjunction with Paragon Marketing Group, has selected seven boys and four girls teams for the third annual ESPN RISE National High School Invitational (NHSI).  The remaining teams and the brackets will be announced shortly.

The event will be held Thursday, March 31 through Saturday, April 2, at Georgetown Preparatory School’s Hanley Center for Athletic Excellence in Bethesda, Md.  The tournament will feature some of the country’s best boys and girls high school basketball teams including top ranked FAB 50 ESPN RISE teams.

Findlay Prep from Henderson, NV will attempt to hold onto the boys championship title for the third year.  This year’s field features teams from five different states including championship-game participants from the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland (IAAM), Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA), North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association (NCISAA) and the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA). 

Tournament teams were selected by a selection committee whose decision, in part, was based on the ESPN RISE Fab 50 rankings during the 2010-2011 high school basketball season. Team eligibility criteria also included that participating schools must be four-year high schools, independent or public, and have their respective governing body’s permission to participate.  Teams with post-graduate students or re-classified fifth year seniors were not eligible for consideration for the ESPN RISE NHSI.

ESPN RISE National High School Invitational Teams: 

ESPN RISE NHSI – 2011 Boys Tournament 

	High School	State	‘10/’11 Record	ESPN RISE FAB 50 Ranking
	Montrose Christian	MD	22-1	3
	Oak Hill	VA	27-3	5
	Findlay Prep	NV	28-3	7
	Winter Park	FL	27-6	15
	Dwyer	FL	31-2	16
	United Faith Christian	NC	27-6	31
	John Carroll	MD	33-4	NR

 

ESPN RISE NHSI – 2011 Girls Tournament 

	High School	State	‘10/’11 Record	ESPN RISE FAB 50 Ranking
	Archbishop Spalding	MD	26-2	NR
	Hollywood Christian	FL	31-1	36
	Riverdale Baptist	MD	28-5	11
	Dr. Phillips	FL	31-2	44

All games will be televised live in HD by ESPN’s networks.  The schedule can be viewed here: https://rise.espn.go.com/boys-basketball/articles/2010/11/10-TV-Schedule.aspx.

All NHSI telecasts on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will also be available online through ESPN3.com and ESPNnetworks.com.

The Hanley Center for Athletic Excellence is located at 10900 Rockville Pike in Bethesda, MD.

ESPN RISE NHSI tickets are available now at NHSIHoops.com.  General admission is $10 for adults and $5 for students.  Tickets will be available on game days at the Hanley Center box office.

For up-to-date game information, player profiles, game reports and network airtimes please visit RISE.ESPN.go.com/boys-basketball/events/2011/04/national-high-school-invitational.aspx.

Media interested in credentials for the event should contact Diane Lamb at [email protected].

2011 ESPN RISE NHSI BOYS TEAMS – ADDITIONAL INFO  

Montrose Christian
Coach: Stu Vetter
Standout Players: Tyrone Johnson Sr. (No. 71 ESPNU 100), Justin Anderson Jr. (No. 51 ESPNU Super 60)
More Info: NBA star Kevin Durant graduated from Montrose Christian in 2006.
 
Oak Hill Academy
Coach: Steve Smith
Standout Players: Quin Cook Sr. (No. 39 ESPNU 100), Damien Wilson Jr. (No. 49 ESPNU Super 60), A.J. Hammons Jr. (No. 54 ESPNU Super 60)
More Info: Oak Hill has produced more than 20 NBA players including current stars Carmelo Anthony, Rajon Rondo, Josh Smith and Stephen Jackson.

Findlay Prep
Coach: Michael Peck
Standout Players: Myck Kabongo Sr. (No. 9 ESPNU 100), Nick Johnson Sr. (No. 23 ESPNU 100), Amir Garrett (No. 95 ESPNU 100)
More Info: Findlay Prep has won the last two NHSI Championships, defeating Montverde Academy in the 2010 finals and Oak Hill Academy in 2009.
 
