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SoCalHoops High School & Prep News

Double Pump Best of Summer Tournament
EBO v. Spartans Report #1--(July 21, 1998)

The Best of Summer got going today in a big way and there's lots to report on. EBO and the Spartans (which is mostly Sylmar, with a couple of San Fernando/Alemany, Cleveland, and Chatsworth guys) went at it tonight, and but for EBO's almost complete lack of defense, it was close to the game of the summer as the Spartans put a the fear of God in Boozer et. al. EBO is basically the same EBO team which was in Vegas last week, but this time without Brett Nelson, who was nowhere to be seen. Willie Johnson (6'-4" Sr. G) and DeShawn Stevenson (6'-5" Jr. G) were almost unstoppable, and Carlos Boozer (6'-9" Sr. C) from Juneau, Alaska, looked pretty good when he was in the game, which was not all that often during the first half, as did Chris Lopez (6'-7" Jr. F), and in lieu of Napolean Rhodes (6'-8" Sr. C) who we didn't see at all, Mats brought in Andrew Gooden (6'-9" Sr. F/C) from El Cerrito High in NoCal. And while the EBO roster in the coaches packet listed Doug Wrenn (6'-7" Grad. G/F) who will attend Milford Academy next year, he wasn't playing for them, but instead for the Long Island Panthers. At least we didn't see Doug in the EBO-Spartan game.

The Spartans are basically the Sylmar High team from Sun Valley which won the LA City 3A title last season. Interestingly, Bort Escoto, the school's head coach sat over on the sidelines during the game, and let his assistant coaches do all the game stuff from the bench. Instead of being in the action, he preferred to remain out of the limelight. And no, Gilbert Arenas did not play for the Spartans, nor was he listed in the roster, although tonight was actually a game we would have loved to see him play because it would have meant the long-awaited matchup between Gil and Boozer, the same match that never really occurred during the second session of the West Coast All-Stars, due to Boozer's having been disciplined by Mats Matsubara for his little run-in with the local gendarmes over a loose fire alarm. But that's a different story.

The big story tonight was the Spartans, who played the EBO team even up, actually ahead of EBO at the half, and only losing during the last minute of the game when they were forced to foul, sending EBO to the line three times. The final score of 70-79 doesn't even begin to tell the story, and since it's pretty late, we won't really try ourselves. But we will offer some highlights of some of the players.

Spartans

Jammie Harris (6'-5" Jr. G/F) from Canoga Park High: This is sort of an inside joke, but we promised coach Ralph Turner that we'd lead off with something about Jammie, and the truth is, we probably would have done it anyway. Jammie played great, defending DeShawn Stevenson (to the extent any can really defend against him), and scored well, that is when he got the ball. Jammie is an intriguing player: Quick, smart, with a nice shot, and good instincts around the basket. He played a very nice game, even if he wasn't especially happy about how much time he had during the second half.

Brandon Jacobs (5'-11" Sr. PG) from Sylmar: Played his usual steady and solid game, and showed great maturity and skill with his ball handling. A tremendously quick player with decent hops and a good handle.

David Franklin (5'-11" So. PG/SG) from Grant?? High in Van Nuys: David is young and didn't play ball last season at Grant, reportedly due to personal reasons, but word is that he may enroll at another school and if its any other school in the Valley Pac 8 conference, he's going to be a dangerous player. Although not particularly tall, he's very strong, fast, and makes surprisingly good decisions for a sophomore. Had a great time guarding Cedric Barrow (6'-0" Jr. PG) from Jesuit up north. Probably had at least 10 points, including one very nice three. A great player who, if he finds the right high school program, will be a big time player in two years.

