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LONG BEACH, Ca. – The fifth BallisLife boys’ basketball All-American Game, presented by the U.S. Army, is set for a 5 p.m. (PT) tipoff Saturday at Long Beach City College.

But the action and excitement – for those who love 3-point shooting and dunks of all varieties – begin earlier than that.

The 3-point shooting and dunking contests are set to get underway at 3:15 p.m. and, no doubt, some will find those aspects of the event even more tantalizing than the “game itself.

Nine of the 23 players scheduled to play in the game are based in Southern California: Bennie Boatwright of Sun Valley Village Christian and Chimezie Metu (Lawndale), each of which signed with USC in November; CIF Southern Section Open Division Player of the Year Stephen Thompson Jr.

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LOUISVILLE – A final-day wrap-up from Sunday’s action at session II of the Under Armour Association spring action at the MidAmerican Sports Center:

*I watched a couple of terrific backcourts Sunday via WE R1 (Delaware-based), in its 53-36 win over Team Felton (South Carolina), and the Houston Defenders in their 69-67 defeat of Net Gain Sports (Minnesota).

WE R1 has, perhaps, the best Class of 2017 starting backcourt anywhere on the club/travel ball circuit in Quade Green (Philadelphia Neumann Goretti) and Trevon Duval (Newark, NJ, St.

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LEXINGTON, Ky. – All of the big names of the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League were on display Saturday at the Kentucky Basketball Academy on the second day of the second weekend of the 2015 EYBL.

Among those players were 6-foot-9 Harry Giles (Winston-Salem, NC, Wesleyan Christian) of Team CP3, 6-7 Jayson Tatum (St. Louis Chaminade) of the St. Louis Eagles and 6-4 Malik Monk (Bentonville, AR) of the Arkansas Wings – each, certainly, to be found in a consensus selection of the five best prospects in the national class of 2016.

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LOUISVILLE – With as many as five games going on at the same time in the building over five hours Friday night, one could easily have found himself in scramble mode during the second weekend of the Under Armour Association Grassroots Basketball League in the Mid-American Sports Center.

And I was at my scrambling best while watching big chunks of six 17Under games and two more in the 16U division.

So here goes.

I’ll rehash what I saw in the approximate order in which I watched it:

*Coach Mike Mullins’ Illinois Wolves got an impressive jump shooting performance out of 6-foot-5 Nate Kennell (Metamora, IL, High) in their 50-40 win against New Heights (NY).

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LAGUNA NIGUEL – In a season in which there were multiple candidates within the senior class for the honor it’s a member of the Class of 2016 who bagged the BurlisonOnBasketball Most Outstanding Player nod.

Lonzo Ball of Chino Hills High, the best point guard prospect produced in Southern California since Baron Davis was a senior at Santa Monica Crossroads 18 years ago, is the BurlisonOnBasketball Southern California Most Outstanding Player for the 2014-15 season.

Ball, who committed to UCLA more in the winter of 2013, averaged 24.3 points, 11.3 rebounds, 9.1 assists, 4.5 steals and 3.5 blocked shots per game.

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