Utah Prospects open EYBL comp with win over JL3

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MESA, AZ – The Utah Prospects – after winning consecutive 17U championships on the adidas/3SSB spring and summer circuit – didn’t waste any time Friday night showing they are well-equipped to challenge for the ultimate team hardware against Nike/EYBL competition as well.

The Tim Davis– and Lynn Lloyd-led program, whose move to the Nike grassroots program was announced on Oct. 11, faced JL3 (the Houston-based program fronted by NBA legend John Lucas) in their EYBL debut Friday on the first day of the first EYBL spring session in the Arizona Athletic Grounds.

And it couldn’t have gone much better.

With 6-foot-3 Ikenna Alozie (from Dream City Christian in Glendale, AZ) and 6-5 Junior County (Wasatch Academy in Mount Pleasant, UT) scoring 20 and 17 points, respectively, the team from Utah – trailing by eight points in the first quarter – steadily gained control with its half-court defense and offensive execution and prevailed, 65-53.

“I’m sure a lot of people were skeptical (when the “shoe circuit” move for Utah Prep was announced),” a beaming County (pictured) said afterward.

“But we came here to prove what we could do (vs. EYBL competition).”

Playing against a team that included the sons of Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon (6-8 Aziz Olajuwon of Clements in Sugar Land, TX) and former and future NBA head coach Monty Williams (6-6 Elijah Williams of TMI Episcopal in San Antonio), the Prospects got a lot of their offense after throwing the ball into 6-10, 270-pound Jamyn Sondrup (Springville, UT).

Sondrup scored 11 points to go with rebounds while carving space for Alozie (the Most Outstanding Player in the 3SSB 17U championships in Greenville, SC, last July) to turn into drives and finishes, and County for pull up jump shots.

There were 38 games played Friday across the 17s, 16s and 15s divisions – the same number scheduled for Saturday (action tipping at 12:30 p.m.) and Sunday (tipping at 8 a.m.) at the 10-court facility.

In some of the other games I watched at least parts of Friday evening:

*The Southern California-based Team Why Not (fronted by future Hall of Famer Russell Westbrook, who played for Why Not Director Reggie Morris, Jr., when the now-Redondo Union coach was at Leuzinger High) held off the New York Lightning in a 17s game, 72-65.

The Why Not roster includes five players whose high school teams played in the CIF Southern Section Open Division playoffs last season in S.J. Madison and Chace Holley (Redondo Union), Christian Collins (St. John Bosco), Kaiden Bailey (Santa Margarita) and Maximus Adams (Sierra Canyon), as well as the co-L.A. City Player of the Year Tajh Ariza (who has since left Westchester for St. John Bosco).

The 6-8 Collins scored 28 points (including three 3s and some wicked bangs), with Bailey adding 15 and Madison nine.

TWN hooks up with MOKAN Elite at 2 o’clock in what should be one of Saturday’s better matchups.

Six-five Jahda Swan (Thomas Jefferson in Brooklyn) scored 15 points for NYL and looked every bit like a guard who will be targeted by a lot of Big East Conference-based programs.

*Jason Crowe, Jr., of Inglewood High scored 26 points, with six assists, as the Oakland Soldiers rolled over Houston Hoops, 99-62.

Crowe played the past two springs and summers with Why Not 17s.

Six-six Zachary White of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (another TWN vet) added eight points and four rebounds for the Soldiers while 6-7 Jonathan Dzabatou (Orange Lutheran) chipped in with seven points, three rebounds and three blocked shots.