Future OU teammates Tyler Neal, T.J. Taylor will square off in Faith 7

The Faith 7 game is a little more than a week away, set for June 12 at 7:30 p.m. at Oklahoma Baptist in Shawnee.

For local college fans, there are four players in the game who have signed with the three of the state’s Division I programs. That includes Putnam City West product Tyler Neal, and 6-foot-4 T.J. Taylor of Denison, Texas, who will be opponents next week and teammates the next four years at Oklahoma.

Also playing for Team Texas will be Oklahoma State signee Michael Jamal Cobbins out of Palo Duro High School in Amarillo. A skinny 6-foot-10, Cobbins can step outside and shoot a little, too. And Jordan Clarkson, a Tulsa-bound Texan from San Antonio, is a 6-foot-4 scoring machine. He is the all-time leading scorer at Wagner High School.

Overall, both rosters sound pretty impressive — and big. Texas has five guys 6-foot-8 or taller, and the Okies have five who are 6-foot-6 and up. As for the Oklahoma squad, it seems like a pretty complete team. If y ou were trying to put the best team together — not just the five best players, but fill each position to fit a team’s needs — this would be pretty close to what you’d come up with out of Oklahoma’s class of 2010.

You’ve got a couple of point guards in Star Spencer’s Kendre’ Talley and Enid’s Chris Fitzpatrick who can run an offense and score on their own, as well as a third point guard in Garber’s Bryce Lamer who is a glue guy and will do a lot of different little things to help a team. Xavier McClish is a pure shooter/scorer with good size at the 2-guard, and Tulsa Washington’s Tharone Chilton is a solid combo guard.

Inside, you’ve got two strong big men in Tulsa Memorial’s Cameron Downing and Muskogee’s Oren Faulk who are solid on the block at either end of the floor. Either one of them is a double-double waiting to happen.

The other three forwards — the PC West duo of Neal and Amric Fields with Roff’s Dylan Lemley — give you a set of bigs with some inside-outside game, whether it be shooting the 3 or driving to the bucket from the perimeter.

Obviously, I haven’t seen the Texas kids, but I would expect a fun game. Below are the player capsules for the game, as provided by the Faith 7 folks:

Oklahoma Players

Tharone Chilton, Tulsa Booker T. Washington High School, 6-2, 160 pounds

An All-State and All-District player for 2010 state champion Hornets, Chilton averaged 15.2 points, 4.1 rebounds and had 68 assists. He shot 43 percent from the field and 77 percent from the line. Under coach Shea Seals, Chilton has never failed to reach the State Semifinals in the last three years and has twice played in the state championship game. The Hornets were 20-9 this season. He is undecided on his college choice.

Cameron Downing, Tulsa Memorial High School, 6-9, 245 pounds

Downing earned Conference and Region Player of the Year honors and was Tulsa World Player of the year and Oklahoman All-State. He led coach Eric Savage’s Chargers to the state finals in 2010 after helping the team to a 6A State Championship in 2008 and three Green Country Conference championships. He averaged 17.8 points and 7.6 rebounds and collected the school record with 896 career rebounds. Downing shot 72 percent from the field. His next action will be at the University of Buffalo.

Oren Faulk, Muskogee High School, 6-7, 225 pounds

Bound for Hartford University, Faulk led Class 6A in rebounds with 9.6 per game and was in the top five in blocked shots with 2.5 per game. He averaged 12.1 points and shot 58 percent from the field on his way to All-State and All-District honors under coach Terry Scott. Faulk led the Roughers to back-to-back State Tournament appearances with a two-year record of 39-14. He is a two-time first-team All-Conference selection.

Amric Fields, Putnam City West High School, 6-9, 215 pounds

Fields led Putnam City West to the Class 6A semifinals and the Patriots’ second state tournament appearance in 33 years. He averaged 19.3 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game on his way to All-State and All-District Honors. He shot 62 percent from two-point range, 34 percent from the arch and 75 percent from the free throw line. Bound for Texas Christian University, Fields was coached in high school by Tim Stogsdill.

Chris Fitzpatrick, Enid High School, 6-1, 180 pounds

Fitzpatrick led the Plainsmen to a 17-10 record under coach T.J Scholz, averaging 24 points, seven rebounds and three assists on the season. He shot 43 percent from the field and 81 percent from the line on his way to OCH, Tulsa World and Daily Oklahoma All-State honors, including an Oklahoman Super 5 award. An All-Region pick, Fitzpatrick is headed to Kilgore Junior College.

Bryce Lamer, Garber High School, 5-10, 145 pounds

Lamer was All-State and All-District while leading Garber to a State Championship in 2010. Coached by Dusty Torrey, Lamer has played in three state semifinals and two championship games for the Wolverines. He averaged 11.6 points, three rebounds and had 120 assists while shooting 75.8 percent from the line and 48.7 percent from the field. He was Northwest Oklahoma Player of the Year, MVP of the Skeltur Conference and was Class A All-State Tournament, Daily Oklahoman All-State, OBCA All-District, OCA All-Region OCA Small West and OBCA Second Team Academic All-State.

Dylan Lemley, Roff High School, 6-6, 195 pounds.

Lemley helped coach Kale Simon’s Tigers win the 2010 Class B State Championship with a 27-4 record, capturing conference regular season and tournament titles along the way. An All-State and All-District honoree, Lemley averaged 15.8percent from the field. Lemley is headed to St. Gregory’s University.

Xavier McClish, Midwest City High School, 6-3, 165 pounds