SCOTTSDALE, Az. – Wednesday’s first night of the Hoophall West – not held a year ago because of the COVID-19 pandemic – tipped off its boys’ action with a showdown between the two Arizona-based national “prep school” hoops powers.
It turned out not to be as much of a showdown as a beatdown.
Compass Prep (with a campus located in near-by Chandler) used its individually – and collectively – terrific perimeter players to build a 15-point advantage at intermission and then coast to an 81-47 victory against Glendale’s Dream City Christian.
The eight-minute, fourth quarter was played with a running clock once Compass Prep’s advantage hit 30 points.
Compass Prep dropped a 69-68 decision to DCC in Glendale (located 33 miles northwest of CP’s Chandler campus) on Nov. 13.
The aforementioned “perimeter” of Coach Ed Gipson’s team includes a couple of players who had already established their hoops’ bonafides in Southern California before heading to Arizona: guards Dylan Andrews (a three-season standout at L.A. Windward who signed with UCLA last month) and Kylan Boswell (a junior, originally from Illinois, who played as a freshman at Colony in Ontario and Centennial in Corona).
Andrews and Boswell combined to hit eight of nine shots from the floor and all six of their free throws for 14 and 13 points, respectively, with Boswell accounting for the only miss.
Six-foot-six Marquis (aka, “Mookie”) Cook – by way of two years at Jefferson High in Portland – showed why he, along with Boswell, is one of a cluster of players in the “best western prospect in the Class of 2023” discussion for Compass Prep.
Cook hit all four of his shots from the field (including a couple of 3s) and dished at least the four assists he was credited for in the official box score.
Compass Prep, which was smacked (61-38) by a “traditional” high school team – unbeaten Richardson of Texas – on Nov. 27, is back at it Thursday night at Chapparal against Utah’s top “prep school program”, Wasatch Academy.
USC Head Coach Andy Enfield and UCLA Associate Head Coach Darren Savino were court-side even as much of the crowd had emptied the building by the conclusion of the night’s third and last boys’ game.
That’s because Prolific Prep (Napa in Northern California, the most renown wine-producing region in the U.S. of A) was playing the Legacy Charter School squad from Greenville in South Carolina.
A 6-10 future Bruin (from Nigeria by way of Turkey), Adem Bona, played well above the rim all night with 15 points, seven rebounds and a couple of resounding dunks and blocked shots as the team pulled away down the stretch for a 64-53 victory.
And 6-6 Tre White, who signed with USC, (from Texas, he played as a sophomore and junior for L.A. Ribet Academy’s now-defunct program) went for 17 points – despite missing all five of his attempts from behind the arc – with seven rebounds, five assists and four steals.
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