Diallo, Trier impress on EYBL opening night

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SACRAMENTO, Ca. – Session 1 of the 2014 version of Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League tipped off Friday night at the Jackson Sports Academy.

I was courtside for two of the 10 games played, which allowed me to zero in on – up-close and personal – two of the five best players in the national class of 2015.

And Cheick Diallo (Team SCAN/Centerreach, NY, Our Saviour New American) and Allonzo Trier (Athletes First/Rockville, MD, Montrose Christian) more than delivered the goods.

The six-foot-eight Diallo (who came to the United States, from the African nation of Mali a little more than two years ago) dominated play, in and around the lane, while helping his team edge Canada’s CIA (Christians in Action) Bounce club, 46-44.

He was the only player on his squad to score in double figures (with 20 points; he also grabbed five rebounds) while CIA Bounce got double-figure production from guard Jamal Murray (15 points) and forwards Dillon Brooks and Montaque Gill Caesar (10 apiece).

Athletes First (based in Oklahoma City) and Northwest Elite (a combination of players from Washington and Oregon) were part of the second set (tipping off at 8:30) games.

And the 6-4 Trier wasted little time in showing why he – and not Malik Newman of Jackson, MS (who didn’t show up to play for the Jackson Tigers; he instead was playing for a team in the Under Armour-fronted event in Kansas City) – very well could be the No. 1 shooting guard prospect in 2015.

Trier finished with 35 points in efficient fashion: He hit nine of 14 shots from the field (including one of three from behind the arc) and all 16 of his free throws.

Leading the way for Northwest Elite, with 21 points, was another of the better shooting guard prospects in the Class of 2015, 6-4 DeJounte Murray (Seattle Rainier Beach), who missed 13 of the 21 shots he attempted but finished with 21 points.

In one of the games I wasn’t able to watch, Ben Simmons scored 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds to help Florida-based Each 1 Teach 1 past the Newman-less Jackson Tigers, 77-62.

The 6-8 and left-handed Simmons, who played this past season for Montverde Academy in Florida after migrating from Australia, is – conservatively – is another of the Top 10 prospects in the Class of 2015.