Standouts galore at 2nd IEBP Spring Showcase

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SAN BERNARDINO, Ca. – The second annual Inland’s Finest Spring Basketball Showcase, presented by the Inland Empire Basketball Program (IEBP), was held Sunday at San Bernardino Valley College.

And the event is now 2-for-2 in attracting many – of not most ­– of the best players in the Inland-Empire area (generally speaking, encompassing Riverside and San Bernardino counties).

OK, so a rundown on the six games played at the evening (games each for middle-schoolers, ninth-, 10^th-and 12^th graders, and two for 11^th-graders), from start to finish:

*In the first game, the blue jersey-wearing lads outlasted their white-wearing counterparts, 62-56.

Most impressive of the players for the victorious team were 5-foot-7 seventh-grader Riley Robinson and his fellow Cesar Chavez Middle School (San Bernardino) student, eighth-grader 5-9 Jaycob  McBath.

Each was passed quite well and played with more relative unselfishness in that you usually are apt to find in events such as these.

And having sharp moments for the white-jersey crew were fellow eighth graders at Etiwanda Middle School in 6-3 Malik Thomas and 5-9 Sheldon Grant.

Grant is also an exceptional passer while Thomas is a polished and prolific scorer.

*It didn’t take long to determine who the standout of the Freshman game was going to be.

The 6-4 Jaylen Clark turned the proceedings into a virtual highlight reel for himself, slashing and flying to the rim for oh-my-goodness dunks, burying deep jump shots and showing off the kind of handling and passing skills that could lead to his ultimately becoming a “point guard-type” before too long for Coach Josh Giles at Corona Centennial High.

Another standout for the “blue” in its 78-66 win was 5-7 Dominique Daniels (Heritage High in Hemet).

Also turning in nice efforts for the white were 5-11 D.J. Davis (at classmate of Clark’s at Centennial) and 6-5 Austin Cook (La Verne Damien).

*In perhaps the most “entertaining” and individually competitive (relative to head-up matchups) game of the afternoon, the blue jerseys pulled away down the stretch to edge their white counterparts, 81-71.

Two of the elite “bigs” in the California Class of 2019 had one of those head-up battles most of the game with Isaiah Mobley (Temecula Rancho Christian) and his “blue” teams coming away with the victory against Darren Jones (San Bernardino Cajon).

Hitting up the BallerTV website to watch a replay of the live-stream of the sophomore clash would be worth it alone for the Mobley-Jones battle.

Mobley was selected to the first team of the BurlisonOnBasketball All-Southern California (Southern, L.A. City and San Diego sections of the CIF) sophomore team.

Jones was ruled ineligible by the Southern Section to play varsity sports (he’s also a heavily recruited wide receiver) as a sophomore at Cajon after his transfer from Upland last fall.

Barring the unforeseen, he’ll be an all-Southern Section selection in both sports in 2017-18.

Six-three Sedric Altman (Ontario Colony) of the white squad turned in a Sports Center highlight-worthy dunk, a bang punctuated by equal portions of suddenness, power and audacity

*In the first junior game, 6-4 Robert Harris (Perris) and 6-2 Saafir Moore (Riverside JW North) took turns initiating and finishing fast-break opportunities for the blue in its 104-77 victory.

The white stayed reasonably close throughout, largely due to the sizzling jump-shooting performance from 6-foot Mark Burns, a teammate of Altman’s at Colony High.

He dropped in eight – yes, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8! – 3s in the contest.

*The second junior affair ended in a 98 deadlock, as event directors of Keith Howard and Julius Patterson of IEBP were trying to keep things on a strict time schedule after the event got off to a 20-minure or so delay.

Six-four Isaiah Rojas (Rancho Cucamonga Los Osos) converted a follow shot for the white with 11 seconds to go for the typing and what proved to be final two points.

The unofficial “Player of the Game” for the blue was 6-2 Cameron Shelton (La Verne Damien), a left-hander who showed off a much improved jump shot with at least five 3-pointers.

And, for the white it was 6-3 Jordan Campell (Adelanto), another left hander who rivaled Jaylen Clark for the most spectacular overall offensive performance on Sunday.

Campbell is listed with the Class of 2018 but has apparently exhausted his eight semesters of high school eligibility and is likely head to a prep school in the late summer/fall.

The most physically dominating performer on Sunday (again, along with Jaylen Clark) was 6-4, 230-bound Jeremiah Martin of Cajon for the white, who almost dared anyone to try to contest him when he rebounded and hammered home dunks.

Martin “major college future” appears to be in football, though.

He’s rated among the best of the defensive end prospects across the country in the Class of 2018 and numbers USC and UCLA among the 13 major programs he said has offered him scholarships.

Martin also said that he expects to take a visit to the University of Alabama soon and that he has gotten strong hints from the Crimson Tide coaches (who visited him last week) that he’ll be getting a scholarship from that program shortly, as well.

*And, in the finale, the blue edged the white, 111-109, in the senior game.

Because of shortage of players for the Class of 2017 on hand, a smattering of fellows from the last of the junior game participated, notably Jordan Campbell and Jeremiah Martin.

Among the best of the seniors were 6-2 Isom Butler (Corona Centennial) and Eastern Washington-bound Kim Aiken (Redlands East Valley).

Props to Keith, Julius and the rest of the IEBP support crew for another informative and entertaining event.