ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FL – The 56 players in camp Saturday were roughly one-third of the number that attended each of the first four Pangos All-Frosh/Soph Camps this fall.
But what was lacking in terms of quantity was overshadowed by the quality of many of those players that were spread over the rosters of eight teams during the final of the All-Frosh/Soph camps – the first-ever Southeast version – at the Lake Brantley Athletic Complex.
Six-foot-six Kaleb Coleman and 6-4 Niven Glover, sophomores at near-by Oak Ridge High in Orlando, wasted little time is setting the tone for “Florida” in one of the four first-round games played Saturday evening.
Coleman and Glover were just too strong and too quick off the floor, vertically, for their “Florida State” opponents, soaring over the top of them for an assortment of dunks and each hitting jumpers near to or at the arc.
Impressing for FSU in that game were Joe Bamisile, a 6-2 freshman from St. Christopher’s in Richmond (VA), as well as Peyton Williams, a 6-5 sophomore at South Sumpter in Bushnell (Fla.).
Bamisile flicked his right wrist for a couple of jump shots, one deep from the left wing and another on a pull-up from 16 feet while also scooting by a defender after a tight and low crossover dribble.
Williams was quite aggressive, scoring with his left (off) hand after a quick move and also crunching a dunk after setting up a defender with a nice up fake and dribble.
In a game played at the same time on Court 2, “Miami” got nifty efforts from 6-7 Blake Hinson (Deltona in Leland, FL) and 6-2 Tre Mann (Wildwood, FL, The Villages School).
Hinson was among the more assertive big fellows on hand while swished a couple of 3s and showed off a slick handle.
“South Florida” had a nice “point guard and big” combination in 5-8 Tyler Hayes (Eustis, FL) and 6-7 Luke Anderson (Lakeland, FL).
Hayes scored on both jumpers to mid range and a couple of floaters while Anderson did a lot as a passer, rebounder and either-hand scorer in the lane.
The next two games saw “Florida Gulf Coast” vs. “South Carolina”, on Court 2, and “University of Central Florida” vs. “Jacksonville” on Court 1.
Florida Gulf Coast was led by – in my humble opinion – the most impressive prospect on Day 1 in 6-7 sophomore C.J. Walker.
Walker, who doesn’t turn 16 until next March, is enrolled at Orlando Christian after attending Seminole High (in Sanford, FL) as a freshman.
He began the game by knocking in a 3 and then proceeded to either drive by or jump over the top of anyone who got in his way with the ball in his hands.
Another kid on that team, 6-5 Jalen Phillips (Tampa Prep), obviously took seriously a pre-game talk to the campers (by me, FWIW) about the importance of making a positive impressive on scouts by the effort you consistently exhibit at both ends of the floor.
No one played harder than Phillips Saturday night.
South Carolina ultimately won the contest (86-76), though, behind the play of guards Kario Oquendo (a 6-4 freshman from Titusville) and Samuel Griffin (a 6-1 10th grader at Norland in Miami), as well as 6-9 sophomore Christian Lora (West Oaks in Orlando).
In the game played on Court 1 at the same time, UCF eased by Jacksonville, 93-49, behind the play of (among others) 6-6 Diante Smith (Choctaw in Fort Walton Beach) and 5-10 Trevon Cason (Edgewater in Orlando).
For Jacksonville, 6-6 left-handed sophomore Christopher Spenkuch (Miami Norland) hit a 3 from the left wing, scored on a drive and followed up a teammate’s miss with a jump hook.
Action resumes Sunday morning with each team playing twice. Back-to-back all-star games are scheduled for 1:15 and 2:15 p.m.
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