DUBLIN, Ca. – All the offensive possibilities imagined by many when Caleb Foster and Mercy Miller left Virginia’s Oak Hill Academy and headed to the San Fernando Valley early in the spring were embodied on the Dublin High court Saturday night.
Foster and Miller joined another one of the most gifted high school players anywhere, Dusty Stromer, when they checked into Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks.
And that trio and the rest of the Knights showed why they’re capable of scoring a lot of points – and in a hurry – regardless of the caliber of competition while rolling past Northern California’s top team, Modesto Christian, 98-72, in the last of the eight games played during the 15th annual NorCal Tip-Off Classic.
Foster and Stromer are seniors who signed national letters of intent with Duke and Gonzaga, respectively, a few weeks ago.
Miller is a junior, but he has already committed to signing with the University of Houston (expected to move to No. 1 in the national ratings Monday) a year from now.
The trio combined for 11 of their team’s 17 3-pointers as Coach Matt Sargeant’s squad set the event’s single-game scoring record while sprinting past a team that returned three starters from the club that lost to Corona Centennial in the CIF State Open Division title game last March in Sacramento.
The Knights had the Crusaders on their heels from jump street, bursting to a 16-point advantage after the first quarter and a 24-point margin (at 50-26) at intermission.
But it’s not like the Crusaders capitulated in the locker room.
Jalen Brown hit a 3 to get their deficit to within 21 and then Miller picked up his fourth foul a minute later and went to the bench.
About six minutes later, with the buzzer sounded ending the third quarter, Modesto Christian had rapidly sliced its deficit to five points.
Miller (pictured) was back on the floor when the ball was inbounded to start the fourth quarter.
And, when he and the rest of the Knights’ starters were pulled from the game by Sargeant with 3:19 of game time remaining, Notre Dame’s advantage was back to a statement-making 30 points.
Miller scored 14 of his game-high 23 points in that six-minute blitz, hitting all five of his shots including four 3s.
The Knights struggled to jump start their offense seven nights before in a 64-62 loss to another of the Top 10 teams in the state (West Ranch) during the Burbank Providence tourney final.
But they were clicking on all cylinders Saturday night with Stromer (18 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three blocked shots), Miller (who also grabbed six rebounds with three assists) and Foster (17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists to go with the most wicked cross-over dribble I’ve seen this season).
There were plenty of contributors for the Knights, though – another reason why this team has the tools to challenge for Southern Section and State Open titles:
*Senior guard Dante Ogbu hit three 3s and fellow starter, 6-5 freshman Zachary White scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds;
*Sophomore guard Angelino Mark came off the bench for five points and three assists, while 6-8 junior Jayden Harper hit three 3s from NBA range in the first half.
It was the second loss in a row to start the season for a Modesto Christian program that lost to Corona Centennial in the State Open final in Sacramento last March.
And it doesn’t get any easier for the Crusaders (who lost to Coronado of Las Vegas, 78-70, Friday night at Bishop O’Dowd High in Oakland):
They play Centennial in a “rematch” next Saturday night at Sheldon High in Sacramento.
In the other seven games played Saturday at Dublin:
San Jose Mitty 59, Clovis North 48: The Broncos’ pressure defense forced 22 turnovers but the team from Fresno couldn’t capitalize and Mitty got quality production from a lot of sources.
Princeton-bound forward Derek Langster scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Monarchs and guards Tyler Jones (a 6-3 junior with 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists) and Jaiden Paran-Parham (four 3s, including two critical ones in the fourth quarter) were solid for Coach Tim Kennedy’s team, which will challenge for a Northern Open title.
Clovis North (its best player, junior guard Connor Amundsen, is out for the season after shoulder surgery in the fall) got from seven to nine points from four players.
Sacramento Inderkum 68, Dublin 65: In (IMO) the most “competitive” and “compelling” game of the event, the Tigers got a blocked shot by sophomore Taylen Goodman and a couple of free throws from senior Jalen Glenn in the final minute to hold off the host Gaels.
Six-five Courtney Anderson (who signed a letter of intent with the University of Colorado) got a reasonably clean look at a 3-pointer from the deep left wing for the Gaels with three seconds to go but it was just a tad long.
Senior point guard Jermaine Haliburton scored 25 points and forward Shavon Daniels scored 16 off the bench for the Tigers while Anderson led Dublin with 25 (including 10 of 11 free throws).
San Francisco Riordan 74, Stockton Weston Ranch 67: Unsigned seniors King-Jhsanni Wilhite and Christian Wise scored 23 and 17 points, respectively, as the Crusaders held off the undersized Cougars.
The 6-6, 220-pound Wise – the nephew of former Long Beach State star Francois Wise and cousin of Eric Wise, who played at UC Irvine and USC – added event-highs of 18 rebounds and seven blocked shots.
The Cougars, whose tallest starter is 6-1, got 18 points apiece from seniors Khristian Holmes and Elliot Mobley, and 17 more from Mobley’s twin, Elijah.
Oakland 65, Elk Grove 52: Four players, led by University of Montana-bound guard Money Williams, scored from eight to 16 points for the Wildcats.
The smallest player on the floor, 5-5 senior Jimon Campbell, was selected the game’s Most Outstanding Player with 12 points, five steals and five assists.
Six-three Varick Lewis, who signed with Long Beach State a couple of weeks ago, scored a game-high 22 points for the Mustangs, who suited up just seven players.
Moraga Campolindo 52, Sacramento Grant 28: Six-four senior Logan Roberson scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the Cougars’ season opener – holding the Pacers to seven points in each quarter.
Coach Steven Dyer’s team – which lost three starters to graduation from a squad that was 28-2 last season – got 10 3s from four different players.
San Ramon Dougherty Valley 72, Oakland Tech 62: University of San Francisco-bound guard Ryan Beasley scored 24 points as the Wildcats recovered nicely from an 11-point deficit to improve to 2-0.
Beasley, who scored 44 points at this event a year ago, also went “triple sixes” in rebounds, assists and steals.
Teammates Blake Hudson and Conner Sevilla added 17 and 16 points, respectively.
Livermore Granada 69, Fairfield Vanden 61: Senior forward Tyler Harris scored 21 points to go with nine rebounds, three assists and five steals as the Matadors opened things with a come-from-behind win Saturday morning to improve to 2-0.
The 6-8 Harris, who didn’t sign during the NCAA “early” signing period earlier this month, played as a freshman at Newark Memorial and at Salesian Prep in Richmond the past two seasons.
St. Mary’s-bound center Andrew McKeever scored 19 points and grabbed six rebounds despite missing much of the game in foul trouble for Granada, which got 14 points (including three 3s) in the fourth quarter from reserve guard Kevin Grant.
Six-five junior Tyler Thompson scored 21 points with six rebounds and three assists for Vanden.
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