Kareem Oden takes home the MVP for District 3 Single A....

Kareem Oden in the Middle holding the Championship Trophy

If you haven't heard of this kid, there's a reason for that....  See last year Kareem Oden was a standout player for Emmanuel Baptist scoring 20ppg, 9 rebs and 5.7 assist...  Being that EBCA wasn't a PIAA school, there were no District or PIAA State tournament for him to participate in...   We all know that the playoffs are where you really earn respect....


This year, due to increased tuition and un accredited classes at EBCA, Oden and his cousin Tyrece Little chose to re locate schools....  That led them to New Hope Charter...

This year there has always been a buzz around other players, and rightfully so, but Oden always knew he had the ability to take over if needed....

"I tried to use this year to work on being a more complete point guard so I worked on running the offense and setting up my team mates" said Oden....  "I can get a shot off for myself anytime i want to but I wanted to help make my team mates better even more"....  Well, once the District Playoffs began, Oden knew that most teams were going to focus on Soph guard and leading scorer Montrel Morgan (18.5ppg) and even top reserve Nagus Griggs (15ppg)....  If there was ever a good time for Oden to take over, this would be it....

All he did was average 19.3ppg, 5 rebs, 4 assist and 5.7 steals for the playoffs....   When you ask him about it, he just keeps it cool and say "That's pretty much what I do....  I work real hard on my body and my game for these type of moments"...

His stellar play earned him the honors of taking home MVP for District 3 Single A while his back court partner Morgan made the All-District team as well.....

Not a bad 1st season with the New Hope Mighty Ants but headed into the State Playoffs Oden knows there is still work that needs to be done...  " I'm very happy we won the 1st District Title in schools history but now I'd like to something even more special and win a State Title" said Oden.  "If we can play together, follow the game plans and believe in each other, we can make some noise"...