NORWALK, Ca. – Much of the very best in the western high school classes of 2018 and ’19 was on display Saturday afternoon and evening during the Pangos All-Frosh/Soph Camp at Cerritos College.
And the guards in those respective classes were especially impressive – and, often, spectacular – for much of Saturday.
*Spencer Freedman seemed to do pretty much whatever he so desired in the two games he played for the “Colorado” squad Saturday.
The left-handed Santa Ana Mater Dei High transfer (who had a very good freshman season at Santa Monica) scored at will, via mid- to deep-range jump shots and nifty drives, and also delivered passes where and when they needed to be delivered. For much of Saturday night, his play bordered on the “un-guardable”
Some other 2018 members who showed off some nifty “point guard skills” on Saturday included Brandon Williams (Encino Crespi), Payton Moore (L.A. Windward) and Wes Slajchert (Oak Park).
Williams helped Crespi when a state title as a freshman; Moore was the most “physical” point guard on display Saturday night; and Slajchert, always an exceptional jump shooter, showed off a willingness to pass up jumpers for himself to drop passes into teammates’ hands for layups Saturday night.
Matchups involving any combination of those four will make for some compelling moments in the Top 30 All-Star Game (3:30 p.m.) that concludes camp action Sunday afternoon.
*Four of the best “shooting guard-types” from the Class of 2018 in Southern California – and beyond – also showed out quite well, thank you very much, Saturday.
Another left hander, Jules Bernard (Windward), played about as well as any 2018 member in Southern California on the summer circuit (with the Compton Magic program) and he stayed on that same track Saturday night.
David Singleton showed off his multitude of scoring skills for Torrance Bishop Montgomery in last weekend’s Ron Massey Memorial Tournament at Long Beach Jordan High and did the same on Saturday, some 10 or 11 miles to the east.
Six-three and slender Wayne Arnold (Compton Dominguez), who had a strong summer for the Southern California All-Stars travel program, converted on both deep jumpers and well-above-the-rim finishes Saturday.
And 6-5 (or so) Austin Galuppo (Valencia West Ranch) had that oh-so-deep range clicking on his hi-arching jump shots Saturday night, as well.
*The biggest “surprise” (at least for me) among 2018 guards Saturday came in the form of 6-2 Ben Baker (Berkeley).
Baker (playing on the same camp squad as Freedman) also showed a multitude of efficient ways to score, especially through his apparent ambidextrous finishes in transition.
If you didn’t see him shoot free throws or jump shots, you wouldn’t realize he is “left handed”.
*The best of the “posts” from the Class of 2018 (again, based upon the “when I was watching” perspective) on display Saturday were Marlon Cunningham (Albuquerque High in New Mexico), Taeshon Cherry (San Diego St. Augustine), Timmy Allen (Mesa, AZ, Desert Ridge) Kamaka Hepa (Barrow in Alaska), Riley Battin (Oak Park) and Michael Wang (Santa Ana Mater Dei).
The left-handed Cunningham showed off an accurate mid- to deep-range jump shot and also has confident and effective low-post offensive skills.
Cherry and Hepa are both “high-motor guys” who never appeared stationary for very long and played with as much enthusiasm as anyone at the camp.
Battin and Wang are polished scorers, from both the low post and the perimeter.
And Allen – who is probably as much “wing” as he is “post” – did all the same stuff, inside and out, as he did so impressively for the Compton Magic program in July.
*There were also a multitude of standouts from the Class of 2019 who more than lived up to the reputations that preceded them to the event.
One of the viewing highlights of the Top 30 All-Star affair Sunday afternoon would be a (likely) matchup between a couple of 6-8 freshmen in Isaiah Mobley (Temecula Rancho Christian) and Isaac Johnson (American Fork in Utah).
Each of was too big, too active and two offensively skilled for their respective competition over two games on Saturday.
*To the surprise of absolutely no one who has seen him or knew of his reputation beforehand, the most impressive vertical athlete at the event is 6-5 Cassius Stanley (Studio City Harvard-Westlake).
If all of the dunks were shown on a video screen in the building Saturday and they could be rated by respective “oohs and aahs” in the building, Stanley would have probably left for home Saturday night owning four of the top five-rated slams.
*Among the other freshman standouts on Saturday were guards Rylan Jones (Logan in Utah), Makani Whiteside (Bellflower St. John Bosco), Dijaun Chumack (L.A. Fairfax) and Jonathan Daniels (Northridge Heritage Christian), as well as forward Elijah Scranton (Sun Valley Village Christian).
Action in the two-day camp resumes at 9 o’clock Sunday morning.
Leave a Reply