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LA VERNE, Ca. – Some of Southern California’s better teams were on display Saturday at Damien High – nine days before the Nov. 18 start of the real boys’ high school basketball season.

Damien’s “Pre-Season Shootout” included eight games involving eight programs, with Mark Keppel (Alhambra), Oak Park, Oaks Christian (Thousand Oaks), Servite (Anaheim), Colony (Ontario), Calabasas, Chaminade (West Hills) and the host Spartans playing twice apiece.

Oak Park played in the day’s first two games, vs. Keppel and Oaks Christian, winning both behind the near-stunning offensive display of University of Pennsylvania-bound guard Clark Slajchert, who averaged 30.4 points per game as a junior.

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THOROFARE, NJ – A reasonable could be made for any of 10 or candidates being tabbed as the Most Outstanding Player during the Saturday-Sunday Pangos All-East Frosh/Soph Camp at the RiverWinds Community Center.

But, after the conclusion of the Top 30 Crème of the Crop All-Star game that wrapped up the event, it was sophomores Roddy Gayle and Khalif Crawley, Jr. posing for pictures together after sharing the honor Sunday afternoon.

The 6-foot-4 Gayle (from Lewiston Porter in Youngstown, NY) was one of the best three or four “pure scorers” among the 230 or so players at the event, nailing jumpers from all ranges while getting a nice bag of dunks, as well.

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THOROFARE, NJ – Twenty-one states were represented by – as would be expected – New Jersey and Pennsylvania players were among those making the biggest impressions Saturday during the first day of the Pangos All-East Frosh/Soph Camp.

Two hundred-plus players were in action at the RiverWinds Community Center, with the athletes spread over 24 teams that played twice apiece.

Action resumes Sunday morning at 9:15, with each team playing once (spread over three courts).

The camp will conclude with two all-star games, beginning at 1:15 in the afternoon and wrapping up about two hours later.

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   La Grange, IL – The balance of high-quality players in the Pangos All-Midwest Frosh/Soph Camp was precisely illustrated by the event’s two all-star games going into overtimes Sunday afternoon at the Park District facility in this Chicago suburb.

But the on-court revelation as to the best player among the 200 or so from 15 states that were on hand couldn’t have been any more emphatic.

Six-foot-seven Omaha Biliew put the wraps on a dominating weekend effort, in which he mostly overwhelmed any and all opponents, by scoring 23 points and grabbing five rebounds while blocking 10 shots in the Top 30 Crème of the Crop game.

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LA GRANGE, Ill. – A year ago, at this same location, then-freshman Jaylen Drane – who had yet to play in a real game at Simeon High in Chicago – was among the best of the back-court players at the Pangos All-Midwest Frosh-Soph Camp.

Fast forward 12 months at The Park District facility to Saturday’s day of the 2019 version of the camp and the obviously has been no stagnation in the 6-foot-2 Drane’s game – quite the opposite, in fact.

Drane (pictured) bordered on the un-guardable during the two games the “Xavier” squad played in the most impressive performance I saw Saturday with 200-plus players spread across 22 teams.

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