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IRVINE, Ca. – The Mater Dei Tournament, always one of the best of the high school boys’ summer events, returns this weekend, with games tipping off at 3:30 Friday afternoon and wrapping up Sunday evening with three games that are scheduled to get underway at 7:45.

This time, however, instead of being played in the Monarchs’ Meruelo Center, the event will be held south of the Mater Dei campus in the multi-court Misty May Sports Center (14522 Myford Road, Irvine).

Among the participants are 12 of the 16 programs that participated in last spring’s CIF Southern Section Open Division playoffs, including Chino Hills – which won both the sectional and state Open crowns while going 35-0.

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NORWALK, Ca. –  The inclination, following the event’s conclusion mid-Sunday afternoon, is to suggest that the 14^th Pangos All-American Camp will often be recalled for the caliber of backcourt prospects in attendance among its approximately (give or take) 110 participants.

Here’s why:

Camp participants Jose Alvarado, Trevon Duval, Quade Green, Jaylen Hands, Trae Young and Isaiah Washington are each among my choices for the Top 10 point guards in the Class of 2017.

Spencer Freedman, JaVonte Smart and Brandon Williams fall into that category for the Class of 2018, with Cole Anthony as good a prospect, at the position, in the Class of 2019 that I’ve seen.

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NORWALK, Ca. – The second day of the 14^th Pangos All-American Camp couldn’t have wrapped up in any more spectacular fashion.

Jose Alvarado found DeAndre Ayton and put the pass into his hands that immediately led to what proved to be the game-winning dunk with seven seconds to go as the Arizona camp team knocked off its Washington counterpart, 89-88, Saturday night in the last of the 12 games played in two sessions on the three full courts that the Cerritos College gymnasium has been configured into for the event.

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NORWALK, Ca. – Years to come – including NCAA Tournaments and NBA drafts – will give us more perspective on the topic.

But, based upon an opening-Friday evening’s viewing at Cerritos College, this Pangos All-American Camp may stack up with the very best of its Dinos Trigonis-fronted 13 predecessors in terms of depth and top-of-the-class “star power”.

A quick example via this collective group of players:

DeAndre Ayton (Phoenix Hillcrest); P.J. Washington (Henderson, NV, Findlay Prep); Billy Preston (who is set to attend Oak Hill Academy in Virginia as a senior after spending his previous season and a half at Advanced Prep International); Brandon McCoy (San Diego Cathedral Catholic); Charles O’Bannon Jr.

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ORANGE, Ca. – All in all, it was quite the memorable Memorial Weekend for the Dante Exum Elite basketball program.

DEE (formerly – and still –  known as the Utah Prospects, captured the 17U and 15U “Battle Zone” divisional titles within a minute of one another Monday afternoon at Orange Lutheran High to cap the three-day Compton Magic/adidas Magic Memorial Tournament.

Taking the 16U Battle Zone crown, about an hour later, was the Urban DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth) Elite.

Trevin Knell, a 6-foot-5 jump-shooting specialist who will be a senior at Wood Cross High in the Utah town of the same name in the fall, scored 19 points in the 49-48 victory over San Diego’s Gamepoint in the 17U game.

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