LONG BEACH — Twenty-nine players — seven of those from outside of Southern California — were put through three hours of drills and scrimmaging Saturday at McBride High during the fifth Kenny Smith-led, Pangos/Full Court Prep Lead Guard Workout.
Smith, now better known as the most insightful member of the NBA on TNT crew, was an all-American guard at the University of North Carolina whose 10-year NBA career included helping lead the Houston Rockets to championships in 1994 and ’95.
Among those in attendance — and, of course, impressing — were point guards who led their teams to California State titles last spring, Trent Perry of Harvard-Westlake, and Jason Crowe Jr. of Lynwood (pictured right to left).
Perry, who helped the Wolverines go 33-2 last season, is being recruited by a multitude of college programs and plans to visit the TCU campus in Ft. Worth soon.
USC, Colorado, Virginia, and Stanford are among the other programs in hot pursuit.
Crowe, who turned 15 last month and is rapidly growly (he may be just a shade below 6-foot-4) was the BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Freshman of the Year after leading the Knights to the State D-V crown.
Perry’s Harvard-Westlake teammate, junior Nikolas Khamenia, was another of the Saturday standouts.
He is the most skilled player at his size (6-8) in California and is no worse than one of the five-best prospects in the western Class of 2025.
Khamenia has an “official” recruiting visit scheduled for Gonzaga in two weeks. UCLA is among the dozens of other notable programs who’ve made Khamenia a prime target for the Nov. 2025 signing period.
Joining Crowe as first-team, all-BurlisonOnBasketball freshman selections from last season at the camp were Brannon Martinson (Mater Dei), Kaiden Bailey (Crean Lutheran) and Tajh Ariza (St. Bernard).
Ariza (son of Trevor Ariza) was one of three NBA “offspring” at the camp, joining Trent MacLean (Thousand Oaks/dad, Don, will go down as the top scorer in the soon-to-be-defunct Pac 12’s history) and Malloy Smith (Mater Dei/Kenny Smith is his pops).
One of Northern California’s top players from the Class of 2026, 6-3 Elias Obenyah, wrapped up a terrific spring and summer with a strong effort Saturday.
He’s a key reason that Richmond Salesian could go into the 2023-24 season as the top-ranked team up north.
Camp Roster
- Nick Jefferson 6-1/Jr. Las Vegas Bishop Gorman
- Isaac Williamson 6-1/Jr. Eastvale Roosevelt
- Gavin Hightower 6-1/Jr. A. Windward
- Zander Ovies 6-1/So. San Diego Torrey Pines
- Jaden Bailes 6-1/So. San Diego St. Augustine
- Styles Phipps 6-2/Sr. Phoenix St. Mary’s
- Kaiden Bailey 6-3/So. Irvine Crean Lutheran
- Jason Crowe Jr. 6-3/So. Lynwood
- Elias Obenyah 6-3/So. Richmond Salesian
- Malloy Smith 6-4/So. Santa Ana Mater Dei
- Kota Suttle Jr. 6-3/So. Marietta (GA) Wheeler
- Malachi Knight 6-3/Jr. Lawndale Leuzinger
- Drew Kaplan 6-3/Jr. Dedham (MA) Nobles & Greenough School
- Mazi Mosley 6-4/Jr. La Canada St. Francis
- Delan Grant 6-2/So. La Canada St. Francis
- Trent Perry 6-4/Sr. Studio City Harvard-Westlake
- Jacob Bayla 6-4/Sr. Cerritos Valley Christian
- Shamar Jones 6-5/Jr. Mountain House (CA)
- Braeden Davidson 6-2/So. Irvine Crean Lutheran
- Christian Collins 6-7/So. Playa del Rey St. Bernard
- Tajh Ariza 6-6/So. Playa del Rey St. Bernard
- Jayden Harris 6-6/Jr. A. Windward
- Kendyl Sanders 6-7/Sr. Playa del Rey St. Bernard
- Brannon Martinson 6-7/So. Santa Ana Mater Dei
- Caspian Jones 6-7/Jr. Phoenix St. Mary’s
- Nikolas Khamenia 6-8/Jr. Studio City Harvard-Westlake
- Dallas Washington 6-9/Jr. RSM Santa Margarita
- Trent MacLean 6-9/Jr. Thousand Oaks
- Louis Bond 6-4/Jr. A. Windward
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