LONG BEACH – Sunday’s action during the Pangos SoCal Dandy Dozen club team showcase event served to emphatically drive home this point:
Coach Matt Dunn’s St. John Bosco program could put the best team on the floor for the 2020-21 season – whenever, COVID-19 willing, that takes place.
Several of Dunn’s Braves were on display – notably Jeremiah Nyarko, Scotty Washington and Lamaj Lewis – during the five games played Sunday at the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church.
The 6-foot-7ish Nyarko – originally from Ghana – continued to showcase the remarkable progress he’s made since his freshmen season while climbing the pecking order of the best big players in the western Class of 2022.
Nyarko (pictured), always a force as a rebounder and shot blocker, put his expanded range and accuracy as a jump shooter to work while scoring 19 points (including three 3s) as Dream Vision Next edged Belmont Shore, 68-65.
Nyarko – who also threw down three wicked slams – has the ideal hoops “trifecta” of skill, innate athletic tools and top-notch effort going for him like few other players in his class regionally or nationally.
The Dream Vision squad got a game-high 28 points from Sacramento Grant guard Corey Yerger while Belmont Shore got 19 points from La Mirada junior-to-be Jorge Ochoa and 12 apiece from all-L.A. City guards T.J. Wainwright (Westchester) and K.J. Bradley (Crenshaw).
Washington and Lewis played key roles for the Cali Stars during the best game played Sunday.
Left-handed, 6-5 Josh O’Garro (one of the better players, as a junior, for Santa Clarita Christian’s CIF Southern Section 2AA championship squad), sent the Cali Star into overtime against Dream Vision 17s with a straight-away 3-pointer with nine seconds to go.
And his 12-foot runner in the lane, with 20 seconds remaining, gave his team the 71-69 victory.
The Cali Stars were led by another of the L.A. City Section’s top players in the Class of 2021, 6-4 Corey Cofield (Birmingham), who scored 24 points.
The 6-6 Lewis, another senior-to-be who committed to Loyola Marymount a couple of months ago, and the 6-5 Washington added nine points apiece.
Washington is also a member of the Class of 2021 but may elect to attend a prep school in 2021-22 after missing all but the Braves’ final four games last season because of a shoulder injury that required surgery to repair.
But Washington – who hit three 3s Sunday – is likely to have more than enough scholarship offers to entice him to make his way to college in the fall of 2021.
In other games:
Dream Vision 17s 73, Cali Rebels 17 60: Las Vegas Desert Pines’ Milos Uzan used Sunday to re-enforce his status as one of the five or so better point guard prospects in the Class of 2022, scored a combined 37 points in this game and the clash with the Cali Stars later in the afternoon.
Lynwood’s Bam Johnson scored 14 points with Roddie Anderson (Fountain Valley) and Brendan Terry (Crossroads) adding 12 apiece for the Rebels.
SoCal Buzz 75, Ocean City 68: A couple of senior-to-be guards, Taeo Thomas (Verbum Dei) and Christopher Hardy (El Segundo), scored 21 and 16 points, respectively, for the winners.
The JSerra 2022 duo of Joshua Ragsdale (20) and Alpha Chibambe combined for 35 points for Ocean City.
Coastal Elite Slayers 77, Orange County Pride 48: Coronado High’s Wayne McKinney, a 5-11, all-San Diego Section selection as a junior, powered his way to a day-high 29 points (including three 3s) for the winners.
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