LONG BEACH, Ca. – Tounde Yessoufou continued to use his metaphorical – but powerful – hammer to pound away at the various “Best in the West and National” Class of 2025 ratings Saturday night during Day 1 of the two-day Pangos All-West Frosh/Soph Camp at McBride High.
The 6-foot-6 Santa Maria (CA) St. Joseph sophomore, a late arrival along with St. Joseph teammate, 6-3 freshman Julius Price, smashed rims and defenders’ egos with equal aplomb on the final (of 10) rounds of games Saturday night.
Yessoufou (playing, with Price, for “St. Mary’s” in a game vs. “Gonzaga”) scored 36 points, with six 3s and as many dunks, while matched up against any defender with the cajones (Spanish slang, for, uh, courage) to try to check him.
But, just as impressively, he kept up his high-energy and good nature from start to finish and – unlike the bulk of the nearly 200 kids in the building throughout the afternoon and evening – also laid out as much effort on defense as he did with the basketball in his hands.
He blocked nine shots, including five on one 45-second possession of Gonzaga’s in the second half and – perhaps even more impressively – tried to stay in a stance and move his feet while checking dribblers.
Price was one of a bunch of Class of 2026 guards on hand who should be immediate – and, in some cases, significant – contributors for their high school teams as freshmen.
Those include Kaiden Bailey (Irvine Crean Lutheran), Rashod Cotton (Modesto Christian) and Rodney Westmoreland (San Ramon Dougherty Valley).
Bailey and Cotton have always been prolific jump shooters, with a knack for creating buckets off the drive and to the rim. And that was the case Saturday, too, in each of their two games.
Westmoreland is a nifty scorer – if not the jump shooter that Bailey and Cotton are – but no one was faster on the dribble Saturday or did a better job “distributing” quality shot opportunities to teammates.
Another one of the stand-out 2026 guards there Saturday was Justice Griffith. But his playing time figures to be much more limited than the aforementioned duo this season because of the large number of seniors guards on the Corona Centennial roster (Jared McCain, anyone?)
There were plenty of other guys in the 6-6 or taller range who were high-volume scorers Saturday.
Joining Yessoufou in that category were Tae Simmons (Northridge Heritage Christian) and Kellen Hampton (Hayward Moreau Catholic), as well as Kade Bonam (Bellflower St. John Bosco) and Isaiah Carter (Fresno San Joaquin Memorial).
Carter’s classmate at SJB, 6-2 Abraham Potts (pictured), along with other sophomores Jovani Ruff (Long Beach Poly), Issac Williamson (Riverside Poly) and Aaron Glass (Rancho Cucamonga), also used the event’s platform to show off their scoring skills in front of a multitude of regional and national “scouts” and media members – five of those McDonald’s All-American team voters.
Camp action resumes at 10:30 Sunday morning, with the Top 60 Cream of the Crop Game set for 2:30 p.m. and the Top 30 Game to follow an hour later.
All games are streamed and archived by BallerTV.
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