The League dazzles, as usual

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CORONA, Ca. – The best high school fall hoops league in Southern California is, befittingly, called “The League”.

And its teams and games lived up to its lofty reputation Sunday.

Among the many outstanding Southern California high school programs in action at the Players Edge facility were Long Beach Poly, Pasadena, Corona Centennial, L.A. Cathedral, Long Beach Jordan and San Juan Capistrano JSerra.

Also in action – and impressive – Sunday were Las Vegas power Bishop Gorman and Southern California travel program Superior Athletes.

As is always the case, there were a multitude of individual standouts as well at the event that is the brainchild of the Compton Magic’s Etop Udo-Ema.

Foremost among those were a trio of Poly standouts in seniors Roschon Prince and Jordan Bell, as well as junior Kameron Chatman; along with Bishop Gorman sophomores Stephen Zimmerman, Chase Jeter and Nick Blair, and seniors Rashad Muhammad and Trey Kennedy.

In the best game of the day, Gorman edged JSerra, 68-64, behind strong performances from the 6-foot-5 Muhammad and 6-foot Kennedy.

JSerra was led by an eye-catching leaper in 6-3 sophomore Rex Pflueger – who also hit three or four 3s – and 5-11 Johnnie Vassar, a strong left hander who recently transferred to the school from Milton (near Atlanta).

Superior Athletes, made up of athletes who formerly were part of the Dream Vision program, have a trio of “superior (pun intended) athletes” who are just as superior as “basketball players” in guards Kendall Small (Huntington Beach Ocean View), Jeremy Hemsley (La Verne Damien) and Stephen Thompson (Torrance Bishop Montgomery).

Other individual standouts Sunday included:

*Sophomore Sedrick Barefield, senior Sam Finley (who is committed to UC Riverside) and freshman Jordan Griffin of Centennial;

*Senior guard Andre Spight (a transfer from Burbank High who is committed to UTEP);

*Left-handed point guard Kaleahl Ferguson (one of the quickest seniors in the West) of Jordan;

*Five-ten Joshua Brown of Cathedral, a transfer from Pasadena Blair and one of the more underrated point guards in Southern California and;

*Six-ten junior Lamont Tyler of Villa Park in northern Orange County.

According to his coach, Kevin Reynolds, Tyler checks in at a relatively svelte 280 pounds after weighing about 360 as a freshman.

Tyler will never be able to tout a 4.5 40 or 40-inch vertical, no matter how many pounds he continues to shed.

But he’s got a terrific pair of hands and always keeps the ball high off the catch or rebound.

Watch his college stock climb as rapidly as he is losing weight.

The Oct. 28 schedule for The League can be found at www.comptonmagic.com.