SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Double Pump Premier Tourney: No Limit--
Life In Victor Valley--(Sept. 27, 1999)

One team we saw, but only briefly during the weekend Double Pump Fall Premier was No Limit Basketball, a group of players from the Victor Valley area, mostly from Victor Valley and Silverado High Schools.  No Limit played this past summer at the Slam N Jam NIT but we didn't get to see them there due to conflicts with the scheduling at the Double Pump Best of Summer with teams we otherwise wanted to see, so this was our first real opportunity to get a look at them, and unfortunately, we didn't get to spend too much time watching them this weekend either.  We did see about half of their quarterfinal game against BWBA I in the championship side of the bracket on Sunday morning, which started at the ungodly time of 9:00 a.m. which was just brutal considering we didn't get to sleep until well after 2:00 a.m. after writing and trying to process all the pictures we'd taken on Saturday.

But here's what we do know about them and some of their better players, mostly based upon the one game we saw and some background that their coach provided.  They played Carson Basketball (Nevada) in the first round,  a game which they won.  Ryan Dillon (6'-4" Sr. PG/SG) from Victory Valley had 27 points and 6 assists to go along with 7 boards. Jeremiah Phillips (6'-6" Sr. F) from Silverado got 16 points while pulling down 19 boards.Corey Stinson (5'-7" Sr. PG) a little speedster from Victor Valley had 6 points and contributed with 9 assists and 6 steals. In the second game, they played the OC Rebels, the team that had knocked off the Pump II team (the one with all that really, really tall talent) the night before, and perhaps the effort exerted against the Pump team was too much, as No Limit jumped out to a 16 point lead about halfway through the first half. Ryan Dillon again came out strong as did Anthony Oshnigua (6'-0" Sr. SG) from Silverado, and they both hit for a couple of threes each in the first half. Corey Stinson was running the break well, and Jeremiah was pretty effective getting the defnsive boards. It was kind of an interesting matchup with the little 5'-7" guard on Roger Hogan (6'-0" Sr. PG) from Servite, but Stinson's speed was really effective on Hogan. No Limit also knew OC had some great shooters so the defense worked especially hard to close out Robert Turner and Hogan from outside. Ryan Dillon scored a team high 29 points, and made 4 assists, and grabbed 8 boards; Jeremiah Phillips had 16 points, 19 rebounds and Anthony Oshnigua scored 19.

In the third game on Saturday, they played a tough Future Stars team, the same team that in the game before this one had beaten up on their previous opponent by the score of 100-26, a game in which FS had never taken off the press despite their overwhelming win. No Limit again came out really strong and built a 12-14 point lead early, and the lead fluctuated between 10-14 points for all but the last few minutes. The same guys played very well for No Limit, and Edmund Elzy (6'-5" Sr. SG/SF) from Victor Valley played one of his better games,  scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 boards. Ryan Dillon also had 21 and 8, Jeremiah had 10 and 16, all pretty impressive numbers. Little Corey Stinson dished off 9 assists and had 7 steals to go along with 6 points. Of course we didn't see the first three games, so we're relying on what the coach told us about these games, but we did get to see their fourth game, a quarterfinal contest against BWBA I.

Unfortunately, all that good shooting they'd been doing in the prior games must have been used up because the team we saw, while extremely quick, didn't really shoot all that well early on Sunday morning. While the score was close at the half and No Limit was only down by 4, the wheels pretty much came off and at the end of the game, Gottlieb's team had a pretty good lead of 16 or 18 points and pretty much cruised the last few minutes. Evidently for the first time in the tournament, at least according to the No Limit coach,  Jeremiah was matched up with someone who liked to play as rough as he did, and he got the pleasure of meeting Ben Jacobsen (6'-6" Sr. PF) from Omaha, Nebraska, one of the toughest guys in this tournament under the boards. Jeremiah still managed 10 points and 9 boards, but Ryan Dillon was cold, hitting for only 14.  BWBA played a very solid game, and when they went up by 8 they went to a zone defense (something which Gottlieb used throughout the tournament).

We also managed to get some insight into some of the players on the roster:

Ryan Dillon--Ryan may be one of the best players coming out of the High Desert this year. This past summer he played on the High Five America team, averaging about 15 points a game. He will be a four year varsity player, and can cover both the one and the two spots. An excellent student of the game,  Ryan is a very smart, saavy player, with excellent ball handling ability, an exceptional passer, and a very good jumper who can shoot from way out on the perimeter.  Last year at Victor Valley, Ryan averaged 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists per game, and shot 43% from beyond the arc, Ryan according to his coach, Ryan has received interested from New Mexico State, UCSB (although we do not believe they are recruiting him any longer), San Diego State, Cal State Fullerton, and Davidson Ryan is a 3.8 student with a 970 SAT score and will be a full qualifier.

Jeremiah Phillips-- Phillips is a banger who should do well at a mid major or top GSAC school. This weekend at the Pump Premeir he averaged over 18 rebounds per game.  His style is a very physical brand of basketball, something that's often hard to teach guys to do, but he loves to get in and bang. Has a nice touch around the basket and has worked on his outside game, only needs to improve his handle to become a complete player. He averaged 12 points and 11 rebounds per game at Silverado last year. He has a a 3.5 GPA and is scheduled to take the SAT in October, so we'll find out later if he is a qualifier.  He has been received prior interest from CSUN, UCSB, and Point Loma College among others.

Anthony Oshnigua--An athletic guy with an excellent jump shot who can elevate well on his shot, he can play both the one and two spot. He has an excellent  catch and shoot jump shot which combined with good foot speed and a quick release makes him hard to contain. Has a 3.7 GPA and is scheduled to take the SAT in October.

Corey Stinson--Corey is a very quick, agile little guard who can single handedly break a press.  He's an effective penetrator who can drive and dish, and on the break will finish. Corey is a sleeper who will certainly help some smaller school program, and despite his size, he's one of the tougher guys out there.

Edmund Elzy--He is really a three, with a good handle and nice outside shot. According to his coach, this summer he shot 7 three pointers in a game against Etiwanda summer. Will certainly help a small college program somewhere, he's got a 3.5 GPA and will also take the SAT in October.

 
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