Winter Park
Coach: David Bailey
Standout Players: Austin Rivers Sr. (No. 1 ESPNU 100), Brent Comer Sr. (10 ppg & 6 apg), Austin Keel Sr. (14 ppg & 4 rpg)
More Info: Senior Guard Austin Rivers is rated as the number one high school senior prospect in the country by ESPNU and is committed to play for Duke next season. He is also the son of Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers.

Dwyer
Coach: Fred Ross
Standout Players: Victor Adams Sr. (16 ppg), Joell James Jr. (No. 33 ESPNU Super 60), Jacoby Brissett Sr. (15 ppg & 5 rpg)
More Info: Standout senior forward Jacoby Brissett is also a heralded quarterback and has signed to play football for the University of Florida.
 
United Faith Christian
Coach: Shaun Wiseman
Standout Players: Braxton Ogbueze Jr. (No. 43 ESPNU Super 60), Peter Jurkin Jr. (Indiana commit), Paris Roberts-Campbell Sr. (East Carolina commit)
More Info: United Faith Christian defeated Oak Hill Academy in Charlotte earlier in the season with a high scoring 90-88 victory.
 
John Carroll
Coach: Tony Martin
Standout Players: Malcolm McMillan Sr., Ronald Scott Sr.
More Info: Completing an incredible turnaround from last season, John Carroll captured the MIAA and BCL Championships this season after finishing 9-18 in the 2009-2010 season.

2011 ESPN RISE NHSI GIRLS TEAMS – ADDITIONAL INFO 

Archbishop Spalding
Coach: Bill Rosemond
Standout Players: Maggie Morrison Sr. (Vanderbilt commit)
More Info: Archbishop Spalding won their first IAAM Championship in nine years and finished the season No. 1 in the Washington Post’s girls basketball rankings.
 
Hollywood Christian
Coach: Carlos Adamson
Standout Players: Rebecca Lyttle Jr. (Michigan commit)
More Info: Dominating their opponents, Hollywood Christian’s average margin of victory was 61.7 points this season.

Riverdale Baptist
Coach: Diane Richardson
Standout Players: Tyonna Williams Sr. (Temple commit)
More Info: Head coach Diane Richardson returned to Baptist last season after spending five years at Baptist and the prior two years at American University and Maryland University as an assistant coach.  

Dr. Phillips
Coach: Anthony Jones
Standout Players: Taryn Griffey Fr. (15 ppg)
More Info: Star freshman guard Taryn Griffey is the daughter of MLB star Ken Griffey Jr. 

About ESPN RISE National High School Invitational

The ESPN RISE National High School Invitational launched in 2009 at Georgetown Prep in Bethesda, Md. The 2009 ESPN RISE National High School Invitational boys tournament was won by Findlay Prep and the girls tournament was won by Seton Keough.  The second annual tournament was held at Coppin State University’s Physical Education Complex in Baltimore.  Findlay Prep retained the title in the 2010 tournament; Peddie School won the girls tournament. 

About ESPN RISE

ESPN RISE represents ESPN’s commitment to engage and elevate high school athletes by providing them with recognition, resources, information and inspiration that can motivate them to improve their skills and achieve their goals to be the best athletes they can.  ESPN RISE assets include ESPN RISE, GIRL, Hardwood and Gridiron magazines; ESPNRISE.com, and more than 160 high school events including Elite 11, Elite 24, ESPN RISE Games, ESPN RISE National High School Invitational, Faster to First, Area Code Baseball and Nike Combines/Nike SPARQ Mini Camps.  ESPN RISE is uniquely positioned to provide high school athletes and the company’s core fans with compelling high school sports content across all ESPN platforms. 

About Paragon Marketing Group

Paragon Marketing Group is a corporate consulting agency specializing in sports, entertainment and cause related sponsorships.  In addition, Paragon has partnered with ESPN over the past 10 years to deliver more than 200 live high school football and basketball telecasts featuring many of the top teams and players in the nation.  Paragon’s consulting clients include Gatorade, Nature Valley Granola Bars, Continental Airlines, PNC Bank, Reliant Energy, Bayer and Cuties.

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