LONG BEACH, Ca. – There’s nothing like a Dinos Trigonis-fronted Pangos event to get one back into the prep hoops swing of things after spending 10 days in London and still going 1-on-1 with jetlag . . .
Six games were played Saturday during the Pangos “Best of SoCal Spring Showcase” that was held in the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church gymnasium, with healthy doses of the best Southern California has to offer in the Classes of 2023, 2022, 2021 and 2020.
Here we go, working backwards in the way the games were played (they began with eighth graders at noon, and wrapped up, about six hours later, with juniors):
Representing the Class of 2020 (current juniors), in two games, were some already well-known (to folks like myself, as well as Devin Ugland and Ronnie Flores, also in attendance from start-to-finish, and a whole bunch of college coaches across the country) lads such as Keith Dinwiddie (an all-L.A. City selection this past season for Fairfax), Jaylen Clark (an all-Southern Section Open Division selection at Corona Centennial who is expected to transfer to Etiwanda), D.J. Davis (one of the best deep jump shooters anywhere; Corona Centennial), Judah Brown (the 6-foot-6 King of Verticality at Pacifica Christian in Newport who is already committed to St. Mary’s) and Austin Cook (the 6-5 handler/passer/jump shooter-deluxe at Damien).
In the Top 20 game, the black jerseys bounced their white-wearing counterparts, 118-110 (yeah, defense, for the most part, had driven home by this point).
Brown got a month’s worth of “oh-my0goodness-did-he-do-that-dunks?” in the contest while collecting a game-high 25 points while Clark, Dinwiddie and Davis had 19, 18 and 13 points, respectively, for the white jerseys.
But some guys who aren’t quite the figurative hoops household names as those aforementioned fellows also had strong efforts, notably point guard Snookey Wiggington and his Ribet Academy teammate Ignacio Comacho (who scored 15 and 19 points, respectively) and Valley Christian point guard Malvin Payero and his Veritas club teammate Luis Riascos (San Gabriel Academy).
And 6-7 Logan Cremonesi of Mater Dei – who has had a strong spring with the Ian Martinez-led Southern California All-Stars – continued to make a strong case for being the best non-starter in the SoCal Class of 2020, dropping 27 points in the Top 40 game and 12 more in the Top 20 affair.
The Top 20 and 40 games for the sophomore (2021) class may have had the majority of the very best prospects in the entire event, noteworthy among those being Nick Davidson (Mater Dei), Brenton Knapper (Colony), Jahmai Mashack (Etiwanda), Luke Turner (Rancho Christian) and T.J. Wainwright (Santa Monica).
Knapper, Turner, Mashack, Davidson and Wainwright scored 25, 24, 16, 14 and 11 points, respectively, in the Top 20 game, with the Knapper-led white jerseys prevailing, 79-71.
And Mashack continues to look like a strong candidate as “best all-around” in the SoCal Class of 2021 might way of his much-improved jump shooting and his usual all-in efforts as a defender and rebounder.
Among some of the other sophomores on display, looking for guards Daniel Esparza (Sonora), Izaac Martinez (Bakersfield Ridgeview) and Elijah Evans (Dominguez) to become well-known to college recruiters by the end of July.
Ugland and I are 100 percent with our evaluation of Esparza – until someone shows us differently, he’s the best non-Trinity League player in Orange County next season.
Clear standouts in the Top 20 freshman contest were (in no particular order), point guard Jalen Vazquez (Bishop Montgomery/PICTURED), 6-4 wing Christian Moore (Brentwood) and forward Jorge Ochoa (Orange Lutheran).
With brother Josh (University of Montana) and Gianni Hunt (Oregon State) about to graduate, Vazquez will take over the reins of the Knights’ offense and help keep the program’s streak of Southern Section Open Division appearances perfect.
Also playing well in that game was an eighth grader in 6-5 Brady Dunlap (Santa Clarita).
Dunlap said he will enroll at Hart and plans to play football (quarterback) and volleyball (middle), as well as hoops, as a freshman.
That’s an ambitious – and gifted – youngster.
Dunlap scored 16 points in the freshman game (during which Ochoa had 28 while Moore added 21 and Vazquez 19) after dropping 17 – including three 3s – in the 8th grade clash.
Davidson’s 6-6 brother, Zachary (also headed for Mater Dei), scored 23 points as the white jerseys prevailed, 70-68.
Among the other standouts were 6-8 Jazz Gardner (Clifton Middle School in Pasadena) and Corona Centennial-bound point guard Jared McCain.
Gardner scored 11 points, grabbed at least as many rebounds and blocked four or five shots while McCain, who scored 21 points (with three 3s) for the black jerseys, looks as if he could get some serious time as a ninth grader with the Huskies.
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