LAS VEGAS – Boys’ basketball club teams from the Phoenix and San Diego areas won a couple of games apiece Saturday at Bishop Gorman High to earn spots in one of the championship games that will be played Sunday in the five divisions of the Pangos Spring Sweet 16.
The Factory (Phoenix) and Players Play Elite knocked off Salt Lake City Black, 59-52, while Players Play pulled away from Alley-Oop (Seal Beach in Southern California), 84-62, in the other Select Division (16s) Saturday evening to set the stage for the 9:10 championship clash.
Other title games set for Sunday are: Gold (15s), 8 a.m.; Platinum (17s), 10:20 a.m.; Ruby (17s), 3 p.m., Court 3; and Invitational (Top 17s division), 3 p.m., Court 1.
All games set to be played Sunday at Bishop Gorman and (auxiliary site) Silverado High will be streamed and archived by BallerTV.
In the first of Select semifinals played Saturday evening, Players Play Elite had to overcome the crisp passing and jump shooting but an opponent whose players were, generally, shorter and were from the Class of 2025 (freshmen), with the exception of one sophomore.
But the San Diego team, which had just one non-sophomore (6-5 Blake Davidson, a freshman at Mater Dei in Santa Ana), utilized that size advantage and finally starting successfully contesting all of those jump shots while not breaking down against dribblers too often.
As fate would have it, it was PPE’s tallest player, 6-8 sophomore Ryan Enos (San Diego Cathedral Catholic), who led the second-half surge . . . with his jump shooting!
Enos (pictured), who averaged 3.8 points in about 10 minutes per game this past season in about 11 minutes per game for the 19-11 Dons this past season and is also a middle blocker on for the volley ball squad, high eight – yep, eight – 3s en route to a 26-point performance.
He also got plenty of help form the likes of two sophomores at Summit High in Bend (OR), 6-2 Collin Moore and 6-6 Preston Carmichael and Davidson, who should be able to join his older brother, Zack, in the Monarchs’ rotation next fall after playing for the junior varsity in 2021-22.
The Factory 16s squad suits up just six players but each is a high-quality prospect, including freshman guard Kaleel Kelly (Willow Canyon).
The Factory program just missed a spot in the Invitational finale when its 17s, which includes a 7-footer junior (Noah Amenhauser, who is already committed to signing with Grand Canyon University next November, fell to Oxnard, CA-based Team Build Up.
Six-five Kai Johnson (a 2021 graduate of Oxnard High who is a attending a “prep school”) hit a 3-point in the closing moments for the 55-54 victory.
A few hours earlier, Johnson pulled it out with a late 3 for the first time to help his team edge Las Vegas-based Hard2Guard, 47-46.
H2G is led by one of the better unsigned point guards in the western c/o 2022, Taviontae Jackson (Las Vegas), but he fouled out and was on the bench in the closing minutes of the game with Team Build Up.
Team Build Up does have some players with remaining high school eligibility, notably juniors Dominic Contreras (Oxnard) and Serigne Pouye (CATE in Carpinteria).
The Salt Lake City Rebels “Gray” team in the Invitational final is made up entirely of current seniors sill in search of college destinations, including point guard Evan Young (of state champion American Fork), 6-7 Dylan Jones (Westlake) and 6-4 Tyler Burraston (Corner Canyon).
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