SCOTTSDALE, Az. – An eight-game slate, divvied into a couple of sessions, capped Saturday’s final day of the HoopHall West Invitational at Chaparral High.
A drumroll, please . . .
*There was an SRO gathering (the listed capacity is 2,512) for the Chatsworth (CA) Sierra Canyon squad’s much-anticipated – especially, obviously, locally – clash with Arizona’s top-ranked team, Goodyear Millennium in the seventh game of the day.
And the local lads did much to pump up the masses in the building, taking a seven-point advantage after a quarter behind junior guard Justus Jackson’s pair of deep 3s.
But the Trailblazers, who’ve won consecutive California State Open Division championships and seem primed to make it three in a row in March, more than stood up to the challenge of Arizona’s best team and a noisy – if well short of hostile – crowd.
University of Kentucky signee B.J. Boston had 10 second-quarter points – including a buzzer-beating 3 – for a 15-point turn-around for the visitors, who took an eight-point advantage into intermission and never led by fewer than the final margin the rest of the way in their 76-66 victory.
Boston finished with 22 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals while 6-foot-7 classmate Terren Frank (bound for Texas Christian University) added 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Coach Andre Chevalier’s team.
But sophomore Amari Bailey – with Frank, one of just two returning starters from last season – was the most impactful player for Sierra Canyon, with 16 points, eight assists and four steals as his team’s de facto point guard.
One of the assists helped elicit the most pronounced from the crowd all night – a 35-foot lob to freshman Bronny James for a dunk in the fourth quarter.
Yes, in case you’ve boycotted social media for the past year or so, that is the son of you-know-who.
James, a reserve guard, also drilled a 3, following a Bailey dish, in the third quarter and grabbed three rebounds with a couple of assists.
Six-nine junior DaRon Holmes had a strong fourth-quarter to keep the hosts reasonably close and finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and a couple of blocks.
*One of Sierra Canyon’s staunchest in-state challengers in 2019-20, Santa Ana Mater Dei, had played just one game against an awkwardly over-matched opponent on Nov. 30.
And it was obvious as the Monarchs are still far from the meat of their schedule after they cruised past Perry of Phoenix, 77-42, even with their best player – Kentucky-bound point guard Devin Askew – fouling out a minute into the fourth quarter.
Askew went to the bench with a team-high 14 points and eight rebounds while teammates Ryan Evans, Harrison Hornery and Nick Davidson (a team-high seven rebounds) had a dozen points each.
Coach Gary McKnight’s squad figures to face four highly competitive foes, though, during the Dec. 18-21 Tarkanian Classic at Bishop Gorman High in Las Vegas.
Saturday also saw some spectacular individual efforts, notably . . .
*Seven-foot Evan Mobley had his usual boat-load of oh-my-goodness plays, notably among his five blocked shots that the 7-footer delivered with his 22 points (he didn’t miss a shot from the field in seven attempts), 14 rebounds and five assists in Temecula (CA) Ranch Christian’s much-closer-than-it-should have been 77-74 decision against undersized New York Christ the King.
*And Julian Strawther and Jaden Hardy, teammates on the Nike/EYBL Las Vegas Prospects club program, went off against any and all defenders Saturday.
The Gonzaga-bound Strawther scored an event-record 51 points in Henderson (NV) Liberty’s 88-74 win against Glendale (AZ) Apollo in the second game of the morning.
The 6-6 Strawther hit 19 of 29 shots from the floor (including four 3s) and 15 of 17 free throws.
And his buddy, the 6-4 Hardy – perhaps the best backcourt prospect in all of the national class of 2021 – went for 40 a couple of hours later in Coronado’s 95-60 plundering of Phoenix Shadow Mountain.
Hardy (PICTURED) also had 11 assist and nine rebounds, while teammate Fat Daddy Hunt (Ok, his given first name is Tyrell) scored 34 while perfect in 14 field-goal and six free-throw attempts.
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