SAN DIEGO – The de facto CEO of San Diego basketball – Aaron Burgin (@fulltimehoops1) – demonstrated why I’ve given him that tag Saturday at St. Augustine High.
The eighth Crème of the County (actually seventh since COVID-19 forced cancellation of the 2020 camp) proved another high-quality preview for San Diego high school hoops.
And I’m talking about an up-close look (over 11 games, beginning at about 8:45 a.m. and wrapping up nearly 12 hours later) at what should be the bulk of the best players and teams in the San Diego Section of the California Interscholastic Federation during the 2022-23 season.
Appropriately enough, Mikey Williams – who has returned to San Ysidro for his senior season after spending two years in prep schools in Northern Carolina – drilled consecutive 3s, the last of those a second before the final buzzer, to give the white jerseys a 120-111 victory over the black jerseys in the final game of the event.
The 6-foot-3 Williams – he of the 3.7 million Instagram followers – actually impressed more with his passing (five assists and at least five passes that would have been assists if teammates had converted makeable attempts) than he did with his scoring Saturday night.
Williams scored 15 points (the first of those 3s was made while being fouled, with a free throw awarded automatically) and had missed 12 of his first 16 shots before that frenetic final minute.
The black jersey-wearing crew was led by the three best players from the 2021-22 SD Section Open champion St. Augustine Saints – the squad Williams & Co. will be chasing for county supremacy
One of those, 6-4 Jurian Dixon, was the Section’s Open Division Player of the Year last season.
He was limited to nine points but had a couple of spectacular finishes to go with six rebounds and some nifty passes.
Another Saints’ senior, guard Jaden Matingou, added 17 points.
But the most impressive of Coach Mike Haupt’s players Saturday – actually, he played better than anyone among the 250 or so participants in the event – was Lolo Rudolph.
The 6-2 Rudolph (pictured), who was selected the Most Outstanding Player in the 2021 Crème de la Crème game for the winning team, also used the earlier Crème of 2024 game Saturday to demonstrate succinctly why he will be one of the most “evaluated/watched” point guard prospects in this western class by college coaches this season and next spring and summer.
Rudolph, the fastest player on the dribble in the gym all day, scored just six points in the final game (he had a bunch more than in the 2024 clash) but was credited with nine assists and six rebounds.
Two of Williams’ San Ysidro teammates, 6-2 Angelo Gil (a transfer from Mission Bay) and Andrei Tovar (a 6-8 junior), scored 17 and 11 points, respectively, for the black jerseys.\
And San Ysidro Coach Terry Tucker – in the building all day – got to watch Williams team up with another soon-to-be standout for him in freshman Ty Ingram, who overcame a wobbly start to finish with 16 points.
The top scorer for the winners was 6-3, left-handed senior Bailey Chambers (Rancho Christian), who scored 18 points after being selected one of the Most Outstanding Players in the Crème of 2023 game.
Among the other Saturday standouts were:
Juniors Brycen Mackenzie (6-2/Santa Fe Christian) and Ryan Enos (6-8/Cathedral Catholic), with 12 points and eight rebounds, and 11 points and four blocked shots, respectively, for the white jerseys and 6-5 senior Christian Brown (La Costa Canyon), with 14 points and six rebounds for the black jerseys.
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