Hornsby Opens Eyes with Oak Hill Stint Pe’Shon Howard’s Diary #6 – We’re Back

Hornsby Opens Eyes with Oak Hill Stint
Posted: 25 Jan 2010 10:22 AM PST


Keith Hornsby is playing for Oak Hill Academy, the most prestigious prep basketball school in the country. (Diane Cebula, Daily Press / August 26, 2009)


by Norm Wood, Inside Recruiting

hrvarsity.com

January 24, 2010 — For a guy who thought he’d only be spending about five to eight minutes per game on the floor while wearing the uniform of the nation’s most elite prep boys basketball team, this season has been an eye-opening experience for Keith Hornsby.

As it turns out, he has evolved into much more than just a garbage-time player for Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, a town in southwest Virginia. He’s a legitimate sixth man as a junior.

Though he’s still waiting for the bigwigs from programs in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East and Southeastern Conference to take notice, he knows he’s at least on the radar map — by osmosis, if nothing else.

“There are such great players on this team, so I just naturally get so much better, and my confidence rises, too,” said Hornsby, who is a former Hampton Roads Academy student and the son of Grammy Award-winning musician and Williamsburg native Bruce Hornsby.

“My shots, my driving (to the basket), my ballhandling have all gotten better, but especially my defense. With having to guard these guys, that’s the main thing that’s improved.”

During an open-gym scrimmage in the fall, Oak Hill played host to a room full of college basketball coaches — a common occurrence at Oak Hill.

Kansas coach Bill Self took a few seconds to introduce himself to Hornsby.

It wasn’t quite the same as getting a scholarship offer from Self, but it was still a moment Hornsby won’t soon forget.

Click here to read the full article at HRVarsity.com.


Pe’Shon Howard’s Diary #6 – We’re Back
Posted: 25 Jan 2010 10:03 AM PST
By Pe’Shon Howard
Throughout the 2009-2010 season, OakHillHoops.com will feature personal stories from our players.
We’re Back

January 25, 2010 — We’re back! Seems like I haven’t written a diary entry in forever. So I’ll get everyone caught up with what has been going on.
I had a great Christmas break that was really busy. It started in Ironton, OH where we went 2-0 and the team played well.

Then everyone went home for Christmas for only two days. We flew to Portland, OR the day after Christmas. It was a really tough journey, especially for me. I was delayed at two different airports and didn’t get any sleep. I arrived the morning of the first game and I’d only slept about five hours.

The Les Shwab Invitational is one of the top holiday tournaments in the country. We went 3-1, losing to Westchester from L.A. in the finals. That was a tough one. It was even tougher for me being from Los Angeles. We had the game won and in the 4th quarter we turned the ball over and it cost us.

I made the All-Tournament Team and Doron got MVP, even though we didn’t win the tournament. Everyone went back home from there, arriving in time to celebrate New Years with our family and friends. We had a nice two weeks at home.

The team returned back to campus on Monday, Jan. 11th. We didn’t waste any time. Coach started us off with a two-a-day practice to try and whip us back into shape after the lay off. We spent the next few days getting ready for our ESPN game vs Northland HS at the MLK Hall of Fame Classic in Springfield, and we started second semester classes.

We started off great vs Northland and played fairly well. Our defense was working and we held Sully to 0 points in the first half. But we only shot 29% from the field for the game. We played hard but we could not throw a rock into the ocean. We lost by 1 point. It was really disappointing.

We went straight from Massachusetts to Greensboro, NC the next day where we played Greensboro Dudley HS at their MLK Day Classic. We played pretty good and won by 22. That game helped us to get back on track.

Last week we were preparing for our game Saturday in Morgantown, WV vs Columbia HS from Georgia, the best team in GA. We took a charter bus up there after practice Friday, and we came away with the win Saturday night 63-56. Another close one!

More later…

Pe`Shon