Isaacs turns in elite performance to lead his squad to Easter Classic title in Las Vegas

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  LAS VEGAS – Richard Isaacs, Jr. demonstrated once more Saturday afternoon why his should be one of the first names mentioned when the discussion turns to the best high school players in the Class of 2022 anywhere.

  “Pop Pop”, who attends Coronado High in near-by Henderson, but has been raised in a whole lot of gymnasiums in Nevada and Southern California, dictated both the pace and outcome during the Vegas Elite EYBL’s squad’s 86-64 victory over Southern California-based Strive for Greatness at Bishop Gorman High for the championship of the 16-team bracket, 16s’ division of the Pangos Easter Classic.

   Isaacs (pictured), one of the backcourt standouts in a USA Basketball gathering of some of the best players from the classes of ’22, ’21 and ’20 during Final Four Weekend in Minneapolis two weeks earlier, scored 23 of his game-high 30 points in the first half and set up a healthy portion of his teammates’ offense with his decision-making and passing during the surprisingly lopsided victory.

    SFG is the club program that will make its Nike EYBL debut this coming weekend in Emerson, GA (just outside of Atlanta) and was built around a current eighth grader at Crossroads School in Santa Monica (CA), with LeBron James Jr. whose on-court performances on the grassroots scene has already elevated him to the nearly one-name status of Bronny.

   The 5-foot-10 (not for long, of course) guard wasn’t with the squad while spending the weekend on a family vacation in Barbados.

   But the squad still put some exceptional prospects on the floor, notably another one of the very best point-guard prospects anywhere in the Class of 2022 in Skyy Clark (the freshman at Heritage Christian in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley city of Northridge) and 6-8 Jaxon Kohler of Wasatch Academy in Mount Pleasant, Utah.

   Clark (who also participated in the USA BB session in Minneapolis) scored a team-high 17 points while Kohler – the most polished and skilled post player in the western Class of 2022 – chipped in with all 13 of his points in a first half that ended with Vegas Elite up by 21.

   Tyrone “Ty Ty” Washington and Johnny Braggs – sophomores at Phoenix Cesar Chaves and Bishop Gorman – had 14 and 13 points for Vegas Elite.

   Vegas Elite’s 17s squad – led by the likes of juniors Josh Christopher (Lakewood’s Mayfair in Southern California), Noah Taitz (Bishop Gorman) and Julian Strawther (near-by Liberty), and sophomores Jaden Hardy (Coronado) and Zaon Collins (Bishop Gorman) – went 3-0 in pool play and won its two bracket games Saturday by 16- and 32-point margins.

   But the semifinal win over Sacramento-based MBIII (sponsored by NBA rookie Marvin Bagley III and led by his brother Marcus Bagley, a junior at Sheldon), Vegas Elite pulled out of the championship game later Saturday afternoon, citing – according to event directors – “injuries and fatigue”.

   So, the second semifinal, between Southern California-based Veritas International and Belmont Shore Basketball Club, became the de facto “championship” game.

    Guards Keith Dinwiddie of Fairfax (whose jumper with two seconds to play gave Belmont Shore a 98-97 win over the Utah Mountain Stars Gold) and T.J. Wainwright of Santa Monica (who scored 59 points in the team’s two Saturday games) kept Belmont Shore close throughout before Veritas – with a roster dominated by players from Latin American countries – pulled away down the stretch for the 81-72 victory.

   Six-four guard Luis Riascos – who attends San Gabriel Academy and is from Ecuador – scored 13 points and did a decent job of keeping Wainwright in check down the stretch to earn unofficial “MVP” honors.