SoCalHoops Tournament News

Best In the West Summer Shootout
Highlights: Day One--(June 28, 1999)

Game 1:  Compton Centennial v. Redondo Union:

We didn't see this game, but we did get several reports, and at least now that we have the rosters, this will make some sense. The class listings are for the 99-00 year (i.e., they represent the class the player will be this next school year):

Now you'd think that with only a few guys on the roster like Redondo has, they could afford another number, but apparently Andrew Zahn and Paul Meyen were sharing the same jersey. Or at least the same number.  And we have no idea where Andrew's 'little' brother Adam is right now, but evidently he wasn't playing yesterday. Centennial also reportedly had Jamal Barnes (at least that's what we were told) and evidently he must have transferred along with Rod Palmer from Compton over to Centennial, and Centennial has also apparently picked up Jeremiah Thompson (6'-4" Sr. PF) from Compton, but he wasn't playing yesterday either.  From what we heard, Barnes and Weaver really put the screws to Redondo, which was led by Mollins' great scoring in the second half (he finished with 25 points).  Centennial actually led the game by a point, and Barnes went to the line with a chance to put Centennial up by three, but he missed the first and made the second to put Centennial up by two. Mollins managed to get off a shot, but Zahn was called for basket interference.  Weaver then hit two more from the line to give Centennial the 77-73 win. Walter White played great, and finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Game 2: Mayfair v. JW North

Josh Childress scored 30 points as Mayfair just hammered JW North, 75-46. North managed to get good performances from Lionel Dixon and a couple of others, including Micah Anderson.

Game 3: Artesia v. Lakewood

The big news out of Artesia was not that they won the game, or that most of the second half was played by young guys, including Armand Ivory who played especially well, and the news also wasn't the final score, which was a complete blowout, as Artesia first led 55-16 at the half and then managed to hang on for a 108-29 victory.  Nope, the really big news out of Artesia is that apparently the entire starting five of this great team will be at ABCD camp next week.  Jack Martinez, Andre Hazel, Amaury Fernandez, Samuel Nadeau, and Jon Steffanson, and knowing just how limited the invites are to the camp, it's quite a major accomplishment to get there, let alone to get five teammates invited.

Game 4 Dominguez v. Rosemead

Just looking at the rosters, it's not hard to tell who won, and Dominguez, the defending state champs in D-II with a lot of new faces, managed to power through to a 98-32 win. From what we saw on the score sheets last night (remember, we didn't see the game) Keith Brooks had 20 points and was named the player of the game. We'll have to check out Dominguez probably Friday night, because with these scores, we're anticipating that Dominguez and Artesia will both be the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, and thus will end up at opposite ends of the Championship bracket and will meet in the final game Friday night at 7:30 p.m.

Game 5  Upland v. Gardena Serra

Serra didn't have Aerick Sanders, while Upland did have Kirk Snyder and the resulting size mismatch led to a 31 point game differential, as Upland won 73-42.  Snyder finished with 20 points, and was selected (according to the scoring sheet on the wall of the gym) as the "Player of the Game".   Maybe things will be different when Aerick returns. He was at the Majerus "Big Man" camp last week, and this week, we've heard he's at another camp. Next week he leaves for ABCD camp and then will spend the rest of July playing at West Coast All-Stars Camp and with the Pump N Run I team in Vegas and at the Best of Summer.

Game 6:  Crossroads v. Ontario

Crossroads won this game, but just barely, 56-45, and Felipe Williams was selected as the Player of the Game. Other than that, we really don't know much about what really happened in the game. But at least we've got the summer rosters. :-)

Game 6: Long Beach Jordan v. San Diego Bonita Vista

Long Beach Jordan just creamed these guys from San Diego, 87-48, whoever they were, and actually that wasn't the big news. Nope, the big news is that A.J. Diggs, who was formerly at St. Anthony's has transferred to Long Beach Jordan. He played with the Jordan team at the LA Watts Summer Games, and then played again yesterday, and he and Travon Bryant are good friends, besides being sometime teammates on the Belmont Shore team coached by Dinos Trigonis.  

Game 7: Clovis West v. San Bernardino

Looking at these teams on paper, you'd never guess that Fresno Clovis West would win by 50 points, 106-56, but then that's why teams don't play on paper. The Clovis West Eagles reportedly just killed San Bernadino on defense, forcing a turnover on just about every other possession. The Dominican Republic was well represented with Charlie Rodriguez inside. Chris Hernandez, who is not from the Dominican Republic, scored 20 points.  And as Frank Burlison notes in his column today, with Jack Martinez, Amaury Fernandez, Ryan Matos, Charlie Rodriguez and just one other player, the Dominican Republic might just make a serious run in the next Olympics competition.

Game 8:  Long Beach Poly v. Fontana

We've already posted the rosters and our impressions of this game.  Check out the article here at this link.

Game 9: Harvard Westlake v. Ayala

This game was also pretty much a blowout, and H-W had literally no bench.  Missing were Jon Venick, Rob Krauss, Jesse Gurman, Chad Garson (who is at the Stanford baseball camp), Rob Wizenberg, Richard Nicholson, Spencer Torgan (who also plays football), and Drew Firestone. We also understand that Teddy Boxberger may have moved to Texas, so the Wolverines only had Lakey, Scott, Weinstein, Geffner, Coffey,  Hooks, and one other player who was probably Obbunariri, but we can't be sure because he didn't play too much.  Ayala, on the other hand, had a full complement of players, and they just dissasembled H-W breaking out to an 18 point halftime lead and eventually winning 72-45.

 
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