Magical dunk by Pflueger tops busy day in Las Vegas

• Tweet

• Tweet

LAS VEGAS – There is something often overlooked when discussing the overall experience of spending five days in Las Vegas watching high school hoops in every corner of the city:

Nothing says “shock to the system” like walking out of a gymnasium that had been chilled to barely 60 degrees, and then walking into an approximate 110-degree furnace that is more commonly known as “outside”.

Now, with that bit of whining out of the way . . .

I spent Day II of the final NCAA-mandated evaluation period on Thursday watching action in the adidas Super 64, going from about 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Rancho main, auxiliary and “north” (or, more accurately, “original”) gymnasium, and then on to Valley’s main and auxiliary gyms for games in the 16-Under division:

*First off was the Dream Vision-Massachusetts Rivals contest in the 17s division, with the Las Vegas-based team, led by 6-foot-10 junior-to-be Stephen Zimmerman of Bishop Gorman High, hold off the New Englanders in a competitive tussle.

The frontcourt dominance of Zimmerman (who played for Belmont Shore Wednesday at his high school) and 6-6 Jamal Aytes (a graduate o JSerra High in San Juan Capistrano, CA, last month who is sorting through offers from a lot of Division I programs) was the difference in the contest.

New England stayed reasonably within striking distance because of the solid all-around play of 2014 point guard Kaleb Joseph, whose playmaking, decision making and scoring kept his team reasonably within striking distance.

*In another game, the Indianapolis-based Eric Gordon All-Stars dropped a tough decision to the Franchize All-Stars of Houston, 68-62.

Helping the EG All-Stars stay close through was Eron Gordon, a 6-3 guard from the Class of 2016 and Indy’s North Central High.

Does the name ring a bell? It should, Eron being the younger brother of the team’s sponsor and New Orleans Pelican jump shooting-specialist.

Gordon scored in remarkably varied ways, from short drives, pull-ups and deep jumpers off the catch. If anything, he was a tad too unselfish.

Demonstrating every bit the same kind of range Gordon has on his jumper, Damiyne Durham (Houston Oakwood) hit just enough shots from well behind the arc to stretch the Eric Gordon defense, creating driving lanes and exceptional offensive rebounding opportunities teammates.

*The Ohio Basketball Club won its second game of the day (beating Compton Magic earlier in the morning), beating the Memphis Magic 16s behind a balanced scoring attack.

OBC had an intriguing prospect come off the bench: 6-11 David Bell (Garfield Heights) – lots of upside there.

Among the better Memphis Magic 16 prospects was a 6-foot guard from the Class of 2015 in Chris McNeal (Jackson, TN, South Side), a dynamic ball handler with a lot of range and accuracy on his jump shot.

*The Mississippi Basketball Association (MBA) team had three interesting prospects from the Class of 2016 in guard Decardo Day (Jackson Callaway) and forwards Mario Kegler (Jackson Callaway) and Malcolm Evans (Jackson Forest Hill).

But MBA lost to D-I Minnesota (77-69), in large part, because it had no answer for 6-8, 220-pound Ian Theisen (Osseo, MN), a very good rebounder who showed off a multitude of ways to score.

*Team Bradley (tagged for alumni Avery Bradley and based in his hometown of Tacoma, WA) knocked off the Colorado Hawks in another 17-division game, 67-56.

It was led by California-bound guard Ahmaad Rorie (who is transferring from Tacoma Lincoln to Huntington Prep in West Virginia), who knocked in jumpers and scored off penetration with equal aplomb.

But the team had quality point guard-prospect in David Crisp (Lakewood, WA, Clover Park), whose attention from college recruiters is sure to step up after his adidas Super 64 efforts.

*Over in the “old” Rancho gym, Michigan-based Dorian’s Pride (and I have no idea why the program is called that) eased its way past Team Loaded of Virginia, 74-60.

Dorian’s Pride had a least a couple of quality prospects in the 2014 class in 6-8 Jaylen Johnson (Ypsilanti) and 6-9 Luke Meyer (Addison), which is why a healthy portion of Big 12 and Big 10 programs were represented in the gym.

But its best player in that game – and, I would suspect, one of the very best prospects in the city over the course of the five days of these tournaments – was 6-6 Josh Jackson (Detroit Consortium).

Barring the unforeseen, a space on the 2016 McDonald’s All-American team should be reserved for him right now.

There isn’t a lot he is very good at right now, at least on the offensive side of the floor.

*After navigating my outrageously over-priced rental car to Valley High, I caught about a half apiece of three very good 16 division games – Indiana Elite/Team Indiana and the Colorado Hawks; Compton Magic and All-Ohio Basketball; and Dream Vision and D-I Minnesota.

IE/TI had three quality 2015 guard prospects in Hyron Edwards (East Chicago Central; exceptional point guard), Jalen Coleman (Indianapolis Cathedral; all-around player) and Chandler White (Ft. Wayne Carroll; terrific jump shooter).

The Colorado Hawks were led by one of the more touted 2016 prospects out west in 6-8 De’Ron Davis (Denver Overland), who is very raw fundamentally, as well as a quick guard from the Class of 2015 in one of his high school teammates, Austin Conway.

Compton Magic got respective 27- and 24-point efforts out of 6-5 Rex Pflueger (Santa Ana, CA, Mater Dei) and 6-7 Cameron Walker (Santa Maria, CA, Righetti) in its 83-69 win over the team from Ohio.

OBC hung reasonably tight most of the way in large part because of the play of 2016 guard Maverick Rowan (Midland, PA, Lincoln Park), who scored 27 points on jumpers and nifty drives in traffic.

He committed to the University of Pittsburgh and, yep, his parents named him after the Tom Cruise character in “Top Gun”.

Gotta love it!

The play of the night – and of the first two days of these tournaments – was Pflueger’s Dr. J-liked dunk over the top of 6-8 Carlton Bragg (Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph) in the second half.

Well done, young man.

The D-I Minnesota team had one of the best 2015 power forwards in the country in Henry Ellenson (Rice Lake), as did Dream Vision in Chase Jeter (Las Vegas Bishop Gorman).