NORWALK, Ca. – The opening of the 16th Pangos All-American Camp, with multiple layers of parents, fans, “media-types” and NBA scouting personnel surrounding three courts, was quite the spectacle in the Cerritos College gymnasium Friday night.
The camp, annually one of the most high-profile and talent-laden events of the spring and summer “grassroots” prep campaign, attracted 100 or so players from cross the country – including multiple players with non-U.S. countries of origin.
Game action continues Saturday afternoon at 3 o’clock.
Admission to the general public is free but parking is $2 per vehicle per day.
A cursory glance of the pre-camp roster gave strong indication that it was coming to be even steeped in extraordinary power forward-center “types” and that was absolutely the case during the two games I watched from center court Friday night “North Carolina” facing “Louisville” in the ACC Division and “Arizona” following against “UCLA” in the Pac 12 Division.
UNC prevailed, 66-56, in large part (yeah . . . the pun’s intended) due to the in-the-lane dominance of juniors-to-be Mady Sissoko (6-foot-9/Wasatch Academy in Utah) and N’Faly Dante (6-10/Sunrise Christian in Kansas) – both of whom came to the U.S. from Mali.
They took turns slapping away, or altering, opponents’ shots while reaching to the square to snap down rebounds at both ends of the floor.
Sissoko (PICTURED) has been an overpowering for the Utah Mountain Stars – which is “non-shoe company”-affiliated – this spring.
Not being on the Nike/EYBL, adidas or Under Armour “circuits” means he hasn’t had quite the exposure that most other elite prospects (including Dante, who plays for an EYBL club) in the Class of 2020 have received.
Based on Friday night, though, Sissoko seems intent on his creating – and justifying – a whole lot of hype this weekend.
The leading scorers (with 12 points apiece) for UNC were Torrance (CA) Bishop Montgomery guard Gianni Hunt and another very impressive player form the Class of 2020 in 6-6 Justin Champagnie of Bishop Loughlin in Brooklyn.
He’s raw, offensively, but 6-8 C.J. Walker (Orlando Christian) of Louisville possesses quite the explosive bounce and did he his best to challenge the Mali Duo in and around the lane.
The second of the games I watched was quite competitive, from start to finish, with Arizona pulling it out, 67-65, via a layup by Cassius Stanley (from California Open Division champion Sierra Canyon; he’s making his fourth appearance in the camp) in the second overtime which was played in “sudden-win” format after the first one-minute OT was scoreless.
Stanley was credited with a game-high 14 points and four assists and also had one of those dunks that only about a half-dozen or so guys still in high school can pull off.
He was joined by a 2020 point-guard from Georgia, Sharife Cooper, who hit the floor with all gears blazing as he cranked into those multiple versions of overdrive he has as maybe the quickest player in the event.
And, of course, 6-9 Charles Bassey (Louisville, by way of San Antonio and Nigeria), was every bit as impressive Friday night for Arizona as he was during the 2016 and ’17 Pangos camps.
Bassey, credited with 12 points and 10 rebounds while often pitted against another 2019 standout in 6-10, 280-pound Kofi Cockburn (Christ the King in New York), made the most spectacular defensive play of the two games when he chased down Johnny Juzang (Class of 2020/Harvard-Westlake in SoCal’s San Fernando Valley) in the closing seconds of regulation to swat what could have been a game-winning layup.
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