LAS VEGAS – Their respective teams lost Friday evening.
But Ziaire Williams and Cole Bajema used the respective gymnasium floors at Bishop Gorman and Spring Valley high schools, respectively, to show a lot of college coaches why they’re two of the best high school basketball players in the west – and beyond.
The 6-foot-7 Williams, who attends Notre Dame High in the Southern California community of Sherman Oaks, scored 28 most spectacular points although his Basketball Training Institute (BTI) club dropped a 74-58 decision to Florida-based Each 1 Teach 1 during pool play of the Fab 48 Invitational Division.
With a roster that includes 6-10 Vernon Carey Jr. and 6-7 Scottie Barnes (Ft. Lauderdale University); 6-7 C.J. Walker (Orlando Christian) and 6-3 Tre Mann (Villages, FL, Charter), there is little doubt as to the collective E1T1 personnel – culled from the E1T1 and Nike Team Florida rosters off the EYBL circuit – being the best in the Fab 48 field.
And the oh-so-powerful (I’m putting him at about 270-mostly-fat-free pounds) Carey put on a compelling on-court argument Friday night – with the likes of Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams as up-close spectators – to support those who believe he is the Top Cat in the national Class of 2019.
The left hander got to any spot on the floor he wanted, hitting jump shots, smashing dunks and seemingly snapping down every missed shot attempt while scoring 21 points and helping his squad pull away after seeing its double-figure advantage cut to a single point with about nine minutes to go.
And Walker was the Carey’s major cohort in fighting off the challenging from the San Fernando Valley-based squad, hitting multiple jump shots and gliding to the rim without a lot of obstruction for a lot of sweet finishes.
Ziaire Williams was the revelation, though – except, of course, to those from Southern California who were already well aware of his rapid ascent in the spring and early summer to his status as prospect well-worthy of being mentioned in the same conversation with 6-11 Evan Mobley (Temecula Rancho Christian/Compton Magic) and 6-5 Jalen Green (Fresno San Joaquin Memorial/EBO) in the regional and national Classes of 2020.
His ability to get by every E1T1 defender – Barnes and Walker included – off the dribble and into the lane, for either-hand finishes while also dropping in high-arching jumpers from a lot of angles, created as much reaction from the onlookers as did Carey’s “Best in 2019 statement” and high-flying flair of Walker.
About six miles north of Bishop Gorman, at Spring Valley High and in one of the final pool-play games in the Bigfoot Hoops/L.V. Classic, Bajema (Lynden Christian) – playing for the Seattle-based Friends of Hoop (FOH) squad – continued to show why he’s one of the West’s Best in the Class of 2019.
The slender (I’m going to hazard a guess of about a buck-eighty, max, over his 6-7ish frame) scored something close to 30 points – I didn’t get an official total but he scored 16 in the first half – in his team’s eventual 66-54 loss to the EYBL circuit’s Howard Pulley (Minnesota) squad.
Bajema (PICTURED), whose sister is a volleyball player at the University of Washington, showed off all his jump shot, slick ball-handling and explosive first step during the West Coast Elite Top 100 Camp in Southern California – most notably in the Top 20 All-Star Game that included the likes of probably 2019 McDonald’s All-Americans in Nico Mannion and Scottie Lewis.
I saw a multitude of head coaches from the Pac 12, West Coast, Mountain West and Big West conferences — even one from the Big 10 — on hand, with at least three of those coaches accompanied by two assistants each.
Look for that crowd to expand Saturday morning at 11:15 at Clark High when FOH takes the Los Angeles-based I Can All-Stars in a first-round playoff game in the Platinum Premier division.
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