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BEAVERTON, Ore. – The “Arizona” team closed activities by knocking off “Idaho” in the championship of the Great 8 Tournament early Sunday afternoon during the second and final day of The Hoop Circuit’s Prospect Camp at the Beaverton YMCA.

Approximately 150 players, spread over 16 teams, played four games apiece – plus the single-elimination, eight-minute affairs to close the camp – during the James Johnson-fronted event that attracted many of the top Northwest-based prospects from the Classes of 2026 to ’22.

The Arizona team was led by two of the best “sleepers” from the Class of 2022 in the Northwest, 6-foot-4 Devon Malcolm (South Salem in Oregon) and 6-5 Caden Harris (Summit in Bend, OR), along with one of the elite “big” prospects in all of the West from the Class of 2024, 6-10 Austin Maurer (Medford, OR, Cascade Christian).

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BEAVERTON, Ore. – Approximately 150 boys’ high school basketball players, based in the Pacific Northwest, hooked up in Saturday during the first of the two days of the James Johnson-fronted The Hoop Circuit Prospect Camp at the Beaverton YMCA.

The players were divided among 16 camp teams. I was able to watch half of those teams during the four games I was court-side for Saturday evening.

Action resumes Sunday morning at 9 o’clock, and I’m determined to see as much of the other teams the other eight teams as possible.

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SAN DIEGO – It, like a whole lot of things in everyone’s lives, was impacted by COVID-19, putting Aaron Burgin’s annual Crème of the County on hold for 2020.

But Burgin’s handywork bounced back in a big way in 2021, with 10 games – tipping Saturday morning at 9 at St. Augustine High – showcasing pretty much every quality player in San Diego County from the classes of 2026 to ’22.

Action began with the 2026 Crème Game, showcasing notable future high school standouts among current eighth-graders such as 6-foot-1 Ty Ingram and 5-9 Isaiah Rogers (both of which are part of the Compton Magic club program); 6-2 Jeremiah Profit and 5-8 Jeremiah Turner (both Gamepoint); 5-10 Jaden Bailes (San Diego Soldiers); 6-0 Jayden Gray (San Diego Prospects) and  6-4 Jaidyn Tanner (Roadrunners).

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LONG BEACH – Six-foot-eight seniors Jorge Ochoa (La Mirada High) and Elijah Price (St. Anthony) scored 21 and 14 points, respectively to lead the white jerseys to a 79-64 victor over their black counterparts Tuesday night in the Crème of the Crop All-Star.

The game, the last of four played in the Assumption Greek Church gymnasium, served as the finale to the three-week Pangos Best of SoCal Fall League.

Scoring in double figures for the black jerseys were 6-4 jump shooter-deluxe Malik Moore (a senior at Heritage Christian) and 6-8 Jimmy Oladokun Jr.

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LAS VEGAS – Class of 2022 post Jaxon Kohler’s performance Sunday afternoon was a precise, on-court definition of dominating while he led the West to the championship of the second Pangos All-American Festival 4 in the Ampus Academy Gymnasium.

Kohler, from Utah but set to play for his fourth prep program in Southern California Academy, used his size (6-foot-8ish and 240 pounds or so), strength, unparalleled footwork, deep bag of ball and head fakes, shooting touch and – especially – patience to score 53 points as the West toppled its East counterpart, 133-112.

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