Philly PG leads “Celtics” to NBAPA Top 100 Camp title

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The 20^th NBA Players Association Top 100 Camp’s competition  wrapped up Saturday evening with a championship game between the teams that had rolled to semifinal victories a couple of hours earlier.

And, ultimately, it was the Celtics that did the rolling in the finale, cruising past the Mavericks, 81-67, in the John Paul Jones Arena on the University of Virginia campus.

Ja’Quan Newton, a 6-foot-2 senior-to-be at Philadelphia’s Neumann-Goretti High, scored a camp-best 32 points – often while another top 2014 PG, Josh Perkins (from Aurora in Colorado but bound for Huntington Prep in West Virginia), was attempting to defend him – to lead the Celtics, who wrapped up their competition 7 and zip.

Newton’s performance was among the most dominant during the three days of games and, although most coaches wouldn’t want their “point guard” being quite that quite aggressive in hunting his shots, it would be difficult to argue with Newton’s performance Saturday night.

Two other Celtics, power (and then some!) forwards Reid Travis (Minneapolis De La Salle) and Cheick Diallo (Centerreach, NY, Our Savior), with 12 and 10 points, respectively, also scored in double figures for the championship squad.

Two players from the Class of 2014 that have already announced their National Letter of Intent plans for November, North Carolina-bound Justin Jackson (home schooled in Houston) and future Indiana Hoosier James Blackmon Jr. (Indiana’s Marian High), led the Mavericks with 17 and 16 points, respectively.

For the second year in a row – per the suggestion of former NBA great point guard John Lucas II, who oversees the group of individual who selects players for the event – camp players vote for the peers that most impressed them during the week that began with drills and team practices on Wednesday.

Not surprisingly, Newton, Diallo, Travis, Jackson and Blackmon made up half those who finished in the top 10 of the balloting.

Rounding out the group were (listed alphabetically): 6-0, UNC-bound point guard Joel Berry (Orlando, FL, Lake Highland Prep); 6-5 Devin Booker (Moss Point, MS, Moss Point); 6-7 Kelly Oubre (transferring from Houston Bush to Findlay Prep in Henderson, NV); 6-8 Kevon Looney (Milwaukee Hamilton); and 6-11 Myles Turner (Euless, TX, Trinity).

Lucas’ player advisory committee (caveat: I’m a member) selected Newton as Most Outstanding Player in the championship game, with Diallo – who is originally from the African nation of Mali and is a member of the Class of 2015 – getting tabbed as MOP for the entire week of play.

Here are my “All-Camp” selections, based not necessarily on potential beyond high school but strictly on how the player impressed me during the camp’s four days of drills, practices and games:

Seniors-To-Be

PG: Berry; SG: Blackmon; SF: Jackson; PF: Travis; C: Turner.

Underclassmen

PG: Charles Matthews (Class of 2015/6-5/Chicago St. Rita); SG: Josh Langford (Class of 2016/6-5/Huntsville, AL, Madison Academy); SF: Jaylen Brown (Class of 2015/6-6/Marietta, GA, Wheeler); PF: C. Diallo (Class of 2015/6-9); C: Stephen Zimmerman (Class of 2015/6-10/Las Vegas Bishop Gorman).