Trawick Looking for Big Hoyas Career; Oliver to Rider

NEW YORK — It won’t be easy for Georgetown to replace Austin Freeman and Chris Wright.

But the Hoyas are getting a nice piece in 6-foot-5, 200-pound combo guard Jabril Trawick, who aggressively attacked the rim and put up 25 points and 8 rebounds Sunday when the Playaz beat the New York Panthers, 75-73, in the quarterfinals of the iS8/Nike Spring Classic.

“I think Jabril Trawick is one of the most underrated players in the country and I’ve been saying that to people for months,” Playaz coach Jimmy Salmon said.

Trawick attends Abington Friends outside Philadelphia but has played with the Playaz on and off for two years. On Sunday he provided the perfect wingman to Rutgers-bound point guard Myles Mack, who scored a game-high 26 points.

Both players relentlessly attacked the basket in transition, with Trawick throwing down several monster dunks.

“I was told the New York Panthers and the Playaz, they have a rivalry going together,” Trawick said. “I was just looking up for the challenge and it was great to get this big win.”

Trawick out-played St. John’s-bound forward Amir Garrett, who finished with 10 points in the loss.

“I got a lot of heart so I’ll go at anybody,” Trawick said. “You can’t come to me soft. I’m going to go right at you next, so that’s how it was today. I wasn’t playing around.”

A natural two guard, Trawick said the Georgetown staff sees him as a combo guard who could play both positions.

“They want me to start working on my point guard skills more,” he said. “They want me to work on ball-handling, basically be there helping out the point guard and playing the two.”

Trawick is part of a recruiting class ranked No. 13 nationally by ESPN.com that includes fellow four-star signees Otto Porter, a small forward, and center Mikael Hopkins and three-star center Tyler Adams and three-star face-up forward Greg Whittington.

“We’re going to be there real early on June 6 because we have summer classes,” Trawick said. “I keep in touch with Otto, Mikael, Greg and Tyler.”

Freeman and Wright have been the face of Georgetown basketball for the past several years, but Trawick is hoping to launch a new era.

“I’m trying to have a better career than they did,” he said. “As you can see they left a great mark at Georgetown, Austin and Chris, and everybody loves them. They did great stuff for the school.

“By the time of the end of my run, I want to have an even better run than they did.”

OLIVER TO RIDER

Charles Oliver, a 6-1 shooting guard from Scotch Plains-Fanwood who competes for the Playaz, has verbally committed to Rider.

Oliver averaged 21 points last season and finished with 1,150 career points. He was 8 of 10 on 3-pointers in a game against Roselle Catholic in which he scored 28 points, and also scored a career-high 31 points in a win over St. Benedict’s.

Quinnipiac, Iona and Mount St. Mary’s also offered, according to Scotch Plains-Fanwood coach Dan Doherty.

“I think it’s a great situation for him,” said Doherty, who also coached Lance Thomas and Derrick Caracter. “Tommy Dempsey is good with the guards. He’s staying close to home which is important to him. I think he’s just really starting to reach his potential basketball-wise. He’s still in the process of leaning. He has a really big upside in college. I think Rider got a nice little deal. I they’ll work well together.”

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(Photos courtesy Rivals, NJ.com)