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Frank Burlison | High School Basketball | College Basketball

Standouts from Saturday’s Long Beach Pangos Camp

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it  LONG BEACH –  One hundred players – from 18 states – were on hand at McBride High Saturday for the “Pangos All-American Preview” boys’ basketball camp.

How many of those athletes will end up attending The Pangos All-American Camp, set to return to Bishop Gorman High in Las Vegas, June 2-4?

Well, that will be up the Pangos/Belmont Shore CEO, Dinos Trigonis.

But here are some of the guys whose play caught my attention over the course of 13 games Saturday (including The Top 30ish All-Star clash that wrapped things up), starting with those who are Southern California-based.

*CIF Southern Section Division 1 runner-up Windward was represented by four players, three of which – seniors-to-be Gavin Hightower, Jeremiah Hampton, and J.J. Harris – were standouts for the D.J. Gay-coached club that went 29-5, including the sectional and regional losses to Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and St. John Bosco, respectively.

The 6-foot-1 Hightower and 6-5 Hampton (all-CIF selections) were joined in the camp all-star game by Harris.

*Another all-CIF SS D-1 selection, 6-5 Hudson Mayes of Redondo Union (pictured), was also an all-star choice after scoring 16 and 18  points, respectively, for the “Indiana” team in its two camp games.

Mayes, who led the Sea Hawks to a 25-6 record that included losses at Notre Dame in the D-1 sectional semifinals and at Damien in a D-I regional quarterfinal, is scheduled to play for the Why Not club in the Nike/EYBL circuit this spring and summer.

*Two Orange County post players from the Class of 2025 who figure to draw a lot of college recruiters’ attention this spring and summer also played in the all-star game.

Based upon their play Saturday, Danny Kennard (Foothill) and 6-7 ½ Mason Hodges (San Juan Hills) have obviously put in a lot of work since their teams’ seasons ended in the Southern Section playoffs.

Kennard is set to play for the Cali Rebels and Hodges for Gamepoint club programs this spring and summer.

*Six-nine sophomore Samuel Mbingazo ­– who started for the Alemany squad that won the CIF SS D-3A and state D-III championships – scored a game-high 17 points for the team wearing the white jerseys in its 108-95 all-star game victory.

Another sophomore post from the San Fernando Valley, rapidly improving 6-8 Barron Linnekens of sectional and state Open champion Harvard-Westlake, scored eight points for the dark jerseys in the all-star clash.

*I thought two players stood out among the better “jump shooters” in the camp.

One of those was 6-3 Da’Vian Brooks (Knight in Palmdale, the alma mater of the Clippers’ Paul George). He scored 28 points for in his first game (for “Iowa”), 21 of those via 3s.

He’s playing for the Paul George Elite squad on the Nike/EYBL circuit.

*The second of those terrific jump shooters at the camp was 6-4 Caeden Hutcherson, who started his prep career at San Francisco St. Ignatius before transferring to Mitty in in San Jose.

A second superb sophomore at the camp from Northern California was another veteran of Pangos events, 6-8 Maximus VanLaningham (Woodcreek in Roseville), the best vertical athlete” on hand.

VanLaningham – the cousin of former Long Beach Poly, Boston College, and University of Arizona standout (and now member of Sean Miller’s Xavier staff), Ryan Anderson ­– joined Hutcherson in the all-star game.

Another player from the upper half of the state who played well (but wasn’t selected to the all-star game) was 6-4 Andrew Vixon of Liberty in Antioch.

*Nevada and Arizona were represented by the most “non-Californians” at the event and combined for eight players in the all-star game, with juniors Jalen Butler (Las Vegas Shadow Ridge) and D’Andre Harrison (Gilbert, AZ, Perry) scoring 12 and eight points, respectively, for the white jerseys.

Juniors Caspian Jones (Phoenix St. Mary’s) and Jaden Vance (Phoenix Bella Vista Prep) scored 15 and 11 points, respectively, for the dark jerseys. Jones had a game-high three 3s.

*Six-four sophomore point guard Katrelle Harmon (Seattle BFL Prep) and 6-7 junior Breylon Webb (Seattle O’Dea) represented Washington in the all-star game.

Harmon, Gavin Hightower, and Jordan Ellerbee (Philadelphia St. Joseph’s Prep) were – as all this is, from my perspective – the best of the “point guard-types” in the camp.

*Six-three Mekhi Robertson (Life Center Academy in Burlington, NJ) and 6-5 Anthony Etheridge (San Diego St. Augustine) were the two members of the Class of 2027 in the all-star game.

Robertson might have been the most dynamic open-court scorer in the camp.

And Etheridge is well onto the path to being one of the best players that one of the state’s best coaches – Mike Haupt – has helped produce.

*Three Class of 2025 members from the Midwest – 6-5 Nolan Groves (Orono in Long Lake, MN), 6-5 Matas Gaidukevicius (Lemont in Illinois) and 6-7 Nehemiah McMorris (Northland in Columbus, OH) ­ – were selected for the all-star game, although Gaidukevicius couldn’t play before of his travel schedule.

Groves, set to play for the JSizzle 17s on the adidas circuit the spring and summer, has a weighted GPA of 4.4 with nothing lower than an A on his transcript.

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