THOROFARE, NJ – A reasonable could be made for any of 10 or candidates being tabbed as the Most Outstanding Player during the Saturday-Sunday Pangos All-East Frosh/Soph Camp at the RiverWinds Community Center.
But, after the conclusion of the Top 30 Crème of the Crop All-Star game that wrapped up the event, it was sophomores Roddy Gayle and Khalif Crawley, Jr. posing for pictures together after sharing the honor Sunday afternoon.
The 6-foot-4 Gayle (from Lewiston Porter in Youngstown, NY) was one of the best three or four “pure scorers” among the 230 or so players at the event, nailing jumpers from all ranges while getting a nice bag of dunks, as well.
He scored 15 points (with three 3s) to leave the dark jersey-wearing club to a 94-74 Top 30 win over the white jerseys.
The 6-7, 235-pound Crawley (Philadelphia Imhotep) only a scored a couple of buckets for the white jerseys but demonstrated a nifty combination of power and jump-shooting ability in three games with the Rutgers camp squad.
Selected as the co-Most Outstanding Players for the Top 30 game were two other players from the Class of 2022, center Demetrius Lilley, with eight points and eight rebounds for the dark jerseys, and 6-4 Rodney Rice, with 16 points for the white jerseys.
In the Top 60 game, sophomore forward Nick Townsend (Chappaqua, NY, Horace Greeley) scored 20 points for the white jerseys in that squad’s 117-97 victory.
Sharing game MOP honors with him was guard Deywilk Tavarez (Blackwood, NJ, Highland Regional), who scored 11 points for the dark jerseys.
The metropolitan-DC area was well-represented at the camp, notably by Rice and fellow sophomores Tyrell Ward and Judah Mintz, as well as freshman Kwame Evans.
This was the fourth and last stop on Dinos Trigonis’ annual Pangos Fall All-Region Frosh/Soph Camp tour, with sessions also held in Lynwood, CA (West); Duncanville, TX (South) and La Grange, IL (Midwest).
My choices as the Top 25 performers in the All-East camp (not based strictly on “college potential”), listed alphabetically:
Class of 2022
Mark Armstrong 6-2 Jersey City St. Peter’s Prep
Aaron Clark 6-4 Easton (PA) Easton Area
Khalif Crawley, Jr. 6-7 Philadelphia Imhotep Charter
Kyle Cuffe, Jr. 6-1 Blairstown (NJ) Blair Academy
Isaiah Earl 6-8 Lee (ME) Lee Academy
Roddy Gayle 6-4 Youngstown (NY) Lewiston Porter
Demetrius Lilley 6-10 Wynnewood (PA) Lower Merion
Judah Mintz 6-4 Washington (DC) Gonzaga College
Preston Murphy, Jr. 6-0 Barrington (RI) St. Andrew’s
Rodney Rice 6-4 Clinton (MD) Bullis School
Perry Smith, Jr. 6-9 Greenville (SC) Legacy Early College
Joseph Udoh 6-10 Sissonville (WV)
Tyrell Ward 6-6 Hyattsville (MD) DeMatha
Chance Westry 6-5 Camp Hill (PA) Trinity
Vindell Witherspoon 6-7 Elizabeth City (NC) Carolina Basketball Academy
Class of 2023
Ja’Mari Arnold 5-10 Huntsville (AL) Columbia
Kwame Evans 6-8 Baltimore Polytechnic Institute
Mackenzie Mgbako 6-7 Gladstone (NJ) Gill St. Bernard’s
Owen Moreira 6-5 Easton (PA) Easton Area
Will Norman 6-6 Philadelphia Roman Catholic
Shawn Simmons 6-5 Wynnewood (PA) Friends Central
Javoy Thompson 6-5 Bronx (NY) Mount Saint Michael
Akil Watson 6-7 Ramsey (NJ) Don Bosco
Simeon Wilcher 6-3 Roselle (NJ) Roselle Catholic
Class of 2024
Badara Diakite 6-9 Troy (NY) Redemption Christian
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