BIKBEE, Oklahoma. — On Friday night, 247Sports headed to Bixby School (Oklahoma). The reason is that the matchup of the two teams made it into the top five in Oklahoma 6A East as No. 3 Bixby hosted Owasso (Oklahoma) High in the end-of-season matchup. A battle between two highly ranked teams is always a good reason to be in the game, but the match also featured four-star senior quarterback Bixby. Parker Friedrichsen who had just left Notre Dame while Owasso was appreciating the freshman Jalen Montonati.
The game went awry all along the way. Every time Bixby opened a breather, Owasso came back. In the end, it was a big night for Friedrichsen while Montenati struggled, allowing Bixby to win 61-59.
Due to the retirement of Mike Bray, Friedrichsen was released from Notre Dame two weeks ago and the four-star player who finished 99th overall in 2023 is now the best shooting guard left on the board. Judging by what he did on Friday night, he may rise a little more when we finalize the rankings.
Friedrichsen is still quite thin, but he has shown no shortage of stamina and he is just as skilled as he was in his senior year. Friedrichsen, one of the top jump shooters, made four of his seven hits from behind the three-point line. This is expected with him. More importantly in his game is his ability to create from the dribble and an impressive arsenal of pull-ups, floaters and smart finishing moves that he can land at the rim. By evening, he finished with 27 points, four rebounds and four assists.
Since opening, he’s heard about programs like Creighton, Nebraska, Rice, Tulsa, and Vanderbilt, while others like Kansas and Villanova have been diving into the water. He will travel to Wake Forest for an official visit this weekend, and head coach Steve Forbes will be in Oklahoma to meet him next Tuesday. After Friday’s game, Friedrichsen has just 12 career points out of 2,000. Soon we will have much more information about him and his recruitment.
On the other hand, Montonati was in the middle of a big first year. We got to see him at Pangos All-South Camp and USA Basketball in the fall, and the 6-foot-7 small forward is impressed with his skill, agility and range. On Friday night, we could see the skill and footwork – thanks to this footwork, he is really dexterous in the stance – but the punches just did not come across to him. Montonati finished the game with just eight points. However, he is just a rookie and there will be ups and downs as a young player develops. Oklahoma State and Tulsa have proposed, and assuming the shots go the way we’ve seen them before, he’ll be a candidate for our first ranking in the class of 2026.
Although Montonati is the headliner, he is not Ovasso’s only impressive freshman. Combined protection Boden Williams scored 11 points and will definitely be worthy of attention. He’s got a good hit, he’s a good reader, he’s really competitive and has a good pedigree considering his father played in Tulsa and his mother in Oklahoma State. We look forward to seeing more of it in the future.
Source: 247sports.com
