SALT LAKE CITY – An encompassing look at the best of high school basketball in Utah, now and into the not-so-distant future, was on display Saturday during the second Elite Athletic Training (EAT) Utah Showcase at West High.
As was the case a year ago, Christian Popoola and his Las Vegas-based EAT organization provided the platform and approximately 75 players took advantage to show why middle school and high school hoops in Utah are humming along so nicely.
Two of the very best prep standouts in the Class of 2014 – regionally and nationally – have already revealed which universities they plan to sign letters of intent with in November.
But, in demonstrating the lure of the event, guard T.J. Haws (Highland Lone Peak) and forward Brekkott Chapman (Roy) – expected to sign with Brigham Young University and the University of Utah, respectively – were on hand late Saturday afternoon as the headliners to the fifth and final game of the day.
The 50-minute (running clocks) games’ teams represented five high school classes, starting with 2018 (current eighth-graders, with a couple of seventh graders also providing an even deeper look in the future of Utah basketball) and wrapping up with the fellows who just began their senior years.
Here’s a look at each of the games, which tipped off at 10 a.m. and concluded some seven hours later:
2018
Red 86, White 80: Six-foot-four J.B. Brinkerhoff (Lone Peak) and 5-9 Jared Bagley (Logan) helped set the tone with a couple of the day’s best individual performances during a game that was tight throughout before Brinkerhoff and his “Red” teammates finally were able to pull away.
Brinkerhoff scored 11 points and blocked three shots while snatching what proved to be a day’s best 20 rebounds while often matched against another promising post, Josh Christensen (Murray), who could also eventually stand in the vicinity of 6-8 or so.
Bagley did his best to keep the White within striking distance with his ability to score by way of jump shots and drives, as well as his knack for getting the ball to teammates in position to score.
Other standouts for the Red included 5-11 Jaxon Tilby (Jordan), with 13 points and four rebounds, and 5-10 Hunter Erickson (Timpview) with 14 points.
And remember the names of those aforementioned seventh-graders, Rylan Jones (Skyview) and Cash Fulton (Juan Diego).
Jones, whose dad (Chris Jones) is an assistant at Utah State University, had 19 points and three assists (and a couple of terrific ball-handling sequences in the open court) for the White while Fulton scored 13 points for the Red.
2017
White 97, Red 87: Six-four Jaxon Brenchley (Hyrum Mountain Crest) went for 26 points and five rebounds while 6-foot Wyatt Frampton (Highland Lone Peak) added 22 points and seven rebounds in the game made up of players that started high school just a few weeks ago.
But those two performances for the Red weren’t enough to overcome the balance of the White, which got terrific efforts from the perimeter and the post.
Trevon Knell (Woods Cross/16 points), Gary Frampton (Lone Peak/14 points), Spencer Curtis (Jordan/14 points and five rebounds) and Dason Youngblood (Bingham/10 points) combined to hit a lot of jump shots for the White, while 6-4 Ben Rigby (Kaysville Davis/17 points and five rebounds) and 6-4 Mason Weirenski (American Fork/eight points and six rebounds) were strong in and around the lane.
The White also was sparked by one of the most promising playmakers at the event in Marcus Draney (Lehi/11 points and seven assists), who impressed during the eighth-grade contest in the 2012 EAT Utah Showcase in the same building.
2016
Red 95, White 91: The White had three sophomores who turned in some of the day’s most productive performances but the Red’s balance proved the difference in what was another down-to-the-wire affair
Six-six Porter Hawkins (West Jordan Cooper Hills/14 points and five rebounds), 6-7 Noel Johnson (Orem/eight points and four rebounds), 6-7 Brendan Bailey (American Fork/the son of former Utah Jazz standout Thurl Bailey had a team-high 18 points), Spencer Johnson (American Fork/15 points and four rebounds), Tony Feick (Kaysville Davis/10 points and five assists), Noah Montano (SLC Cottonwood/14 points) , Cole Huish (Bountiful Viewmont/eight points and four assists) and Xavier Matheson (SLC West/eight points) each had strong moments for the Red.
And the Red needed every bit of that balance to overcome 6-1 Frank Jackson (Highland Lone Peak/31 points, four rebounds and seven assists), 6-3 Dacian Spotted Elk (SLC East/21 points) and 6-6 Yoeli Childs (South Jordan Bingham/15 points and seven rebounds; and some of the day’s best post moves).
Jackson was at Lehi High as a freshman and scored 30 points during a loss to Highland Lone Peak.
Now, along with Haws, he’ll help keep Lone Peak in strong contention for another state title.
2015
Red 87, White 72: Jesse Wade (Kaysville Davis) created some big expectations after a strong 2012-13 season.
And he did nothing to lessen those expectations for his junior campaign Saturday, as the point guard for Lynn Lloyd’s Utah Prospects travel team scored 27 points and collected three steals with five assists to lead the Red to victory.
Wade’s jumpers were falling – especially during a terrific second half – and he was penetrating to score and setting up teammates for their own jump shots.
Two 6-4 wings, Tyler Brimhall (Logan) and Dave Maynard (Herriman High in West Herriman), displayed impressive jumpers and also were aggressive drivers, passers and rebounder as well while scoring 14 and 10 points, respectively, for the Red.
Six-six Jarriesse Blackmon (Layton) struggled to hit jump shots the entire game for the Red but scored 11 points and had five rebounds an hour after the left hander won the event’s dunking contest.
Six-three Malek Harwell, who attends Century High in Pocatello, ID (about two hours north of Salt Lake City) but is one of the standouts for the Pump-N-Run Utah program, had a team-high 18 points with three steals for the White.
Six-five Nate Dow (Heber City Wasatch) had16 points and six rebounds for the White while 6-5 Tyler Bott (Pleasant Grove) chipped in with 12 points, eight rebounds and three assists and 6-1 Gabe Collosimo (Draper Juan Diego Catholic) added 17 points.
2014
White 117, Red 102: And, lasties but certainly not leasties, Haws (23 points), 6-2 McKay Butler (Bountiful Viewmont/24 points and 11 rebounds), 6-3 Jake Connor (SLC Highland/16 points) and 6-3, Utah State-bound Sam Merrill (Bountiful/12 points, eight rebounds and seven assists) helped the White close the event impressively.
Off the catch or off the dribble, it didn’t matter for Haws and Connor, who showed the form that makes them two of the better jump shooters, quite frankly, pretty much anywhere on the high school basketball scene.
No one played harder than Butler Saturday, and Merrill was about as versatile a player as was in the gymnasium.
Chapman (11 points, six rebounds, three blocks and three assists) and his Utah Prospects teammate, 6-2 Abel Porter (Kaysville Davis/21 points), along with Cooper Holt (Orem/20 points, mostly via deep shooting in the second half) and Daylor Youngblood (Bingham/12 points) led the Red.
I like Blackmon a lot