George Wrighster (6'-5" Sr. G/F) from Sylmar: This Buckley transfer (yeah, he'll always be a Buckley transfer to us) played the biggest game so far of his career, playing Carlos Boozer and DeShawn Stevenson, and in fact outplaying them before an audience of virtually every UCLA coach (Lavin, Michael Holton, Jim Saia), a bunch of former UCLA coaches and players, Henry Bibby, Lorenzo Romar, the Stanford coaches, and just about every other coach in the building. In fact almost everyone in the building was watching this game, and George couldn't have done better if he had scripted it. He defended Stevenson heads up, and for our money, out Boozered Boozer. George had some great moves to the basket, and actually shot very well from the perimeter out to about 18'.

Richard Harrison (6'-4" Sr. G/F) from Chatsworth High: We've been pretty high on Richard since we saw him at the War on the Floor this year, and he also vastly improved his stock with the coaches tonight. Made some very heady and smart passes, including threading a couple to Jeremiah Turner down low through some pretty intense traffic with Stevenson, Boozer, Lopez and the rest of the EBO guys. Richard is a strong, tough kid, with a good handle, and, as we found out tonight, great court vision, probably good enough to play the point in college, although he's probably not had too much opportunity to play that position in high school, and actually has some pretty good post up moves down low. A very nice player.

Jeremiah Turner (6'-6" Sr. G/F) from Sylmar: Jeremiah, from a physical point of view, actually reminds us a lot of Gilbert Arenas, with the same sort of athleticism, but clearly not as quick or agile as Gil; just very similar body types, and that same sort of lightness on his feet. Jeremiah played an outstanding game tonight, blocked some big shots by Stevenson (at least when he wasn't dunking), and also impressed a lot of the college coaches.

Joey Youman (6'-7" Sr. C/F) Sylmar: Had a respectable, but not great game. Very athletic, lanky and quick, he blocked at least three of Boozers shots, and rebounded very well. Again, he probably impressed a lot of the scouts, but frankly, most of them were looking at Boozer, D. Stevenson, and maybe Wrighster, Harrison and a couple of others.

The rest of the Sylmar. . er "Spartans" roster included Chris Slade (5'-11" So. G), Brandon Jacobs (5'-11" Sr. PG), Dallas Townsend (6'-3" Sr. F), TK Reed (6'-0" ?? G) also from Sylmar, Devin Montgomery (5'-11" Sr. G) San Fernando/Alemany?, Ronald Ruffin (6'-2" Jr. G) from Chatsworth, a very physically quick player, and a couple of other guys on the roster who we didn't really get a look at, or who didn't play at all, including Damon Derrico from Sylmar, Hohn Townsend, and Marlik Morris.

This was a game which almost gave Mats a heart attack. At least it gave him and the rest of the EBO team a scare for most of the first half and up until about 2:00 left to play in the game, as EBO decided to go to a four corners stall offense, which actually resulted in three turnovers off of bad passes in a row, but the Spartans were only able to capitalize once, and trailing by 4 with less than a minute to go, they were forced to foul. The result was that the clock was stopped, but the EBO scoring from the line wasn't, and finally, they cruised to the 79070 lead.

This was really the last game of the evening, or at least the last game anyone really wanted to watch, which was a shame because there was a very good IEBP v. Galena Five Star game still in progress as this game was ended and the hordes who had been watching EBO and the Spartans left the gym en masse. We actually stuck around and witnessed Lavin, and his assistants in a confab, probably trying to figure out the next best way to convince Boozer that they really want him. In fact when Coach Lavin came into the gym, he had that look on his face which as much as said "We've got to get Boozer. We've got to get Boozer. We've got to get Boozer." Hey, right about now, we're pretty sure that Carlos knows UCLA wants him, because they are literally following him around to every game he plays in. And we're willing to bet that UCLA will get him too.

This was a great game, perhaps the highlight of the evening. There's lots more to report on, about individual players, conversations with coaches, scores and more. But for now, it's late, and we'll do better if we get some sleep and report more in the morning. Tomorrow is yet another full day at the Double Pump Best of Summer, and we don't want to miss it. See you there.