DRAPER, UT – Some of the best boys basketball programs in the west tipped off Wednesday afternoon during the start of the four-day, seventh Great Western Summer Classic – headquartered at Juan Diego Catholic High in this Salt Lake City suburb with other games (in girls and boys divisions) played at local schools as well.
During its run the GWSC has proven a nifty showcase as to why Utah is home to some of the most underrated high school hoops in the country.
And that will be the case again this week, as the likes of squads from American Fork and Timpview (from near-by Provo) demonstrated Wednesday in victories over Woods Cross and Ridgeline (Millville), respectively.
Several programs from Idaho are also again part of the event, notably Owyhee of Meridian – which, under Coach Andy Harrington, has won state championships in three of its four years in existence.
The Storm were scheduled to arrive into town at about 1 o’clock (MT) Thursday afternoon, with games set with near-by Corner Canyon (at 6) and Timpview (two hours later) on Juan Diego’s main gym floor.
The Owyhee and Timpview squads will be neatly tucked somewhere in the west’s Top 10 going into next November’s start of the 2025-26 season.
Timpview (playing as the T’Birds here under recently hired head coach Brad Kitchen) also hooks up with American Fork at 6 o’clock in what should also be of the more competitive and entertaining clashes of the event.
Those three programs will be among those here that are scheduled to be in Mesa (AZ) for the June 20-22 Section 7, where they will compete against many of the other outstanding teams in the west in front of hundreds of college coaches.
American Fork didn’t return a 2023-24 full-time starter last season which led in large part to an 8-17 finish for the Cavemen of Coach Ryan Cuff.
But eight of those defeats were by margins of six or fewer points, including a 65-63, double-overtime decision against eventual State 6A champion Davis in the playoffs.
The bulk of the key players from that team return, including seniors-to-be Bryce Mella and Jax Clark (pictured), as well as junior-to-be Jax Oyler and one of the state’s best players in the Class of 2028, Dieter Tuitavuki.
Each was outstanding Wednesday afternoon in American Fork’s 54-40 win, with the 6-8 Clark demonstrating why he’ll be one of the best “power forward/skilled post” prospects at Section 7.
And the 6-5 Mella – a quality jump shooter and floor leader – is a member of the Utah Prospects program that won consecutive adidas 3SSB 17U championships but is now on the Nike/EYBL circuit.
The others on the Tim Davis– and Lynn Lloyd-fronted Prospects 17U team whose high school squads are here include 6-8 Dean Rueckert and 6-9 Will Openshaw of Timpview, 6-10 Jamyn Sondrop of Springville and 6-6 Simeon Sugutaraga of Orem.
All the games in the event are live-streamed and archived by BallerTV.
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