Darrun Hillard on the money again with MVP award

FROM KEITH GROLLER

It's 11:55 Wednesday morning and I have already been here at Coca-Cola Park for more than two hours and will be here for at least a dozen more for stories surrounding the Triple-A All-Star Game.

But tomorrow, my life returns to basketball and the SportsFest basketball tournament.

As a major highlight between high school tourneys comes word that Liberty's Darrun Hilliard was named the MVP at the prestigious Hoop Group Summer Classic on Monday in Neptune, N.J.

He led his Jersey Shore Warriors AAU team to a 5-0 record and the 17-and-under title, and he hit the game-winning shot in the first game of the tournament. e averaged 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists in the tournament against some of the top high school age kids in the country.

The tournament was watched by a wide variety of Division I college coaches.

Last year's MVP was Sterling Gibbs, who is headed to the University of Maryland.

And according to Liberty assistant Mike Bachman, you can add Seton Hall to the mix of D-I schools offering Hilliard a scholarship. Drexel, Saint Joseph's, Boston College, Siena, Fairfield and Temple are all reportedly in the mix.

His strong showing at Neptune only served to increase the exposure Hilliard will receive on the recruiting front.

Hilliard is next headed to a major tournament that is best known as the West Virginia Jamfest and will not play for Liberty at the SportsFest tournament until possibly Saturday.

"We're going to see how he feels physically and emotionally after getting back from West Virginia," Bachman said. "If he wants to play, great, but we'll leave it up to Darrun."

The SportsFest tournament begins Thursday night with 11 games. Here's the schedule:

5 p.m. games, Daniel Boone vs. Reading; Faith Christian vs. Scranton.

6 p.m. games, Freedom vs. Exeter; Wilson West Lawn vs. Blue Mountain; Salisbury vs. Lehighton.

7 p.m. games, Liberty vs. Pottstown; Bensalem vs. Wyomissing; Father Judge vs. Upper Perk.

8 p.m. games, Easton vs.Notre Dame-Green Pond, Academy Charter vs. Emmaus; Palmyra vs. Hempfield.

Source: http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/