CULVER CITY, Ca. – Los Angeles Westchester rallied from a 10-point deficit at intermission Sunday afternoon at Culver City High to knock off Bellflower St. John Bosco, 66-61, in the championship game of the first-ever Summer Take Flight Challenge.
The Braves took their 35-25 advantage at the via sizzling play of sophomore-to-be point guard Josh Camper (who scored 10 of his 15 points before intermission) and 6-foot-4, senior-to-be Alpha Okoli who scored eight points.
The strong post play of seniors-to-be Kaelin Allen and Maurice Tutt kept the Comets reasonably close to the Braves in the first half and helped them chip into their deficit after intermission while combining for 34 points for the game.
Jordan Brinson, one of the better junior-to-be point guards in Southern California, directed the Comets’ attack nearly flawlessly in the second half while scoring nine of his 11 points.
Brinson also set up a 2020 “sleeper”, Kymani Pollard, for two critical 3-pointers over the final two minutes and then sank a couple of insurance free throws with seven seconds to go to secure the victory.
Jordan Brown, another quality prospect in the class of 2020 for SJB Coach Matt Dunn, swished five 3s while finishing with a team-high 18 points.
The 6-4, 240-pound Allen, a transfer from AB Miller High in Fontana, scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in the final to earn Most Outstanding Player honors for the event.
Here is my five-player “all Summer Take Challenge” team, with Allen adding a sixth with his MOP honor:
Jordan Brinson (Westchester/Class of 2019)
Kihei Clark (Woodland Hills Taft/2018)
Truman Gettings (Studio City Harvard-Westlake/2021)
Gianni Hunt (Torrance Bishop Montgomery/2019)
Alpha Okoli (St. John Bosco/2018)
For a deeper look at the event and its best players, go to PrepHoops.com
Leave a Reply