SPRINGFIELD, MA – Prolific Prep, the program based in California’s “wine country” (Napa, located about 50 miles north of San Francisco) that draws top-flight talent from everywhere, continued its dominance of other “prep school” competition – the nationwide – Sunday night during the Spalding Hoophall Classic at Springfield College.
Its record went to 21-zip, without much in the way of a fuss or muss from Westtown (located just outside of Philadelphia), 71-33, in a contest that was a competitive as the margin of victory suggests.
Five-foot-10 Trey Green, who signed with Xavier in November, scored 14 points with five rebounds and four assists.
He’s got a background – and took a path to Napa – that isn’t particularly out-of-step with what is happening on the “prep school/grassroots” scene these days.
He’s from Charlotte and attended Lake Norman High before spending his 2021-22 (“junior”) academic and basketball “school year” at Link Academy (near St. Louis).
After helping the Mokan Elite program win the Nike Peach Jam in July, he joined the Napa program and teams with Auburn-bound Aden Holloway in the backcourt.
Like Green, the journey for Holloway started in North Carolina (Matthews High) but but was at La Lumiere Academy in LaPorte, IN, as a “junior” before heading west late in the summer.
A bit more along the line of “home grown”, 6-7 junior Zion Sensley (he was at Riordan High in San Francisco as a freshman) came off the bench Sunday night to lead PP with 18 points in 20 minutes.
And, and other “local”, freshman Tyran Stokes (pictured; he attended middle school in the East Bay community of Pittsburg), had 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
Monday’s final day of the event starts at 9 a.m. (ET) with a girls clash between Holmdel (NJ) St. John Vianney and Newington (CT).
Boys’ action follows two hours later, with Camden of New Jersey (beaten by California power Corona Centennial Saturday night) facing another western-based program, Las Vegas Bishop Gorman.
A Southern California program that figures to be among the eight-team, CIF Southern Section Open playoff pool (Centennial has won it two years in a row), Chatsworth Sierra Canyon, faces Miami Columbus (and sophomores Cameron and Cayden Boozer) at 1 p.m. (ET).
The final two games, also televised by ESPN, are Montverde (FL) Academy vs. Bellaire (KS) Sunrise Academy (3 ET) and Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy vs. Chandler (AZ) Compass Prep (5).
In the last of the eight games played Sunday, forward Justin Edwards scored 25 points as Philadelphia Imotep beat Brooklyn Cardinal Hayes, 62-59.
In the first seven games:
Chantilly (VA) Paul VI 72, Roselle (NJ) Catholic 59: The Lions have players headed for North Carolina (Simeon Wilcher), Duke (Mackenzie Mgbako) and Arizona State (Akil Watson) but never really threatened the 14-1 Panthers.
DeShawn Harris-Smith (he signed with the University of Maryland in November) had little difficulty whatever he wanted to for the winners: 23 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and four steals.
Chandler (AZ) Compass Prep 55, Mouth of Wilson (VA) Oak Hill Academy 35: Forward Zayden High (who is from the Dallas area) scored 15 points with six rebounds to help his team prevail in a sluggish (at best; the teams combined for 34 turnovers and missed 34 of 38 shots from behind the arc) contest two of the most high profile “prep school” programs in the country.
Chicago Simeon 52, Long Island Stepinac 39: Forward Miles Rubin (who is staying close to home for college; he signed with Loyola in November) had 17 points and eight rebounds as his team improved to 16-1 – five days after its first loss.
Philadelphia Neumann Goretti 55, St. Louis Vashon: Junior guard Robert Wright III (already committed to Baylor) went for 17 points, five rebounds, six assists and five steals for the winners. He was a standout at the Pangos All-American Camp in Las Vegas last June.
Baltimore Mount Saint Joseph 54, Laurel (KY) North London 48: The Gaels (18-3) got 14 points and 10 rebounds from Amani Hansberry (Virginia Tech) while junior Tyonne Farrell had 19 points, four rebounds, five assists and four blocked shots. Senior guard Reed Sheppard missed 16 of 21 shots from the field. But the Kentucky-bound guard scored 13 points with 13 rebounds and five assists for North London.
Hyattsville (MD) DeMatha 66, Brooklyn Bishop Loughlin 54: The Stags overcame a 37 percent shooting performance to improve to 12-5.
Four players scored from nine to 14 points for the winners, with 6-8 junior Malcolm Thomas (the son of former Syracuse and NBA player Etan Thomas) collecting 13 points, grabbing nine rebounds, and blocking three shots.
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