LAS VEGAS — The Southern California contingent among the 100-plus players from across the country made a collective nice accounting of itself during Sunday’s opening night of the 21st Pangos Boys Basketball All-American Camp at Bishop Gorman High.
And a trio of the 14 Southlanders came from one program.
It will come as no surprise to anyone with an inkling of what transpired during the 2022-23 season that Studio City’s Harvard-Westlake is the program that is repped like no other at the camp, which continues Monday and wraps up Tuesday afternoon.
Coach David Rebibo’s Wolverines were 33-2 while bagging their first-ever California Interscholastic (CIF) Open Division crown in the Sacramento Kings’ Golden 1 Center on March 11.
Seniors Brady Dunlap and Jacob Huggins from that lineup are St. John’s- and Princeton-bound, respectively.
But Rebibo also started two terrific juniors and a superb sophomore.
And, yes, they were on the Gorman gymnasium Sunday night in those Pangos AA uniforms that almost scream “60s psychedelia”.
Juniors Robert Hinton and Trent Perry, along with sophomore Nikolas Khamenia (Hinton and Perry, left to right, sandwiching Khamenia in the posted photo), each had strong moments while playing in front of a large national media turnout and scouting-types from 27 NBA franchises.
*The 6-5 Hinton (the only one of the three at this camp a year ago; he’s already committed to Harvard University for the 2024-25 academic year and season) hit two of his four shots for the “Florida State” camp team in its 82-77 loss to North Carolina.
*The 6-4 Perry (the BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Junior of the Year last season and one of the mostly heavily recruited point guards in the national 2024 Class) hit a couple of 3s with a game-high seven assists in Syracuse’s 85-82 win over Virginia.
*And the 6-8 Khamenia — still undervalued by most of the national (and even regional) “media”- and “scouting”-types — offered a glimpse of his vast array of physical and mental tools while scoring nine points with a couple of assists as USC cruised past Oregon, 92-62.
Players from the Bellflower St. John Bosco and Corona Centennial squads that Harvard-Westlake beat on the road en route to the CIF Southern Regional Open title had strong Pangos AA debuts Sunday night.
*St. John Bosco’s Elzie Harrington (the BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Sophomore of the Year for ’22-23) had 12 points while credited with six assists and just one turnover for Arizona in its 87-79 toppling of UCLA.
*And 6-4 Eric Freeny of Centennial (who crushed it for the Compton Magic 17s on the adidas circuit in the spring) hit four of five attempts from behind the arc while scoring 14 points for Stanford in its 106-87 beatdown of Colorado.
One of Hinton’s Florida State teammates is another Southern California lad and a top-flight prospect from the national class of 2025.
Six-four Brayden Burries (ineligible as a sophomore at Roosevelt in Eastvale after transferring from Riverside Poly) hit two 3s and scored nine points with two assists and a team-high six rebounds in the loss to North Carolina.
He and his Roosevelt teammates will join Harvard-Westlake, St. John Bosco, and Centennial as being among the most closely watched teams during the Cali Live and Section 7 events later this month.
*And there was a SoCal “family reunion”, of sorts, on the North Carolina team Sunday night.
First cousins Mercy Miller (Notre Dame in Sherman Oaks) and Vyctorius Miller (Compass Prep in Chandler, AZ; but he starred at Crean Lutheran in Irvine in SoCal as a sophomore) combined for 52 points, including nine 3s, and nine assists.
The best “post” in the national class of 2024 succinctly demonstrated why I call him that Sunday night with his both-ends-of-the-floor performance in Duke’s win against Notre Dame.
Six-foot-nine Flory Bidunga (Kokomo in the city of that name in Indiana) toyed with guys last summer during the NBPA Top 100 Camp in Orlando and the Pangos All-American Festival in Long Beach, CA.
And it was much of the same Sunday night as the left hander was too quick, too bouncy, too skilled, and too energetic for anyone who tried to check him. He didn’t miss a shot in seven attempts with eight rebounds and four assists.
Three of those assists came by way of 6-8 forward Ryan Jones’ four 3-pointers and 18-point effort.
Jones is a 2024 power forward from Rock Hill High in Gainesville in Florida.
Game action in the camp resumes at 3 p.m. (PT) Monday.
All the games are live-streamed and archived by BallerTV.
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