LYNWOOD, Ca. – Two of the elite underclassmen in the west – and beyond – took top honors following the conclusion of the two-day Pangos/Fullcourt Press All-West Camp at Lynwood High Thursday evening.
Six-foot-eight Onyeka Okongwu, who shared national Freshman of the Year honors with Chino Hills High teammate Melo Ball this past season, joined 6-4 David Singleton (Torrance, CA, Bishop Montgomery) as the co-Most Outstanding Players after the camp had wrapped with Top 50 and Top 25 all-star games, with rosters culled from the 160 or so players who participated.
Okongwu helped Chino Hills go 35-0 and finish atop all of national team rankings. The Huskies topped eight California playoff opponents by an average margin of 28 points.
Singleton is among the very best guard prospects in the Class of 2018.
Two of the best unsigned SoCal prospects from the Class of 2016, 6-8 Cartrell Thompson (Los Angeles Price) and 6-7 Isaiah White (La Verne Damien), were among the players in the Top 25 game.
They reportedly have recently learned that they meet the NCAA’s minimum “initial eligibility academic requirements”, meaning they had be awarded a scholarships to NCAA-affiliated programs and be eligible to play in the 2016-17 season.
The Top 25 game included a plethora of other players attached to the Belmont Shore (along with Singleton, White and Thompson) and Compton Magic (along with Okongwu).
The other Belmont Shore lads in the game were 6-10 Jacob Hughes (Class of 2017/Placentia, CA, El Dorado) and 6-3 Bryce Hamilton (2018/Pasadena, CA, High).
The Compton Magic’s representation included 6-2 Chris Williams (Orange, CA, Lutheran) of the Class of 2017; 2018’s Jules Bernard (6-5/Los Angeles Windward), Harrison Butler (6-4/Santa Ana, CA, Mater Dei), Tim Allen (6-5/Mesa, AZ, Desert Ridge) and Wesley Harris (6-5/Phoenix Desert Vista); 2019’s Isaiah Hill (5-10/Bakersfield Liberty), Jarod Lucas (6-3/Hacienda Heights, CA, Los Altos) and Isaiah Mobley (6-8/Temecula, CA, Rancho Christian); and the only 2020 player in the game, Jonathan Juzang (6-5/Studio City, CA, Harvard-Westlake).
Non-Californians who played well on Thursday included 6-4 Zach Reichle (Wilsonville, OR) and 6-0 Braden Olson (West Linn, OR), seniors-to-be from the Oregon-based and adidas-affiliated Team Fast club program; and 6-4 Tony Goodwin (Bethesda, MD, Walter Johnson), one of the very best perimeter defenders in the Class of 2018.
Players in the Top 50 game that I thought were worthy of Top 25 inclusion were 6-3 Rylan O’Brien (Tucson, AZ, Salpointe), 5-8 Darryl Polk (Long Beach Poly), 6-7 Jordan Starr (Northridge, CA, Heritage Christian) and 6-6 Trey Johnson (Idaho Falls Hillcrest) – each from the Class of 2018.
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