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SoCalHoops Tournament Report

Total Impact Makes Total Impact
At Sporting Chance Summer Slam--(Aug. 10, 1998)

Sam Alipio flew in this afternoon just in time for his Total Impact team to suit up once again to play a "practice" scrimmage game against the Orange County Maccabi basketball team over in San Pedro, and you could barely tell that the Total Impact guys had played something like 9 games in about 48 hours. Total Impact has really been around the tournament circuit this year, playing earlier over Memorial Day at the YBOA qualifying regionals, where they finished second and got a bid to represent California in the YBOA Nationals in Florida, which they attended in July. Setting down barely long enough to pack their bags, Total Impact was off again, flying to Arizona over this last weekend for the Sporting Chance Summer Slam, an invitational tournament which featured some of the best traveling teams in the west in variousl age levels, including we are told, the Arizona Heat and the Arizona Stars with Donnell Knight who won the varsity high school division.

Sam's Total Impact 8th grade squad won the Championship in their division, and they did it convincingly too. Total Impact features some of the best young rising talent, including some players who will be standout freshman, possibly varsity level players this season. The team is coached by Sam Alipio, and he is assisted by Eric Jensen and Russ Keldorf. Total Impact feature:

Loren Wade (6'-0" Fr. G/F) who will attend Serra this fall.
Douglas Guevara (6'-2" Fr. G/F) who will attend Daniel Murphy.
Jon Zellers (5'-8" 8th gr. G) Rolling Hills Prep
Chad Thornton-King (5'-9" Fr. G) who will attend St. Bernard's
Mike Keldorf (5'-8' Fr. G) who will attend St. Bernard's
Brett DeAngeleis (5'-7" Fr. G) will attend Rolling Hills Prep
Davion Cummings (6'-2" Fr. F) who will attend Carson High
Eddie Topps (5'-10" Fr. G) will attend St. Bernard's
Michael Speciale (5'-9" Fr. G) will attend Loyola
Jamayne Potts (5'-11" So. PG) who will attend St. Monica's

This is a very athletic, quick team, which runs a great full court pressure defense. They also run a terrific half court trap, and can rebound and shoot like crazy. The top standouts, at least what we saw today from the scrimmage game, were Loren Wade, Douglas Guevara, Jamayne Potts and Eddie Topps. Loren is a big time player, very athletic, strong inside and with a quick first step. He plays great pressure defense and sees the court as well as any guard, which is probably what he'll play in high school, although he does like to get in and bang underneath. Douglas rebounds well, shot a bunch from inside and from the baseline, and ran the trap in the corners extremely effectively. Potts has a great handle, a decent first step off the dribble, and like most good point guards, rarely misses from within about 12 feet. Topps also ran the floor well, distributing the ball and getting everyone involved. We wish we could say more about the rest of the guys, but frankly we were a bit busy coaching, along with Lee Garson, the Orange County Maccabi guys, and so we didn't get to pay as much attention to some of the other Total Impact guys as we would have liked.

We'll try and follow these guys during the upcoming season as they move up into the high school ranks. And Sam has promised us a more complete report on the tournament this past weekend in Arizona. For now, congratulations to Total Impact, champions of the Sporting Chance Summer Slam.