Cerritos/Gahr Tip-Off: Four Takeaways
Cerritos High was the stop Monday to begin the third week of high school basketball non-league tournament season.
While the games weren’t the most competitive (understatement) on the first day of the Cerritos/Gahr Tip-Off event, there’s always room to learn and learn we did.
Four Takeaways
Crespi’s Brandon Williams quickly rounding back into form
Williams missed a considerable amount of time over the last two seasons with a knee injury, but the Arizona commit is back and looking good. The 6-foot-2 senior combo guard scored a team-high 20 points in the Celts blowout of Fountain Valley, all while playing extremely limited minutes. Williams looked light on his feet and just as explosive and elusive as he was pre-injury. If and when Williams gets back to 100 percent both in health and playing time, look for Crespi to make a deep postseason push either in Division I or the Open Division.
Cerritos High has a couple prospects who could break out
Dorian Harris and Destin Flucas both looked good against Long Beach Jordan Monday. Harris is a versatile combo forward who displayed some athleticism maybe even he didn’t know he had. Harris threw down a massive one-handed poster dunk on a Jordan defender, while also continuing to stretch the floor from 3-point range and finishing well through contact. Flucas is an active and rangy wing at 6-feet-2. He’s a good jump shooter from 3-point range who gets great lift on that jumper. Flucas is quick off the floor, shifty in space and a good finisher off of two feet.
Fountain Valley has some good pieces under new coach D’Cean Bryant
The former Orange Lutheran assistant is in his first year as head coach of the Barons and his efforts to change the culture at Fountain Valley are in their beginning stages. The Barons fell hard to Crespi, 86-51, as most expected would happen, but they didn’t run scared. Fountain Valley executed as best they could and junior forward Adam Beerck and freshman guard Jeremiah Davis showed plenty of fight and skill throughout the contest.
St. John Bosco is as deep as its ever been
Though the Braves beat Kennedy by nearly 70 points without projected starter Jonathan Salazar, coach Matt Dunn has plenty of players capable of seeing big minutes this season. Dunn has 21 players on his roster and could go 12 deep if he needed to. Key bench guys include freshman guard Boogie Evans, sophomore Josh Camper and junior wing Jalen Manson.