LONG BEACH – The St. John Bosco High basketball team will be in strong position to challenge for a Trinity League title, as well as another slot in the CIF Southern Section Open Division playoff bracket, this season.
And two of the reasons why were on display, front and center, this past weekend during the annual Pangos All-West Frosh/Soph Camp.
SJB freshmen Elzie Harrington and Kade Bonam were two of the most spectacular and productive of the many standouts among the 200-plus players Saturday and Sunday during the event at McBride High.
Harrington and Bonam were clearly the best of the point guard and power forward prospects, respectively, in the camp regardless of class standing.
Each played well in their high school “debuts” the weekend before, in the same building, while helping the Braves split four games (beating St. Bernard and Heritage Christian, and losing to Bishop Gorman and Bishop Montgomery) during the Ron Massey Memorial Fall Classic.
The camp is held every September in Southern California but was moved to St. George in Utah last fall because of the COVID-10 pandemic.
This was likely the camp’s strongest group of non-California players, with an especially popping group from the pacific northwest.
Five of the players I selected to my “Top 15 camp performers” (listed below) live in Oregon or Washington.
Two are from Arizona and one apiece from Hawaii, Utah and northern California.
Joining Harrington and Bonam from Southern California to round out the Top 15 are DeShawn Gory, Seven Bahati and Jovani Ruff.
The camp wrapped up Sunday afternoon with Top 30 and Top 50 all-star games.
Sharing Top 30 All-Star Most Outstanding Player honors were Bahati and Adam Njie (pictured, left to right) with Jason Mandaquit Jr. and D’Andre Harrison splitting MOP for the Top 60 contest.
Only players who attended and played at the camp for both days were included in my Top 15.
Standouts on the first day who weren’t able to participate on Sunday including sophomores Robert Hinton and Trent Perry (Harvard-Westlake); James Evans Jr. (West Ranch); and Jayden Harper (Sherman Oaks Notre Dame).
Narrow misses on the Top 15 included sophomore point Connor Amundsen (Clovis North), sophomore shooting guard Mercy Miller (Minneapolis Minnehaha) and freshman post Dallas Washington (Mountain View St. Francis).
The Top 15 players are listed in order of position (point guard; shooting guard; small forward; power forward; and center) and were selected because of how well they played when I watched them and NOT strictly upon college “potential”.
TOP 15
FIRST TEAM
Elzie Harrington 6-4 St. John Bosco Fr.
Zoom Diallo 6-4 Tacoma (WA) Curtis So.
DeShawn Gory 6-6 Riverside Hillcrest So.
Kade Bonam 6-7 St. John Bosco Fr.
Malick Diallo 6-9 Draper (UT) Juan Diego So.
SECOND TEAM
Styles Phipps 6-2 Phoenix St. Mary’s So.
Trevor Hennig 6-3 Snoqualmie (WA) Mt. Si So.
Seven Bahati 6-5 Hacienda Heights Los Altos So.
Tyran Stokes 6-5 Pittsburg (CA) Rancho Medranos 8th.
Austin Maurer 6-10 Medford (OR) Cascade Christian So.
THIRD TEAM
Jason Mandaquit Jr. 6-1 Honolulu Iolani Fr.
Adam Njie 6-3 Gilbert (AZ) Eduprize Prep So.
Jovani Ruff 6-4 Long Beach Poly Fr.
Jaden Steppe 6-7 Tualatin (OR) So.
Myles Goodman 6-8 Seattle O’Dea So.
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