Frank Burlison

LONG BEACH, Ca. – The Utah Prospects program left the city with championships in the 14-, 15- and 16-under divisions Monday afternoon.

But it was the Southern California-based Double Pump squad that captured the biggest prize during the final day of the Magic Memorial Festival in the Cabrillo High gymnasium.

Despite trailing by as many as eight points in the second half, Double Pump took the lead at 48-46 over the L.A. Rockfish with about 30 seconds to go and that shot by L.A. Dorsey High senior-to-be Tommie Groce proved to provide the final points of the Battlezone 17U bracket.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – Josh Jackson is a multi-skilled prospect, by way of Michigan, who played for the “Prolific Prep” academy in Northern California’s Napa Valley this past season.

And, like all of the region’s extraordinary wine, Jackson’s on-court talents have already aged quite well, thank you very much.

Jackson was the narrow choice over Jayson Tatum (St. Louis Chaminade) and Lonzo Ball (Chino Hills in Southern California as the BurlisonOnBasketball national “Junior of the Year” for the 2014-15 season.

The 20 players were chosen based upon their on-court accomplishments and not necessarily on how extensively they are being recruited, or will be recruited, for their on-court potential in college.

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DOWNEY, Ca. – Ryan Silver’s West Coast Elite Spring Breakout Camp offered a nice sampling of Southern California’s top prep players across the graduation classes Saturday and Sunday at Warren High.

Saturday was a showcase for some of the best of the “soon-to-be” high school standouts in the Classes of 2019 and ’20 (current seventh- and eighth-graders).

Among the most polished and impressive of those from the Class of 2019 included 6-foot-2 Jared Lucas (Hacienda Heights), 6-4 Johnny Juzang (Oak Park), 6-0 Amani Harris (Inglewood), 6-5 Matt Bender (San Diego) and 6-0 Jadon Jones (Long Beach).

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HOUSTON – Weekend No. 3 of the 2015 Nike Elite Youth Basketball is a wrap.

And, after spending hefty portions of Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the MI3 center, here are some observations and my selection of the 35 guys who most impressed me over the weekend:

*By the slimmest of margins, Jayson Tatum is my choice as the “Player of the Weekend” after helping the St. Louis Eagles go 4-0 over the weekend and improved their EYBL record to

The 6-foot-8 Tatum (St. Louis Chaminade High) averaged 26.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists as the Eagles picked up wins over Team Penny, Houston Hoops, Elfrid Payton Elite and Spiece Indy Heat to improve to 9-3 on the season going into the final weekend of spring play in Minneapolis on Memorial Weekend.

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HOUSTON — Harry Giles and Jayson Tatum arrived in Texas this weekend with reputations firmly in place as two of the three or four best high school basketball players in the Class of 2016.

And their performances Saturday in the MI-3 Center only serve to enhance those reputations.

*The 6-foot-9 Giles (Winston-Salem, NC, Wesleyan Christian) averaged 26.0 points (hitting a combined 21 of 34 from the field) and 14.0 rebounds per game as CP3 collected wins over MOKAN Elite and Seattle Rotary in the second day of the third weekend of Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League at the MI-3 Center.

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